Caved In

Back up against the wall, there is no one you can call, everything you started with is beginning to fall,...WHAT DO YOU DO?!

I have often been a high candidate for situations like this several times in my life during my early and late 20s era. Often the same circumstances would come up and I would be left with feeling like I was pressed under survival mode with no way out. I was frustrated, alienated, miserable, broken hearted and furious with life and myself. And I had no one who understood where I was at, but had all the advice in the world even though, they had not had one moment to walk in my shoes. I began to ask the questions why?! Why me? I need to get out of this. Then I am reminded of what happened when life caved in again and who I ran to.....Jesus!

Ultimately, God heard my cries when I realized I could no longer handle stuff myself. But what I'm about to tell you is more eye opening than it seems. I've been reading in the book of Hosea chapter 2. Around this time in the Bible, the Israelites had been sinning like no other and serving everything else but God. When I mean serving and sinning, I literally mean doing EVERYTHING under the sun that goes against our Heavenly Father and ultimately hurts Him, ourselves and others. If you ever notice, when people begin to start doing things they aren't supposed to do, they begin to do it more and more (causing their heart and spirit to change) and they are ultimately a slave to the very thing they are indulged in. They can't stop because that very thing, that is connected to a fleshly desire, continues to call to them in order for the urge to be fulfilled. This is the result of how people have a hard time getting off of drugs and more. Imagine trying harder to fight other desires when you want to get back on track and live your life.

Well the life of the Israelites were something similar to what I described and God was not pleased. However, what I discovered in this chapter is the love God has for His people because ultimately, He desires for you to have a good/blessed life. Yes, trials and tribulations do come, but those come to test our faith (having confidence and belief in God that He will see us through) and continuously develop our character. So reading this chapter, something popped up. God informs the reader that:

"Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and wall her in, so that she cannot find her paths. She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, but not find them." (Verse 6-7)

"She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after lovers; But Me she forgot," says the Lord. (Verse 13)

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her." (Verse 14)

"I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in loving kindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord." (Verse 19-20)

Let me explain to you how much I analyzed my life at this moment! In my own life, I had chased things ("lovers") that ultimately did not serve me and/or were trying to destroy me. In the things I was chasing, I was forgetting about God. I never came to seek Him for help or instructions on how to handle certain situations in my life. Making people idols, as if they were the wisest, and trying to live the life they lived, knowing that's not who I was at the core, i began to crack. I got walled in.... SEVERAL TIMES! And once the walls caved in my mind and heart went straight to the one that I forgot about, God.

God is clever, caring and patient. A plan to allow things to crumble but not kill you in order to bring you back to the Father is honestly only something that God could have thought about. We humans are smart but not that smart. Being brought to a place of "wilderness" is when you honestly acknowledge that you are by yourself and there is no way out. And when you actually come back to the Father with an open heart and repentance, is when you begin to know Him and He is faithful to us. He does work everything out for us. And all that mattered was us not walking away from Him or forgetting Him and abiding by His law, because we do get lost going our own way. So what does this mean for ourselves?

Are you in a wilderness? Do you feel like the walls have caved in? Can you have a moment to yourself? It might be time to go seek God. You may be entering into a wilderness season and God desires to bring you words of comfort, direction, correction and more. It's time for you to have a moment with God because you've been chasing some things that are not ideal for you and He wants to be faithful to you and provide and protect like a Father would. Don't let the caved walls and wilderness cause you any fear. It's time to step forward to your Father!