A Place With No Food

Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their children. There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. Genesis 47:12-13 (New International Version)

For seven years, under the leadership of Joseph, food was stored up to prepare for a coming famine which would also last for seven years. When the famine hit, the food was available in abundance but one had to go to where the food was present. Joseph’s family came to him and he graciously provided nourishment for them. Outside of those stored up food parameters was a wasting away.

There is a parallel of spiritual truth for me that I am seeing in this passage. God offers me what I need in the way of significance, worth, value, and identity in abundance. All I could desire. All I could hope for. All I could receive. If I go to Him, I am in a position to receive. If I turn to other places, where the supply is not present, I will waste away and languish.

So where are the places of famine I find myself returning to time and time again? Where are the regions of deprivation and starvation? Relationships. Not all relationships. Some are rich, pleasurable, and balanced. In those, I am free to encourage and be encouraged. Free to interact without being entangled in emotional dependency. Free to spend time without desiring to never leave or fearing being left. Yet, what God means for good can sometimes become twisted, distorted, and out of place.

Rather than remain a healthy friendship the relationship becomes one in which I begin looking to the other person to give me what only God can provide….worth, value, significance, identity, security, a real sense of being loved, and an ability to love in return. Emotions vacillate between expectations and disappointments until the realization that I am putting this person in God’s place in my life flashes like neon lights.

It use to be if one such relationship ended I immediately looked for another to replace it. How futile the search has been! Only now, as I find the necessity to back away from one I’ve grown dependent on in an unhealthy way, am I realizing a desire to turn where the “food” is. To seek God as I have sought people. To learn how to be nourished by Him, sustained by Him, and fed by Him. Only now.

Father, the years of scrounging for food in places of famine have taken their toll on me. I am hungry (famished) and I come to You…my Bread of Life. Amen.

By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJODOpe_M8E&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

His Work and His Time

I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land. Exodus 23:30 (New American Standard Bible)

God gave the children of Israel insight into the way He would lead them into the promised land and how He would bring them to the place of possessing that promised land. As they walked in obedience with Him, He would drive out their enemies and cause His people to be fruitful and to acquire the land of promise. Their inheritance and territory! It would not be a quick and easy process. It would take years. God would work according to His wisdom and His timetable.

I have often watched with fascination the programs which show the make-over of homes. One show demolishes an entire house and rebuilds it beautifully in one weekend! While it is possible to do that with a house, God is letting me know that is not the way growth and victory in the Christian life comes about. His words to Israel are His words to me and His words to you. I am in need of His reminder each morning. I need to hear Him say He is transforming and remaking me little by little.

His process is usually one that exposes my thought patterns, mindsets, weaknesses, and areas of need in order to show me what needs to go and what needs to be embraced. God is faithfully “driving out” those things in me that would hinder me from flourishing and acquiring all that He offers. It is a word that means to divorce. To allow Him to divorce me from how I have come to think, act, and speak. To allow Him to teach me the truth about myself, the way the enemy works, the things He has equipped me with, the power of prayer and speaking His words over my life and circumstances, the authority of the believer, the balance of looking to Him and receiving encouragement through the body of Christ, and many more things. There are days His revelations to me are profound and immediate change is forthcoming. But there are many more days when the steps are small and the progress seems slow. Either way, God is the one who sets the pace for this journey. He is the one who drives things out of my life little by little. I rejoice in the tiniest work and the hugest manifestations of His operations.

Father, You are as present and meticulous with me as You were with the entire nation of Israel in Old Testament times. You know where You are leading me and how You will get me there. I choose to watch You, listen to You, and follow Your lead. Not in my flesh but by Your Spirit. I delight in all You are doing! Amen.

Potter's Hand - Darlene Zshech (Hillsong)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDAITgJXO1I&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.