Andrea Crouch wrote a song that every believer can relate to. The chorus goes like this: “Through it all, Through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God.” Seems like when life seems to be going great, things appear to be predictable and under control, our expectations are being fulfilled, it is harder to develop trust and a desperate relationship with Jesus. I think it's part of what Jesus was trying to teach His disciples when He told them, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23-24) The point is, there's nothing wrong with being rich...as there is nothing wrong with enjoying the blessings of life...but Martin Luther would never have written A Mighty Fortress is Our God if he did not experiencing the hardships and unpredictability of his life during the Reformation. Paul too credits the humility, stress, and pain he suffered as God's way of conforming and directing him to Christ.

This is one of the blessings of being older...you can now see how those painful experiences, those hours spent in anxious uncertainty, those seemingly dry, thirsty deserts we passed through all made us more God focused, God dependent, driven to the Word and prayer. God works that way in all our lives.

Today's My Utmost for His Highest reminds us of this Truth that Matters:

“Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him— pay attention when God puts you into darkness, and keep your mouth closed while you are there. Are you in the dark right now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? If so, then remain quiet. If you open your mouth in the dark, you will speak while in the wrong mood— darkness is the time to listen. Don't talk to other people about it; don't read books to find out the reason for the darkness; just listen and obey. If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else once you are back in the light.

After every time of darkness, we should experience a mixture of delight and humiliation. If there is only delight, I question whether we have really heard God at all. We should experience delight for having heard God speak, but mostly humiliation for having taken so long to hear Him! Then we will exclaim, “How slow I have been to listen and understand what God has been telling me!” And yet God has been saying it for days and even weeks. But once you hear Him, He gives you the gift of humiliation, which brings a softness of heart— a gift that will always cause you to listen to God now.”

I've been to Red Rocks, CO...a perfect amphitheater carved out of a red rock canyon by God. There, this song was sung that sums up what the “desert places” are intended to bring for the Christian. Sometimes music brings out the “truth matters” better than words:

I'm Desperate For You - Red Rocks Worship - Lyric Video - YouTube

My prayer for you and me this day is this: Lord, we thank You for the times when You bring us to an end of ourselves. Those are the times You become precious to us. We learn to walk ever more closely to You. For those times, we thank You. “What a friend We have in Jesus...What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.” Amen.

Walk with the King today and be a blessing.