20/20: God's Vision For My LifeНамуна

’Round and ’Round

By Robb Brewer

About 40,000 equipped for war, crossed for battle before the Lord to the desert plains of Jericho. Joshua 4:13

In my house, chores are shared among those who live there. Over time, I’ve learned to recognize the difference between the chores I have a knack for, and those that are best left to others. Yard work is mine, as well as the basic “this-needs-to-be-fixed” stuff. Cooking, however, is not my strength.

So when my wife leaves town to be with extended family or for a personal sabbatical, I’m responsible for a chore that strangely makes me feel like I’m in the wilderness—lost and unsure. As the father of four children, I know all too well that kids get cantankerous when they’re hungry; so it’s not like I can ignore the chore until my wife returns.

The microwave oven has turned out to be quite a handy tool to help me navigate out of the wilderness. Toss in your food, press the start button and four minutes later, you get a solid dining experience. Sure, the taste and nutrition are nothing to brag about, but it gets the job done—the family gets fed.

Most microwaves have a turntable that spins like a merry-go-round, exposing every side of the food to all that microwave-heating goodness. Watching food turn is actually quite a boring experience. It just whirls around, over and over again with little discernable change.

Becoming equipped in the kingdom of God is definitely not a microwavable experience in that it’s not an instant process. You can’t show up to a weekend service, attend a couple of classes, and bingo!—you’re equipped. The timer for becoming equipped extends well beyond four minutes; it is a lifetime process. However, there are some similarities between being equipped and a microwave in that spiritual growth can often feel like you’re sitting on a microwave turntable going ’round and ’round, doing nothing, and experiencing little discernible change.

Although the food in my microwave may appear to be unchanged, something is actually happening on the inside. Every time the food makes one rotation, it’s a little bit different than it was before. Those changes may be miniscule, but they are changes nonetheless. One spin doesn’t cut it. My food is made edible due to the cumulative effect of multiple rotations.

In the same way, spiritual growth may feel like a never-ending, repetitious ride that just goes ’round and ’round in circles, especially when you feel like you’re in the wilderness. You might find yourself thinking, “Haven’t I been here before?” or “Why do I have to return to this barren place?” The voice of the Lord seems distant. The scenery looks uncomfortably familiar, and you’re stuck with the sinking feeling that you’re not moving forward.

It’s important to understand that becoming equipped isn’t an assembly line process. It’s less about moving forward than it is about being changed into the image of God. Spiritual growth sometimes pops suddenly like a bag of popcorn, but more often than not, it’s slow and methodical. Equipping is about sitting on the turntable of spiritual growth and allowing the Word of heaven to bake the spiritual dough of our hearts. Every time you make a rotation, even though it may seem familiar, you are different. You’ve been “baked” a little more…you’re a little closer to being complete.

Exodus 13 tells us the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt. As they depart, God doesn’t send them along a straight path to their destination, because that road leads through hostile territory where war is imminent. Instead, God sends the nation of Israel into the wilderness. What seemed to be cruel and unnecessary to the wandering Israelites was really a move of great love and protection from an ever-present God. In verse 18, the Bible says that they left Egypt “equipped” for battle. Think about that for a second. The Israelites left Egypt equipped for battle, but God didn’t send them into battle, because He knew they weren’t ready for it yet. How is it, then, that they were “equipped”?

The word used in this verse for “equip” doesn’t mean fully prepared. It’s a word that describes how they were organized. A better interpretation might be, “they left Egypt looking like an army heading to war.” It simply means they didn’t leave Egypt fleeing for their lives. They were organized and victorious, but they were definitely not “equipped” for battle. In fact, when the Egyptians chased after the Israelites, God didn’t leave them to fight their own war. He fought for them Himself and drowned their enemies in the Red Sea.

As the story of the Israelites’ exodus continues, we quickly see just how unready they were for battle. In short order, they prove themselves to be disobedient grumblers and complainers—unable to possess the land promised to them generations before. So God directs them into an equipping process that turns out to be a lifelong journey and full of wilderness experiences. The turning process begins. Forty years of wandering through a desert—of thinking, “Haven’t we been here before?” and “Why this barren place?” But each turn leaves them a little more “cooked”—a little more equipped.

Finally, after many years of turning in the wilderness, they reached their destination…their journey was complete. When the nation crosses over the Jordan River, the Bible says that “about 40,000 equipped for war crossed for battle before the Lord to the desert plains of Jericho” (Joshua 4:13). This time the use of the word “equipped” means fully prepared, lacking nothing, and ready. The Israelites had stopped being posers. They were the real deal—fully equipped and prepared for battle. But that didn’t come without their time of turning in the wilderness.

When we choose Christ as our Savior, we step onto a path of becoming equipped for everything God wants us to do and become. That path might seem painfully repetitive, but each pass reflects necessary and significant progress in our spiritual DNA. You are different than when you were here last.

Hold tight to that spinning plate. Keep turning. You will have victory. You will be made in His image. You will be equipped.

A Christian is never in a state of completion but always in the process of becoming.
~ Martin Luther

Memory Verse

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11–13