Who is that Coming Up from the Wilderness?

God’s great goal for our life is not that we would be successful, fulfilled, liked by everyone around us, or anything else that we are all so prone to look to for satisfaction.

God’s great goal is that we would be unified in love with Him.

Lent is a beautiful season to reframe our focus — have we subtly bought into the Western lie that our life is about our satisfaction?

As we meditate on Jesus’s crucifixion this week and next, we are invited to remember that the pathway to true life in following Christ is not through fulfilling goals, financial breakthroughs, or the acclaim of the people in our life — it’s through death.

The good news is that if we accept this countercultural way, we’ll find life abundant, and more satisfaction than we’ve ever known in God! We’ll receive the gift of God Himself!

This is God’s great goal through it all — that we would be unified in love with Him.

The picture in Song of Songs 7 and 8, the end of the story, is of a Bride unified with her Bridegroom.

The Bride declares:

Compared to Chapter 1, where she follows her Beloved (“Draw me after you…” 1:4) and the whole narrative where there is a sort of game of hide and seek, of seeking and finding, at the end ofthe story the Bride and the Bridegroom go together.

This is further emphasized in Chapter 8, where the onlookers who in previous sections have mocked, questioned, and even abused the Bride look in awe —

This is a beautiful picture of our life in Christ — we come up out of every wilderness, every dark night, and every hard season leaning on Him.

God is more committed to growing us into being people of wholehearted love than he is to our success in the eyes of the world.

Throughout Christian history, saints and theologians alike have long acknowledged “union” as the goal of life in Christ. Writes professor M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. in his classic Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation:

Importantly, he adds that “this is a gift of God’s grace—not a result of our efforts.”

I hope this encourages us in two ways.

First, I hope it’s encouraging that whatever challenge we happen to be facing, we can take comfort in that God’s great goal is not that we overcome, are successful, or even make the right choice — God’s great goal is that we love Him more. Thus, we can fail miserably and make a thousand mistakes — and God is just looking for us to love Him! If we love Him back, we’re successful.

Second, I hope it’s encouraging that we don’t need to work up the effort to be unified with God. His invitation is often (maybe even always) to simply lean in and trust. 

Practically, leaning and trusting can look like death.

In my personal life, I’m facing a couple of decisions, and it’s helpful for me personally to name in those decisions: what is God inviting me to die to?

In fact, in this Lenten season, we are all invited to ask: How might Jesus be leading me to the cross in a new way?

In Galatians 2:19, Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ.” Jesus himself says, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24, NRSVUE). 

Today, I want to invite us to reflect on the reality that as we seek to follow Jesus in this life, we are continually invited to follow him to the cross. This is always where he is leading us!

This doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to sacrifice everything all the time, but I find this is a helpful lens through which to approach every season as a follower of Jesus: what is God inviting me to die to or let go of in this situation or season?

I’d love to encourage us to spend some time today in prayer asking this question: “Lord, in this Lenten season, what are you inviting me to die to or let go of? And how do you want to fill that space with the gift of Yourself?”

So, I’d love to invite us to pray today:

• Begin by taking some deep breaths in and out. Perhaps as you breathe in pray the words from Song of Songs 1:4: “Draw me,” and as you breathe out pray: “after You.”

• Once you feel settled, begin to name with honesty: what might God be inviting you to die to or let go of this season?

• Then, simply talk to the Lord. Ask Him to fill the space left by that death with the gift of Himself!

• Is there any way that God might be inviting you to focus your spiritual practices during Holy Week next week — either by fasting something to challenge God to fill a space in your life with his love or by adding a new rhythm of prayer?

Amen!

P.S. If you made this this far, I’d love to share that Morgan and I are embarking on an exciting new ministry venture this year and we are looking for a team of friends and supporters to come alongside us in some specific ways. A huge part of what’s in our heart is to launch 24-7 Prayer ATL into the wild! If you’d be interested in supporting us in some specific and practical ways, please hit “reply” and I’d love to share about what some of our needs are!