 |
| Image credit churchofjesuschrist.org |
Back in August 2019, the Lord started showing me that a new
season was approaching of entering into the shepherd field like David.
When I reflected on this and deepened my understanding of this scripture in 1
Samuel 17, I had no idea why this would be a necessary season. Today as I
reflect on all that is happening in the world, I went back to my journal to see
what God revealed to me at that time as we are in a season of uncertainty that
seems daunting and desolate. Globally we are fighting a human pandemic or
plague if you will, called Coronavirus. The number of cases and the death
toll are staggering. The impact of the front line
warriors of nurses, doctors and emergency personnel is exhaustive. The
massive effects of a shaken uncertain impact on the economy is eroding businesses
and “business as usual” because it is under a mounting strain of an
unprecedented national debt never seen before, a global panic as many are
displaced and out of work, desperation of hoarding resources, and the faith
community scrambling to make sense of being outside the four walls. We
are even seeing the earth groaning with more severe and intense destructive
weather patterns.
I hear often that individuals are starting to get cabin
fever, missing community fellowship, and gatherings. I have heard the
Lord is setting the plumb line for His divine order by putting first things
last and bringing the last things to the forefront. This includes
removing our idols, our busyness, our priorities that have been placed over our
relationship with the Lord. I know it seems lonely and we are isolated
from the very things that were our comfort and habitual way of living.
Which brings me to David in the shepherd field who must have felt very lonely
as he tended sheep, isolated from human contact or fellowship, no comforts of
nice meals or home life. David was confronting alone predators like lions
and bears in the night preying over his flock which was his families livelihood.
I imagine he was also confronting his own personal internal demons as a result
of sitting in the isolation and silence so much. We too may be feeling
like David in the shepherd field right now, but perhaps this is the reality of
the place where God needed to bring us to reset our priorities, to learn to go
deeper in our relationship with the Lord, to depend on the Lord in our times of
struggles and confronting our demons instead of other external sources.
Even though chaos is all around us, may we continue to
rejoice in the Lord and as Paul says, “Count it all joy.” It is a time
where God is refining and purging us so that He can increase our
territory. The Lord is using this moment in history to PREPARE us for the
things that are yet to come that we cannot fathom or believe even if the Lord
Himself told us (Habakkuk 1:5). This is our training and equipping ground
to become faithful warriors and a worshipful servant like David. David
didn’t slay Goliath prematurely in his own strength or worldly weapons or ways,
but in 1 Sam 17:45 he stated, “That he came in the name of the Lord Almighty,
the God of armies of Israel whom Goliath defied.” David proclaimed in
verse 46-47 that, “This day the Lord will deliver you (Goliath) into my hands
and I’ll (David) strike you down and cut off your head.”
David knew God was with Him in the that moment. David
knew God intimately and where his strength came from. David knew he was
fighting principalities of evil and not the physical things or people of this
world. David grew to this place of a warrior for God through his many
lonely days and nights in the shepherd field as a simple, lowly, looked down
upon shepherd boy. At David’s appearance, others thought of him as
unimportant, but God equipped him with a mighty force for the Lord. All
of this was the humble beginnings of God preparing David to become a leader of
a nation. This didn’t happen overnight, but happened in the midst of
unlikely circumstances and environment of a shepherd field. The Lord was
establishing and setting the plumb line as in Zechariah 4:10 it says, “Do not
despise these small beginnings (or I would like to say these isolated lonely
places) for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin to see the plumb line in
Zerubbabel’s hand.”
I encourage you to embrace our shepherd field experience
right now because God is increasing our courage to fight, giving us boldness to
speak, setting our confidence in the Lord alone, increasing our trust in God,
giving us divine empowerment through the Holy Spirit, and about to move us
closer to our assigned destiny. It is a time to abide with the Lord in
the uncomfortableness of the shepherd field praying, worshiping and meditating
on the word as God continues to align each of us and set the plumb line.
His promise is that, “He surrounds me with His favor as with a shield" (Psl
5:12). “Surely, you will know you are my hiding place, you will protect
me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance” (Psl 32:7).
Surely, God did this, “That the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that the
people may know and you might always fear the Lord your God (Joshua 4:24).
Our breakthrough and promotion is coming from the shepherd
field. God is about to do something new so may we embrace the shepherd field experience and draw closer to God abiding with the Almighty. God is with us. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment