“Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.”
Norman Vincent Peale
My friend Melodie had two dogs that would continually scratch the glass on her sliding door. She decided to buy shock collars for both dogs. When either of the dogs would get close to the door, a warning sound would go off to caution the dog not to continue or it would get shocked. Then if the dog proceeded, the dog would get zapped!
One of the dogs would freak out in the middle of the yard if he got zapped and would run around not knowing where the pain was coming from. He did not get the correlation between the warning sound and the pain. The other dog would walk towards the door and when he heard the sound he would stop. He was smart enough to stand still when he heard the sound. He stopped right before getting zapped. He would stand there for a long time running down the battery. After awhile when the battery was worn down, he would be able to come up to the door without getting mildly shocked.
Many of us are like the first dog in our Wilderness experience. We do not understand what is going on, so we run around in pain unable to interpret the sound. We experience the pain of lost hopes and dreams, lost jobs, lost relationships, but we do not understand. The enemy wants us to stay in confusion. He wants us to be like the dog in that yard — zap — zap — zap — pain —pain — pain — paralyzed, unable to move.
The enemy is good at making a bunch of noise to scare us off, but God wants us to be like the smart dog, who heard the sound and took a stand. Despite the dog’s circumstances, he held steady. He took a stand and pressed into the circumstances.
We are entering into a new season. Will you go round this yard one more time, or will you go through the door?
“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might and having done everything to stand…stand firm then!”
Ephesians 6:10-14 (NIV)
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.