“Life, like poker, has an element of risk.
It shouldn’t be avoided. It should be faced.”
Edward Norton
Navigating through the Wilderness is like playing a hand of poker. You can quit, accept it as your lot in life, or make it through triumphantly.
The options in poker are the same: to fold, call, or be all in.
In the Wilderness, some people fold. They walk away from the hand they were dealt and say, “It is just too hard” and quit. Others call, which means keeping the status quo. The Children of Israel were a lot like this. They did not completely quit and go back (folding), but they called. They walked around being in the game of the Wilderness, but not doing what it would take to get them out to the end game.
God wants us to be all in. This is when a player wants to continue playing, but does not have enough money to continue betting. He declares, “All In”. After declaring All In, he can hold his cards for the remainder of the game no matter what the others do at the table. He is fully committed with all that he has.
In public card rooms verbal declarations are binding. In the Wilderness, we need to declare All In. Our declaration is, “I am in this Wilderness for as long as it takes to get out of me what needs to go, and to produce the character that I need to walk out victorious.” All In is a position of courage. It is placing everything at His feet and then leaving it there. We can no longer take it back or rescind the offer.
The strategic advantage to being all in is that the player cannot be bluffed, because he is entitled to hold his cards and see the showdown without risking any more money. This too, is our strategic advantage against the enemy. When we are all in, we cannot be bluffed anymore by the enemy. When we are all in, it gives us access to see the end game.
God wants us to Play Big — Believe Big — Be Big! Smallness is not what God has for us. He tells us not to shrink back, but to go for it with everything we have. That is being all in. We have taken risks and put ourselves out there in this Wilderness season, but so has God. God was all in, laying all His cards on the table when He sent His only Son to die for us. Then on top of that, He gave us a free choice to believe or not. God played big! God played all in, and it is the same way He wants us to play.
If you are in the Wilderness today, play big! Play as if all the promises He gave you are fulfilled. Walk into your destiny. Walk in all those things that God has set before you. Trust Him to take everything you have given Him and turn it all around for your good.
Take courage — Go for broke — Be All In!
“God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?”
Numbers 23:19 (NLT)
One fateful decision landed me smack in the middle of my own Wilderness…
Though I was obeying God’s voice, I spent the next several years “walking on water,” even though it felt more like I was treading water. A Journey Out of the Wilderness is for people going through a rough time—a Wilderness experience—where you feel as though you are “down for the count” and ready to give up. Wilderness Wanderers feel as though they are doing laps around the mountain, passing the same tree over and over again wondering, “Will this never end?” However, being in the Wilderness will be one of the most transformational times of your life.