Misunderstood. Embittered. Guilt-ridden. Discouraged. Condemned. Abandoned. Unwanted. Worthless. Unloved.
You want to scream but there’s no voice coming out.
You want an escape but there’s no way out! You feel terribly frightened. Hopeless.
You are in the wilderness right now!
You might be in the middle of nowhere, it can be a desert – sands everywhere, no oasis to quench your thirst, no trees to shade you from the scorching heat of the sun, and no comfort when the bone-chilling coldness strikes at night.
Wilderness might be an abyss. Negativity pulls you away from light, it brings you down into the darkest deep until you are drowned in guilt and shame.
Or it could be a wasteland, a bad land, a deeply eroded barren land with dead trees, dead animals, and dead soil – uninhabited wilderness that is worthless of cultivation. There you die of hunger and thirst, yes, you die of suffocation.
Excuse the hyperbole or meiosis. All these things are nothing but the truth. Under the surface we’re all the same – searching for purpose; running from shame.
But beyond all these scary things I’m sure we wouldn’t dare to experience, there’s still a dazzling light which tries to catch a little of our attention and stirs up a hope inside of us:
Jeremiah 31:2-4
Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
Found grace in the wilderness (emphasis mine) –
Israel, when I went to give him rest.”
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt,(emphasis mine),
O virgin of Israel!”
When Israel experienced toil and slavery which the Lord allowed for His glory, He rescued them and delivered them. When Israel stubbornly turned away from the Lord and continued their sinning against God, they tasted the consequences of their wicked decisions but the Lord still saved them because He is loving and compassionate in nature.
The Lord is always there beforehand, waiting for His children to return to Him with humble hearts. His grace is always alive and overflowing and He is even wanting to give rest to His weary children. He is always giving chances upon chances just for us to turn to Him and respond to His love.
This might mean that pain, suffering and hardships in life are all inevitable. They are destined to come whether as consequences of our decisions and actions or the will of our God – hence; we shouldn’t lose heart for we can still find grace in the wilderness. There is a rescue prepared for us, help is always on its way. Even if the process is painful and tormenting, we endure it through His grace. For grace is unmerited favor of God, it is not asked nor begged; not gained nor earned. It is a free gift, a lavish product of God’s love, we can never refuse it or return it. The Lord, when He gives, He gives without limits and doubts.
He has ever since loved us with an everlasting, unconditional, unfailing, limitless, boundless love. Because of His beautiful, glorious, and outrageous love for all of us, He pulls us away from all the things that harms us not only which He does this with loving-kindness. Comes after that is the promise that He will again build us, and rebuild us, He has promised us salvation and restoration no matter how many times and how hard we fall.
You are no longer Misunderstood. Embittered. Guilt-ridden. Discouraged. Condemned. Abandoned. Unwanted. Worthless. Unloved.
You shouldn’t feel that way!
You must feel LOVED. PURSUED. WANTED by GOD Himself.
His grace is like a consuming gentleness that quiets us. Even if we can’t feel Him, or see Him, or hear Him, we are rest assured of His grace in all seasons of life.
So isn’t God deserving of your deepest gratitude and lavish praise and worship, is He?