To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones; and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 1
What Time Is It?
I believe that we are in a season of Psalm 23. The Lord is causing us to lie down in green pastures. Although the pastures are green that the Lord causes us to lie down in, they may not “feel” green. However, we have to remember that when the children of Israel were on their way to the promised land, they had to journey through a parched place (the wilderness). It is when we are in the wilderness that we are close to God because we are suppose to be clinging to Him for everything (like our lives depends on it because it does, and we are learning how to trust Him with our very existence).
For many, it has been a season of “walking through the valley of the shadow of death”, and yet the Lord assures us that He is there to lead us, to guide us, to comfort us, to bring us through the hard places as only He, the Good Shepherd can do.
When we are walking through our wilderness experiences (those difficult seasons), we have an opportunity to at the same time experience “green pastures” when we trust in the Lord with all of our heart, and lean not to our own understanding but to acknowledge the presence of the Lord, Who wants to provide everything that we could possibly need in this life (II Peter 1:3).
You may be experiencing some hardships in this season of your life, and it may feel uncomfortable because this is not what you want or what you are accustomed to. But that is what our wilderness experiences are about: being taken out of our comfort zones so that we can press into the will of God. I can assure those of you who are experiencing the hounds of hell at your back, that if you hang in there with Jehovah during this season, you will experience the will of God in your lives.
But we have to look to Him, we have to look for Him, we have to call upon His Holy Name.
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace:
ISAIAH 55:6-12
To Serve The Living God or Not To Serve Him. That is the Question.
When we allow the Lord to truly be our Shepherd, we shall not have need of anything, because He is the supplier of all of our needs when we trust and obey Him.
He restores us in our minds, our will, our emotions, our bodies and our spirit. Whatever we have lost, He has the power to restore, to heal, to deliver.
11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
HEBREWS 9:11-14
Let this be our prayer, and the Good Shepherd (Who gave His life for us) will lead us in the way that we should go, when we humble ourselves, repent, pray and seek Him with all of our hearts.
Who wouldn’t serve a God like this?
He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Everything that we are experiencing that is hindering us in life is from the enemy, because that is what he exists to do; to hinder us.
But the Lord says that if we will follow Him like a sheep follows a shepherd; He will cause us to triumph over every hindering spirit when we make a firm decision to follow Him with all of our hearts (no matter what it costs)!
Conclusion
In these trying times, surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives as we continue in His will and in His way.
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
HEBREWS 9:14
Grace and Peace to you,
Silvana
