Heading Home

The year 2011 is over. Kaput. Though some unwanted stragglers roll over into the new year, last year has its headstone in the above image.

How did the year treat you? Did circumstances wear you down? How’s it going so far this year? Do you still have your spiritual edge or did you lose it?

In the Old Testament, the sons of the prophets grew in numbers and needed a larger place to live, so they decided to move beside the Jordan and begged Elisha to go with them.

When they reached their destination, they cut down trees to build their homes. As one man was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead flew off the handle and disappeared into the murky waters.

The man cried out to Elisha, “Oh, sir...it was borrowed!” (2 Kings 6:5b NIV)

Elisha asked, “Where did it fall?” After the man showed Elisha the place, Elisha cut a stick and tossed it into the water as a divine summons to rise again. Immediately, the axhead popped up!

“Grab it,” Elisha said, and the man recovered the sharp axhead.

Were you growing spiritually, but then, something happened and your passion for the Lord diminished? Has your spiritual edge grown dull? Maybe you lost it in the murky waters of life?

The enemy will tell you that your sharp, spiritual edge can never be reclaimed. He will convince you that your dream is gone, your gift is of no use to anyone, your desire has chilled, or your effectiveness is depleted.

Maybe it’s just that the trials of life have pulled you away from the Lord. Maybe your burning passion to serve the Lord has grown cold.

Don’t let the enemy or the difficulties of life keep you from reclaiming your fervor.

Last year’s borrowed edge may not work this year. However, you can recover that keen edge you once had; God can restore it for you. He still sharpens and strengthens His instruments and restores the passion and confidence.

Matthew Henry wrote, “God’s grace can thus raise the stony iron heart which has sunk into the mud of this world, and raise up affections naturally earthly, to things above.”

If you have found yourself amidst those muddy waters, God will raise you up. Scripture says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6 NIV)

If your edge or passion has dulled, cling to this thought: “He will lift you up, encourage and help you” (James 4:10b TLB), and “make you to be a new, sharp, threshing instrument.” (Isa. 41:15 Amp)

My prayer for you: May the Lord be your first love, may you regain your spiritual edge, and may you be a sharp instrument in the Lord’s hands.

For forty days and forty nights...

The floor of the great abyss ruptured, spewing skyward enormous streams of steam from its belly. It roared in agony as it billowed into a surging mass of catastrophic power, pounding angrily against the ark, which cradled the nucleus of humanity in safety from the judgment upon the earth.

The once calm seas broke open their storerooms and heaved forth their reservoirs as frothing waves. Never having rained before, the windows of heaven now threw open their sluice gates, unleashing their inner resources as great torrents.

And the ark, listing from side to side, rose up with the waters.

“And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.” (Gen. 7:24 NKJV)

God then restrained the waters and made a wind to pass over the surface, and, as the waters began to decrease, the ark rested on top of Mount Ararat.

The definition for Ararat is interesting. The Brown-Driver-Brigg’s Hebrew Lexicon says it means the curse reversed: precipitation of curse. Noah means “rest,” and its root word basically means to settle down, cause to rest, to deposit, and so on. As the curse reversed, the waters deposited the ark, causing it to rest on Ararat, and so, too, did Noah, probably heaving a big sigh of relief.

After months of the waters receding, Noah sent out a raven that went “to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.” (Gen. 8:7 NKJV) Noah also “sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground.” (v.8 NKJV)

The dove went out into the world, searching upon the waters of “drifting waste of sin and judgment” (A. B. Simpson) for a resting place. But “the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot” (v.9a NKJV), so she returned to the ark. And Noah “put forth his hand and drew her to him into the ark.” (v.9a Amp)

“And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark.” (v.10a NKJV) This time the dove returned with an olive leaf, which is not only a symbol of peace and reconciliation but is also a symbol of prosperity, divine blessing, beauty, and strength. The sign that judgment had passed and peace was returning

Each time the dove returned, Noah welcomed her back, putting forth his hand, and drawing her to himself, to her resting place in the ark.

Isn’t that a comforting thought of our Lord? When we encounter chaotic circumstances, do we go out into the world searching for rest, peace, and satisfaction? We will not find them there.

The Lord’s graciousness to us is the same as Noah’s was to the dove. Christ is our Ark of safety, our resting place, and in our wanderings, He reaches out His nail-scarred hands and pulls us to Himself for comfort and protection. As scripture says, “The Lord will certainly deliver and draw me to Himself.” (2 Tim. 4:18 Amp) Interesting. “Draw” means to rush or draw (for oneself), rescue, deliver, or preserve from.

He lovingly says to us, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” (Jer. 31:3 NKJV) “In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved.” (Isa. 30:15 Amp)

Christ clutches His Bride in His eternal arms of love, “And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” (Isa. 62:5 NKJV)

Do you roam the earth, flitting about from place to place in search of a place to light upon for rest, peace, or safety? Do you find it? In your unrest, let your weary wings take you back to the Lord, to seek that secure resting place in Him alone.

The Lord continually draws you to Himself by His Spirit. Return to the Ark and find rest unto your soul.

Today, I share with you my heart, something the Lord gave me…

When my heart felt as if it had been punctured by the thorns of my circumstances, I cried out before the God of the universe for help. And in return, He whispered this to my heart…

“My precious child, your life is like a forest. Understand this parable…

One day, the Forest Master decided to take a walk in one of His favorite little forests.

At the sight of her coming Master, the little forest shook in awe, bowing low in honor, and said, “Master, am I pleasing to You?”

The Master replied, “You are a very pleasant and aromatic forest, but your splendid trees have no room in which to stretch out their limbs and roots. They are undernourished and spindly from lack of the sun. Decaying debris litters the floor of your grove, making it difficult for beautiful, new seedlings to grow beneath your branches. I cannot walk through My favorite little forest; the path is obscured. I wish to make you an extraordinary and sweet-smelling forest. I will send help to beautify your temple.”

“O, Master, I wish to be most beautiful for You. How will You do it?”

But, alas, the Master of the forest did not answer her.

One day, the sky blackened and a furious whirlwind pounded against the timbers of the little forest. Twisting funnels of fury whipped through her boughs. Flashing thunderbolts struck at the heart of her home, sparking a blaze that destroyed all her debris and threatened her existence.

The little forest cried out, “O, Master, where have You gone? I thought You were going to make me more beautiful. I am now broken and singed in places that once blossomed with beauty. I am in anguish in this heat. O, dampen these smoldering embers before I am reduced to ashes. Please, put me back together.”

The Forest Master answered, “I wish you to glorify your Maker in the fire. I sent My ministering servants as flames of cleansing because I love you with the greatest of love. Now, I will extinguish your blazes.”

Then, heaven’s reservoir opened its sluice gates and released a torrential downpour, quenching the burning flames.

The little forest cried, “O, Master, help me. The drenching rains are washing away all that is left of me.”

“The waters will not overwhelm you,” He promised. “I will rebuild the ruined places and replant that which has been made desolate. You will flourish abundantly, for My glory and for the benefit of others.”

“O, Master,” said the little forest, “I did not understand your reasoning, but now I do. Thank You. Because of Your goodness, now I will be a fragrant, thriving forest, pleasing to my Master, bringing glory to You and pleasure to others.”

Though the very core of the little forest had been challenged, the cleaving afflictions had cut a swath for a new, meandering trail for her Master to take long, leisurely walks through her grove and converse with His favorite little forest.

In time, as each night wrapped its darkness around the little forest, the moon streamed through her leaves, illuminating her path and leaving puddles of light on her soft, mossy floor as stepping stones. In each morning’s light, the sun filtered through her limbs, enlightening a boundless display of her sweet, fragrant blossoms that had begun to grow beneath her limbs.

The little forest came to appreciate that her Master knew what was best for her and loved her unconditionally. A closer bond developed between the little forest and her Master and she flourished under His guidance and care. She knew that whatever happened to her was all for her Master’s glory and the service of others.”

The Lord says to you as He said to me, “You have been in the furnace of affliction and I now release you to show others that they, too, may be set free. I have not let the flames settle upon you though they have burned brightly around you.

All you have lost is what My fire has burned away - your dross. The fires of My love for You have made purer. I wish you to be holy in My sight. My holy fires burn brightest in those that truly love Me and wish to follow only My leading.

I have burned away those things that have stood in the way of your serving Me with your whole heart.”

“Do you not understand that you must go through the deep waters? I will hold them back, but you must trust Me to do so.”

The Word says, “We went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of great abundance.” (Ps. 66:12 NLT)

May your life be lived for the glory of the Master and the service of others. May you know that the Lord is with you…through it all.

~~Blessing, Lynn~~