Promised Land

As I came off the retreat feeling lifted I was reminded of something a friend had mentioned to me …

This friend came to Florida for a conference a couple of weeks ago, but she made it a point to come to my church Sunday morning and then grab dinner with me later that week. We went to Mac Grill … which is important - because we ended up drawing on the table - which if you don't know is totally allowed - they provide the crayons. Anyhow we had a really sweet time catching up … I told her all about what I have been through in the last 2 years … It was so good to lay it all out … to remember all the details and see how God was moving through it all. It felt good to dump it out. But what was even better was being able to minister to her. She needed perspective - she was stuck - and God allowed me to really be a help to her. I found myself writing on the table as I explained some things … we explored where her fears were hiding - and what she needed to invite God into. It was kind of magical.

But somewhere in the middle of that -- as I was sharing all my stuff -- she shared that someone at the conference mentioned that this year - this Hebrew year -- was going to usher in a year of Jubilee.

Interesting ….

I didn't even think about that too much until I was on the retreat. Our speaker was talking about the Exodus. The breaking of idols, bondage, slavery. It was so hard for the Israelites. In fact God had to kill off that entire generation because they could JUST NOT let go of their slavery. They kept longing for it. Wanting to go back.

The wilderness was given for that very reason … Caleb and Joshua and the other 10 went into the Promised Land to scope it out … but the 10 just couldn't believe that God was BIGGER than what they saw with their eyes. They said 'no' to God … they chose Egypt. So God killed them all off - in the desert for 40 years. He rose up the NEXT generation and taught them to be faithful. The only ones that got to go into the Promised Land from that generation were Caleb and Joshua. Not even Moses made that cut. NOT EVEN MOSES!

Our retreat speaker pointed out that the wilderness - the desert is a proving ground. A place of preparation. And we must submit to it if we want to be ready to receive the Land - the promises, the blessings, the place of filling. We CANNOT have the Land … without the preparation. We can not handle the blessings without it. This idea reminds me of something a friend spoke to me earlier in the summer … that this time of waiting on the Lord … is the deep breath in - before He releases me to something new. Sometimes even when we get to see the Promised Land … we still just don't get it. Seeing the very thing we thought we longed for actually reveals in us a deep brokenness that is so scary and ugly that instead of running to Jesus … we run back to what is safe.

THAT IS NOT FOR ME. I don't want safe … I WANT the Promised Land. I want REST in Jesus. It seems like the obvious choice … The Promised Land seems like its the easy choice - blessing is there, but I guess it simply isn't. We choose idolatry, and old comforts, and what is known. We don't really choose rest. We choose its counterfeit. Jesus brings real rest, risk, newness, change, and an unbelievable amount of trust. He is the one who strips us, brings to deep hard places, to the restless places, to face our longings - He reveals the thirst and hunger that just will never be met here on earth. BUT He is there in the middle of all of it - calling - telling us that HE is rest.

It's an intimacy that scares the shit out of us. Yet we all long for it. It's built into us - this intimacy - to long for it. Yet all we want is to flirt and have a sip … but Jesus wants us to drink deeply - fully. Drink it all down - accept - abide - rest in it.

I want the Promised Land.

The year of Jubilee … is a year of release. The Israelite's who had sold themselves into slavery were to be released so they could go back and claim their inheritance … their piece of the Land. And their land was to be released and given back … because their inheritance could never be permanently taken - just leased essentially - and worked in their absence. So Jubilee is meant to restore inheritance.

I think this Jubilee is meant to restore ME to my inheritance.

The Day of Atonement - the Hebrew New Year - the day that Jews used to send a priest into the Mercy Seat to sprinkle blood and atone for the sins of the whole nation each year -- just passed by last week.
Jubilee has begun. And I want my inheritance back! I want deep overwhelming intimacy back. I want my rest in Jesus.

I want the Promised Land.