Exile

I will soon be finishing up a study with the Narrated Chronological Bible. I'm no biblical scholar by any means, but I've read the Bible through a couple of times (as long as you count skimming and not understanding a lot of it). This time is different. I am on a journey with what started as 21 other people, and has gone down to about 10-12 faithfuls. If it weren't for them, I'm quite certain I wouldn't have made it. We have shared together, prayed for each other, and met along the way, learning one step at a time together. I'm grateful for this dear, albeit odd, group that has walked with me.

One of my goals for our class is to gain better understanding of the flow of Scripture as God's story, then relate it into our own lives where we realize we have been invited in to His story. We don't have time to go through the exegesis and profound insights of the Scripture that we are reading. It's a good thing, because I don't have anything profound to add. I'm a learner, with much more still to learn than what I have begun to grasp. Yet God's grace abounds and they put up with me attempting to encourage them and lead them on.

This time through, the layers are going a little deeper. More of the pieces of the puzzle are clicking together. It's starting to make a little more sense. But what has made this time especially different is that I see our story on the pages of Scripture. Never before have words like rescue, redemption, and healing meant so much to me.

I became a Christian over twenty-five years ago. I'm not one who knows the exact date, but I've been genuinely, though not perfectly, walking with the Lord during that time. Yet it is only in the past two years that I have had greater insight on what my salvation means to me. Through circumstances that I had no control over, my husband and I ended up in the pit two years ago. It didn't initially involve me, but being one with my husband meant that in some ways, I went with him. Where it did involve me was with the refining God had in mind for my heart as well.

This past year in my journey through Scripture, I walked with the Israelites through exile. Todd and I both did in our faith journeys. At times it felt we were cast away in the wilderness, kicked out, rebuked and punished. I think the only person in this world who can understand the depth of that loss and pain in that season is Todd. To anyone else, it's just words. How grateful I am that we walked it together. It was in that spiritual exile where we most profoundly experienced our Savior, Deliverer, Healer, and the Lover of our souls.

It sounds odd, but I've come to love that place of spiritual exile. Hosea 2:14-15 expresses some of God's heart there. "But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her out into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt."

No longer are these just words on the page to me. No longer is this a story of history, covered in years of dust. What my heart would have described as trouble, God called a gateway of hope. God redeemed us from the pit, lifted us out, and completely transformed our lives. We have learned more volumes than seminary had time to teach us. We will never be the same.

"When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba as a ransom for your freedom. Others died that you might live. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to Me. You are honored, and I love you." Isaiah 43:2-4

God's great purpose in allowing the Israelites to walk through exile, was that He would teach them, grow them, and bring them through it. The Israelites celebrate how God brought them up out of Egypt where they were slaves. Egypt is our bondage too. The freedom He brought to the Israelites, He brings to us in very personal, tangible ways if we will allow Him to.

Hallelujah, the exile came to an end! The exiles are not forgotten! Deliverance is promised. Salvation comes. There is certainty of restoration. "In favor I will show you compassion...you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise...for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your days of sorrow will end. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly." Isaiah 60 I long for better words to praise the One who brings us through.

For as much as the Bible is a book of history of God's activity, a prophecy of what will come, it is living and active today. God intends for us to take it personally. Where have you found yourself in those pages?