Tonight, while driving home from a bridal shower of a young lady that I have known and mentored for the past 6 years, the Lord spoke ever so gently to me about recognizing the season that we are in.

 

You see, when I first met this young lady she and I did not "click", she seemed "hard to reach" and it appeared that there was nothing I could do to break through to her. I struggled with the tension in our relationship because I had never had a problem connecting with young people.

John 4:1-9

 

Not always did I feel that the favor of the Lord was upon my life. As I struggled with my own demons and encountered trial after trail after trail, I began to doubt that I was a child of God. I questioned the calling on my life and began to dry-out and weather as a result of the everyday storms. Much like the Samaritan women at the well, my thirst for love and validation left me drowning in a pool of sin.

I’ve heard many preach that this woman was at the well in the sixth hour of the day because she had been shamed and didn’t wish for anyone to see her.

"Many of man wander the earth for a lifetime never having submitted their will to God and accepted their assignment."

 

 

You know, I have read and often been taught the story of Ruth. And, while everyone acknowledges the favor God had shown toward Ruth and the calling on her life, many have often minimized the role that Naomi played in the story. Many have depicted Naomi as the bitter, helpless mother-inlaw who cursed God and to whom Ruth felt seemingly indebted to.

More and more I am realizing the need to spend personal time with the Lord. And, as I was reading my devotional this morning it talked about that very thing. Many times I come in contact with Christians who confess a longing to hear God's voice, to discern when He is speaking to them. I'll admit at times I too struggle to decipher whether  its God's voice that I hear or  that of my own self-serving ego.

 

So, today I did something that I have not done in quite some time. I got up close and personal with my God, not through prayer, but rather through mediation.

"An empty vessel is merely a miracle about to materialize."

Sometimes it seems that the only opportunity to be filled is when we have been totally emptied out- void of everything. It's usually during these bankrupt experiences that we grow fearful, frustrated, angry, anxious and apathetic. 

I will be the first to admit that I am in a spiritual drought - a season of dehydration. I have given all that I have and I've lost myself along the way. Yet even in my fractured state my faith in God is flawless.

Over the past few weeks, my pastor has referenced the state of desperation in which one must dwell, to be motivated to move into a position to receive God’s favor. Zacchaeus of Jericho (a tax collector), heard that the Son of God was passing by and wanted to set eyes on Him. However, being a man of short stature he was over-shadowed by the large crowd. Thus, he ran ahead and climbed a Sycamore-fig tree in order to get a mere glimpse of the Lord. The Word tells us that Jesus blessed Zacchaeus in spite of his profession and the perception that people held of him.