Stick With The Plan

Don't Open That Door

Have you ever found yourself so engrossed with a show that you start yelling at the tv or is that just me? Let's say I'm watching a thriller and there is a group of people that are trapped by a psychopath trying to kill them. The group's leader has a plan for escape and it is a good plan and everyone is assigned their role to play to be able to successfully escape. Accept there is always that ONE person who when faced with the pressure of uncertainty goes their own way. Thus ruining the plan that would have allowed them to live. But instead, they chose to follow their own way and end up dead. As the viewer, we get to watch from a top-down view as the characters play their roles. It is always that one nitwit that wants to check out the random sound from a secret room that I find myself yelling at. From my vantage point, I can see what awaits them behind that closed door, and I'm screaming don't do it!

In the movie of my life, there have been many times where I was the nitwit that caved under the pressure of the uncertainty of not knowing how things will play out. My problem is that God who knows the end from the beginning has the plan. Seeing how He is God and I am not, God in His sovereignty chooses to not tell me the entire plan. Often times God will only tell me what I need to know in order to take the next step. Then He and all of heaven and hell wait to see what choice will I make. Will I stick with the plan that He has revealed through the Word of God and prayer? Or will I choose to investigate the random disturbance that I think may lead me out of my dilemma? 

The Plan 

Going back to the Bible we read of the journey of the children of Israel out of Egypt in the book of Exodus. There is an interesting truth nugget tucked into Exodus 13:17. "Then it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt". I have lived long enough now to know that I have been no better than the Egyptian Israelites many times in my life. The Lord brought me through trials to prepare me for His promises. At those times in my life, I can see how God was using the trials to strengthen me in the faith. However, there is always some kind of opportunity to abandon the unseen plan. Many times I tried to take the easy path because I don't like pain. Sometimes the Lord blocked me for my own good, but other times I suffered the consequences of going my own way. 

Once someone accepts Christ as Lord and Savior the process of maturing begins. A simple way of understanding it is that God has to start the process of getting Egypt out of us. If God gave us the easy path of glory in Christ Jesus we would fail. Because we have a strong enemy that will fight and try to derail God's plan for our lives. Satan is not going to let people just ooh and awe over your life and give praises to God, as much as I wish he would. No, our lives become living reminders and glory receptacles of the power of God when the unsaved look on us. Because God's plan is to put on the full display of the kingdom of heaven in your life. Our part of that plan (purpose) is to display the glory of God and make disciples of all men. Therefore the wilderness journey is something we all have to go through. It is designed to prepare us for a life of faith. In order to make it out, we first need to trust God and stick to the plan even when we can't see it.

He Is Always Working 

Both of those elements, trusting God and following His commands require faith. What is faith? "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony"(Hebrews 11:1-2). An easy way of understanding the concept of faith is trust. Trust that the same God who delivered you before can do it again. Trust that God loves you and because He loves you He will make a way like waters flowing from a rock. That trust in God is not built upon an easy path, it can only be done in the Wilderness way. The good news is that when that reservoir of faith is built up in you and you start consistently choosing God's way over your own way. God will start to lead you out of the Wilderness because now you are ready. Now you are a good soldier prepared for the fight of conquering the promise land.

I'm going to leave you with a portion of Deuteronomy 8. When you get a chance I highly encourage you to read the whole chapter. Because one day after you have passed your tests the Lord your God will anoint you and be with you as you enter the land of promise.
"And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you" (Deuteronomy 8;2-5).

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Taking Your First Steps Into Promise

Every believer in Christ has a Wilderness experience before going into their own Promise Land. The Wilderness is a place of testing, chastening, suffering, and maturing into sonship in Christ. The Lord dictated to Moses and the children of Israel what they would encounter before stepping foot into their Promise Land. The Lord God warned them that they would face many enemies, but not to worry for the Lord God was with them. God was bringing them into a good land that was not like Egypt:

"For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, fro the beginning of the year to the very end of the year." Deuteronomy 11:10-12 NKJV

When the Lord begins to direct you to prepare for your promise after the season of wandering and trial in the Wilderness it is called your transition. Think of the transition phase as a type of checklist to make sure you have everything you need to successfully lay claim to the promise. For the children of Israel, the one condition that the Lord God mentioned over and over again was to have a heart that loved the Lord God above all and to obey His commandments. The purpose of the wilderness was to prepare their hearts to love the Lord and obey Him. Just like for us today, the same principle holds true. Before God can give you what is in His Hand you must first give Him your heart.

"Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23 NIV

It is during the Wilderness where what is in your heart is tested and tried before God. It is a season where your flesh is put to death through a season of suffering. This could come in the form of divorce, sickness, death, poverty and any number of things that will humble you. But if you cling to God you will find that He is your source, strength, husband, friend, and provider after all others have failed you. In fact, it is during this time where you discover God Himself, both His acts and His ways.

"He revealed his character to Moses and His deeds to the people of Israel." Psalm 103:7 NLT

To finally discover for yourself the character of God and to know Him is the greatest treasure that a human can possess. If you treasure and love the Lord above all else, more than what He can do for you then you have discovered the secret and purpose to life itself, loving God. So during the transition what is it that God wants you to reflect on and take with you into the Promised Land? Love the Lord, obey His Word, and walk humbly with your God.

"And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." Deuteronmy 8:2-3 NKJV

The purpose of all the testing was to prepare you to receive and be able to hold the promise. If God had given you the promise before you were ready, you would fall and the promise would destroy you because of pride. One of my favorite teachers Tony Evans said that with every blessing comes a curse built in it. It is really easy for us to forget what God has done and believe that somehow our education or our own ability brought the promise to us. The sin of the pride of life, where we believe that we are the masters of our destiny and not God, brings down many a Christian.

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world." 1 John 2:16 NKJV

"Then you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 8:17-20 NKJV

 Before you make your first steps into promise make sure that God is first in your heart, for your heart is the true promise land. Know that your God has gone before you and prepared the way to lay claim to what He has promised for you. All the testing and trials had a purpose because God will do good for you in the end!

"Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are multiplied and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end." Deuteronomy 8:11-16 NKJV

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