Hi all,
Looking for tenderness in the wilderness
Many times a person feels like they are in a wilderness because of an unanswered promise. They have put their expectations on how they think that promise will be met, and when it doesn't happen in the time or way they thought it was coming, it shakes their faith. Often it is because we form a structure through which and by which we believe God functions. When the Father lets us down by not doing what fits our structure of what we think are His ways and His Word, it can throw us into a wilderness of mistrust.
Those times of disappointment and God doing things or not doing things according to what we thought, cause us to examine what we believe and why. After the disappointment, after the anger, comes introspection, a process that can take years. But the Father is the Master at using things that cause us to question Him to turn us around and teach us, proving what is truly in our heart. The wilderness brings the deepest parts of our heart to the surface so we can either affirm what we believe, or repent and change.
How God used Israel's wilderness:Deuteronomy 8:1-7
Deuteronomy is Moses' last words, speaking to the children of those who had come out of Egypt, but died in the wilderness. That was the generation that would enter the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy 8:1 the Lord tells the children that His intent is to prepare them to enter the Promised Land of blessing He had promised the forefathers and parents.
Towards that end, He continues with this in v2:"Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands."
The word translated 'test' or 'prove' is the Hebrew word 'nasah' and was also used in Genesis 22:1 where we are told 'God did test Abraham' to offer Isaac. Jewish and Christian scholars point out the word 'prove' does not mean a temptation for evil, nor a test so God could know what was in Abraham's and Israel's heart. No, it means "that the knowledge (of what is in their heart) may arise in them." The Father knows all, so a time of wilderness which is a time of testing, isn't for His sake so He can know what is in our heart; it is for our sake, that we may know what is in our heart.
There are several other passages in the Old Testament that reveal this Father uses the same methods again and again:"God left him (Hezekiah) to prove him to know what was in his heart." II Chronicles 32:31, Judges 2:22, II Chronicles 9:1 - 36 uses of this same word for the same purpose. God isn't doing it to you, but He is using your wilderness so that you may know what is in your heart. Yes, it's a test. Yes, it is to prove what is in your heart, not to put a stumbling block before you. James 1:13 says God does not test man with evil for He is not tested/tempted by evil, so God isn't allowing a wilderness to make life difficult. Rather so you can know your own heart and the depth of your commitment to Christ.
Tenderness in the wilderness
Wilderness is not something we want to go through again, yet it has miracles known only to us. Concerning Israel, Lord looked upon that time in the wilderness as something intimate just between Him and them. Moses was told to tell Pharaoh in Exodus 4:22:"Israel is my son, even my firstborn." Later, in Hosea and looking back, the Lord said:"When Israel was a child I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." Hosea 11:1. That's not the voice of a hard taskmaster, but one of a loving Father helping His child grow up.
Some of us remember our own fathers, or perhaps a first job, and being required to continue working when you were tired, hungry, thirsty, blistered and dirty - but your father, or your boss, made you push yourself, and you found out you were stronger than you had known before that day started. Many go through extreme challenges in life like divorce, death of loved ones, bankruptcies, lay-offs and firings, unexpected moves and more, to discover they were stronger than they realized before those experiences. But those times are not without compassion, instruction and tenderness from the Lord. He was there all along, we often discover in hindsight.
Even when Israel later fell away from the Lord in a different spiritual wilderness, in Hosea 2:14, 19-20 the Lord shifts His tenderness from that of Father to son, to that of a forgiving husband to an unfaithful wife:"Behold! I will allure (woo) her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tender words to her" And; "I will betroth her to me forever, yes, betrothed in righteousness, in justice, in loving-kindness and mercies. I will even betroth her to me in faithfulness, and she will know the Lord." Tender words are received in the wilderness. Look for His tenderness.
"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God"
Above I mentioned part of Deuteronomy 8:2 about how the Lord used the wilderness to let them prove what was in their heart. In the very next verse, 3, He says He wanted them to learn in the wilderness:"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
That is a statement of tenderness; a confirming the above in Hosea, that the Lord will talk to us in the midst of our wilderness. It is also quoted by Jesus when He was in the wilderness tempted by Satan. In Matthew 4:4 He used it when He refused to turn stones to bread. The word Jesus used for 'word of God' is 'rhema', not 'logos'. The logos is the whole of God's Word, the entirety of God's counsel, and is used of Jesus being the Word of God made flesh. It is the Genesis through The Revelation, the whole of God's counsel. AND, the whole of God's counsel embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, the Father's Word. Logos.
Out of the logos, out of the whole of God's counsel comes a specific word to us individually. That is 'rhema'. It is used to indicate a personal word, a personal revelation from God to us. You received a rhema about Jesus and responded by believing in Him. If you understand the difference between logos and rhema it can change your understanding of much in the New Testament, and certainly your wilderness experience. Rhema can be a revelation, a leading, a witness, something discerned, perceived in your spirit, or a direct word.
Jesus when tempted equated the hunger for a rhema as being equal to hunger for food. Not hunger for the logos, the general counsel of God, but we should hunger for a word from the Lord, a revelation, a personal teaching or spiritual insight that is of priority equal to our meals. Let that sink in:We do not live by bread alone, but by every personal word to us that proceeds from the mouth of God.
You were saved by receiving a rhema
For instance Romans 10:17:Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. That word for 'Word' is rhema, not logos. Faith doesn't come by reading 2 chapters of the Bible a day. Faith doesn't come by memorizing a verse a day. Faith doesn't come by listening to a sermon or Bible teacher. All those are logos - the general counsel of God that is for everyone. That's all great, but faith doesn't come by those. Faith comes by receiving a rhema. Faith comes by a personal word from God to you, for your situation. It is when you listen to a teacher and suddenly it resonates with you, or a joy leaps in your spirit, or suddenly that one line makes so many things you've believed and experienced make sense and fall into place. THAT is a rhema. And the original context was equating hearing from Him with food while we are in a wilderness.
Sometimes a person has to be really, really deep in their wilderness before they become that desperate. It is far easier to email someone or go to a meeting hoping God will use someone to have a word for us, than it is to pay the price to get before Him, to worship, to listen for ourselves...He is there in tenderness, and to use that time to prove what is in your heart. That often requires silence, and I'll share about that and how to do that next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
Looking for tenderness in the wilderness
Many times a person feels like they are in a wilderness because of an unanswered promise. They have put their expectations on how they think that promise will be met, and when it doesn't happen in the time or way they thought it was coming, it shakes their faith. Often it is because we form a structure through which and by which we believe God functions. When the Father lets us down by not doing what fits our structure of what we think are His ways and His Word, it can throw us into a wilderness of mistrust.
Those times of disappointment and God doing things or not doing things according to what we thought, cause us to examine what we believe and why. After the disappointment, after the anger, comes introspection, a process that can take years. But the Father is the Master at using things that cause us to question Him to turn us around and teach us, proving what is truly in our heart. The wilderness brings the deepest parts of our heart to the surface so we can either affirm what we believe, or repent and change.
How God used Israel's wilderness:Deuteronomy 8:1-7
Deuteronomy is Moses' last words, speaking to the children of those who had come out of Egypt, but died in the wilderness. That was the generation that would enter the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy 8:1 the Lord tells the children that His intent is to prepare them to enter the Promised Land of blessing He had promised the forefathers and parents.
Towards that end, He continues with this in v2:"Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands."
The word translated 'test' or 'prove' is the Hebrew word 'nasah' and was also used in Genesis 22:1 where we are told 'God did test Abraham' to offer Isaac. Jewish and Christian scholars point out the word 'prove' does not mean a temptation for evil, nor a test so God could know what was in Abraham's and Israel's heart. No, it means "that the knowledge (of what is in their heart) may arise in them." The Father knows all, so a time of wilderness which is a time of testing, isn't for His sake so He can know what is in our heart; it is for our sake, that we may know what is in our heart.
There are several other passages in the Old Testament that reveal this Father uses the same methods again and again:"God left him (Hezekiah) to prove him to know what was in his heart." II Chronicles 32:31, Judges 2:22, II Chronicles 9:1 - 36 uses of this same word for the same purpose. God isn't doing it to you, but He is using your wilderness so that you may know what is in your heart. Yes, it's a test. Yes, it is to prove what is in your heart, not to put a stumbling block before you. James 1:13 says God does not test man with evil for He is not tested/tempted by evil, so God isn't allowing a wilderness to make life difficult. Rather so you can know your own heart and the depth of your commitment to Christ.
Tenderness in the wilderness
Wilderness is not something we want to go through again, yet it has miracles known only to us. Concerning Israel, Lord looked upon that time in the wilderness as something intimate just between Him and them. Moses was told to tell Pharaoh in Exodus 4:22:"Israel is my son, even my firstborn." Later, in Hosea and looking back, the Lord said:"When Israel was a child I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." Hosea 11:1. That's not the voice of a hard taskmaster, but one of a loving Father helping His child grow up.
Some of us remember our own fathers, or perhaps a first job, and being required to continue working when you were tired, hungry, thirsty, blistered and dirty - but your father, or your boss, made you push yourself, and you found out you were stronger than you had known before that day started. Many go through extreme challenges in life like divorce, death of loved ones, bankruptcies, lay-offs and firings, unexpected moves and more, to discover they were stronger than they realized before those experiences. But those times are not without compassion, instruction and tenderness from the Lord. He was there all along, we often discover in hindsight.
Even when Israel later fell away from the Lord in a different spiritual wilderness, in Hosea 2:14, 19-20 the Lord shifts His tenderness from that of Father to son, to that of a forgiving husband to an unfaithful wife:"Behold! I will allure (woo) her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tender words to her" And; "I will betroth her to me forever, yes, betrothed in righteousness, in justice, in loving-kindness and mercies. I will even betroth her to me in faithfulness, and she will know the Lord." Tender words are received in the wilderness. Look for His tenderness.
"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God"
Above I mentioned part of Deuteronomy 8:2 about how the Lord used the wilderness to let them prove what was in their heart. In the very next verse, 3, He says He wanted them to learn in the wilderness:"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
That is a statement of tenderness; a confirming the above in Hosea, that the Lord will talk to us in the midst of our wilderness. It is also quoted by Jesus when He was in the wilderness tempted by Satan. In Matthew 4:4 He used it when He refused to turn stones to bread. The word Jesus used for 'word of God' is 'rhema', not 'logos'. The logos is the whole of God's Word, the entirety of God's counsel, and is used of Jesus being the Word of God made flesh. It is the Genesis through The Revelation, the whole of God's counsel. AND, the whole of God's counsel embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, the Father's Word. Logos.
Out of the logos, out of the whole of God's counsel comes a specific word to us individually. That is 'rhema'. It is used to indicate a personal word, a personal revelation from God to us. You received a rhema about Jesus and responded by believing in Him. If you understand the difference between logos and rhema it can change your understanding of much in the New Testament, and certainly your wilderness experience. Rhema can be a revelation, a leading, a witness, something discerned, perceived in your spirit, or a direct word.
Jesus when tempted equated the hunger for a rhema as being equal to hunger for food. Not hunger for the logos, the general counsel of God, but we should hunger for a word from the Lord, a revelation, a personal teaching or spiritual insight that is of priority equal to our meals. Let that sink in:We do not live by bread alone, but by every personal word to us that proceeds from the mouth of God.
You were saved by receiving a rhema
For instance Romans 10:17:Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. That word for 'Word' is rhema, not logos. Faith doesn't come by reading 2 chapters of the Bible a day. Faith doesn't come by memorizing a verse a day. Faith doesn't come by listening to a sermon or Bible teacher. All those are logos - the general counsel of God that is for everyone. That's all great, but faith doesn't come by those. Faith comes by receiving a rhema. Faith comes by a personal word from God to you, for your situation. It is when you listen to a teacher and suddenly it resonates with you, or a joy leaps in your spirit, or suddenly that one line makes so many things you've believed and experienced make sense and fall into place. THAT is a rhema. And the original context was equating hearing from Him with food while we are in a wilderness.
Sometimes a person has to be really, really deep in their wilderness before they become that desperate. It is far easier to email someone or go to a meeting hoping God will use someone to have a word for us, than it is to pay the price to get before Him, to worship, to listen for ourselves...He is there in tenderness, and to use that time to prove what is in your heart. That often requires silence, and I'll share about that and how to do that next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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