Focus: God's Normal In A Subnormal Place

Text: Ps.107:35,36

"He TURNETH the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings. And there he MAKETH the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation."

God made the wilderness a habitable place for His people. What a God! God is taking you to a city, but you must go through the wilderness. What a gap between a wilderness and a city! The gap is too wide. They are poles apart. You can't begin to compare them. Only a contrast exists between them.

In order for you to understand what I am talking about, let me show you from the Scripture what the wilderness is. See how Moses describes the wilderness through which Israel passed! "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness…" (Dt.32:10).

The wilderness is:

*A place of pits - Gen.37:22

*A place of waste - Dt.32:10.

*A place of no water - Ex.15:22.

*A place of serpents and scorpions. Moses wrote, "Who led thee through that GREAT and TERRIBLE wilderness, wherein were FIERY SERPENTS, and SCORPIONS, and DROUGHT, where there was NO WATER; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint" (Dt.8:15).

*A place of temptations - Mt.4:1; Mk.1:12.

*A place of traps - Ex.7:16; 8:27,28; 14:3

*A place of murmurings - Ex.16:2.

*A place of God's tempting - Num.14:22; Heb.3:9,10.

*A place of unbelief - Heb.3:12,18-19.

*A place of wandering - Gen.21:14; Num.14:33.

*A place of insanity - Lk.8:29.

*A place of wasting and death due to unbelief - Num.14:29,32,35.

I can go on and on. The wilderness is place of great evil. It is place where you can be bitten by serpents at any time. Our world is a wilderness of sorts. Here on earth we are experiencing all sorts of problems. It is a place of moral ruination. Here joy never lasts. Happiness is interrupted by sadness, and laughter disappears in a moment.

We are not in our final place yet. God is moving us to His city. That is the ultimate place of rest. Right now we are journeying through the wilderness. This world, regardless of how good, that is, depending on where you are standing though, is a desert.

But here is the point. God gives us a normal life in an abnormal place. In the place of the subnormal God gives us a normal life. He TURNS our wilderness into a standing water, and a dry ground into watersprings. That is God's normal for us. A place of no water yields water for a child of God. In the place of hopelessness we are hopeful. In the place of entrapment God makes a way for His people. Yes, our God makes a way in the wilderness! God wants us to live a normal life even in this wilderness of a world. God makes a horrible and terrible wilderness where He has found us a livable place for us.

God is also taking us out of the wilderness where He found us to His city. He is taking us to a city He builds, makes and owns. One day we will be able to say, "I have come to mount Zion, the city of the living God." Abraham saw that city afar off, and we have it on record, that the builder and maker of it is God.

We can live a normal life in our wilderness. The wilderness can become a place of worship, of feasting before the Lord, and of serving the Lord (Ex.3:18; 5:1). It can become the place of God's dwelling, the place of sacrifices to God, the place of God's glory, the place of manna from heaven, and indeed the place of the miraculous.

The wilderness is not our final place, but it is a place where God miraculously provides for His people. God helps us to enjoy normal life in a subnormal world, and enables us to live a supernormal life in an abnormal environment. Child of God, enjoy God anyhow! God is turning your dry ground into your due ground. He is turning a water-less place into a standing water. He is opening springs for you in the desert. Right here in this world you can experience a normal life. The Lord is your Shepherd; you shall not lack. He provides abundantly for us even in the place of lack or scarcity. Normal is still possible in an abnormal or subnormal place. Trust your God to do the impossible, because He really does. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter