A donkey trail going nowhere fast...OR so it seems

Figuratively speaking, on the other side of the desert, wilderness, valley or mountain, there is a beautiful and peaceful landscape. Sometimes until we get there though, it is hard to understand God's plan and sometimes it is hard to know where he is in it. It feels like a donkey trail going nowhere fast.

It can seem like he is very absent. I have been reading a book by Phillip Yancy called Disappointment with God and he makes some good points about the wilderness part of our journeys, the time period when it seems like God is absent.

 Bible time people like; Abraham when he waited years for his promised son, David when he was ordained as King but fleeing from Saul for his life, Job when God allowed Satan to try him, Joseph when he was in prison for doing no wrong, all must have felt the wilderness feeling. Where is God? They all doggedly pursued God and like many other bible people who pursued God, they were blessed for it, with spiritual blessings and sometimes with more material type blessings too.

Did Joseph have choice in how he taunted his brothers with his dreams. I am sure he did. Did those days perhaps prepare him for days when he could convey his dreams in a more appropriate manner? Probably they did. Joseph went through the wilderness, he was cast aside by his brothers, thrown into a pit and left for dead. Joseph wasn't perfect but he pursued God and God brought him out of the pit and through the wilderness and gave him a prominent position. Would that have been possible without the pit experience, without the strengthening of his faith?

Feeling alone while crossing ones wilderness, mountain or valley can be very lonely and exhausting. One is tempted to look for a way out, a short cut, to do anything but wait on God. During this time, the verse stating that Gods ways are perfect (Psalm 18:30) seems way out there and hard to put faith in. I have tried, sometimes with a great amount of determination to find a way out of my dilemmas, only to make them worse. Sometimes the way out or the shortcut seems so appealing, when you're crossing that wilderness and you see a stream, who doesn't want to stop?

This is where God asks us to trust him with all of our heart and to lean not on our own understanding (proverbs 3:5).

Isaiah 55:8-9 (http://www.biblegateway.com)

New International Version (NIV)

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The other side of the wilderness is beautiful, it is a spiritual kind of resting place, a place where it suddenly dons on you "the beautiful learning you have received and the greater intimacy you have with God". Its not necessarily a resting place of material bounty, but of spiritual bounty and intimacy with God. The learning's may be such as increased faith, patience, love, mercy, etc.

As I am in mid life and feeling somewhat broken from life's rides, I am learning that there is a beauty in depending on God to meet my needs. Its a hard lesson to learn and even harder to maintain, but perhaps this is part of my life's lessons, to increase my dependence on God such that it is for all things and in all situations. Its not easy to turn to God first.
I am learning that as God had a plan for Joseph, he does for me too, I need to pursue God through the tough spots if I want to realise on his plan for me.

On any given day, can I say this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it? Can I do this, resting in and trusting in the fact that he has a plan and that regardless of my current situation, he is in control? Can I be at peace with that?

Its not easy and some times it does feel like a donkey trail going nowhere fast.

Adie - All I Need Is You
I Won't Let Go - Rascal Flatts - Lyrics
When peace like a river (it is well with my soul), with lyrics
When peace like a river
This is the Day