Encounters With God

A Highway in the Wilderness
“Make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.” (Isa_40:3, NIV)
Perhaps God has placed you in a wilderness season to make ready a highway for the Lord. Maybe there are things that need to happen in your life to prepare you for what God wants to happen through your life.
Often God hides us away in interest of larger service. He must first draw us away from the things we are doing, in order to lead us unto the better thing He wants to do through us. So maybe, just maybe, this dry stretch you are going through is God’s way of drawing you away from what you have been doing, so He can take you into what He can and will do.
Years ago Jack Taylor taught me to pray, “Lord do in me anything You need to do, so You can do through me everything You want to do!” I highly recommend this prayer to you. The Lord will not fail to answer it thoroughly.
Isaiah continues, “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.” The purpose of this massive overhaul, this earth-moving endeavor, is to build a highway for God so that the glory of the Lord may be revealed. “And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Could it be that the Lord wants to reveal His glory in and through you? But in order to do so, He must first prepare you in the wilderness.
My encouragement to you is to not despair during this long stretch of lethargic duty and unrewarded faithfulness — God is indeed up to something special, and you will thank Him profusely when the day comes and you see it.
I think of Naomi and her great sorrow during a time of famine and loss. The draught and famine in Israel drove her to the land of Moab. There her husband and two sons died, leaving her with two daughter-in-laws who were Moabites. When she decided to return to Israel, Ruth insisted on staying with her.
Naomi replied, “Oh, how I grieve for you that the Lord has punished me in a way that injures you” (Rth_1:13, Living Bible). This is an unusual point of view. The bitterness of Naomi’s heart hindered her from thinking clearly, and caused her to speak things that were not true. The fact is that the Lord did not punish her at all; rather He brought her through her trials to a place of great honor and blessing for both herself and Ruth.
You see, Ruth became the wife of Boaz, father of Oded, who was the father of Jesse, the father of David. This placed Naomi in the royal lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Her “dry time” proved to be the very means of a profound and enriching work of God on her behalf. She thought God was punishing her. Instead He was preparing her for a place in history! The Apostle Paul said it best, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom_8:16).
So, lift up your eyes my friend – and have a bowl of cheerios! Better days are ahead for you.