Barren but Alive: When “Nothing” is Happening
By Lim MY
Photo by Javier Ezpeleta on Unsplash
“Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; forty years learning he was nobody; and forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
- Dwight L. Moody
As disciple makers, harvest workers, or affinity team leaders, hard work is probably not something we fear. Sometimes, the more difficult thing may be persevering despite an apparent lack of “progress”. It can often feel like nothing is happening.
Despite your heart and time and effort…
Despite the clear sense of call…
Despite the confirmation and promises that God gave to you.
At some point in our lives, we have heard God’s invitation welcoming us into His Kingdom and into His household. It’s exciting, but then the signposts seem to disappear. Faithfulness doesn’t seem to produce fruit. We get distracted from those two central invitations, or circumstances quench our enthusiasm.
Joseph spent some of the prime years of his life locked away in prison. Maybe, this is like some of us who have been tied down by the responsibilities of a young family or aged and sick parents. The circumstances that make us feel stuck and unable to give our best to fulfil our dreams for God are so numerous and sometimes only known to us and God.
What a waste.
“Isn’t it better that I am released from these earthly burdens to serve Your heavenly purposes, Lord?”
“If I didn’t have to go through that betrayal and end up with these wounds, God, then I could have done SO MUCH MORE.”
But when I start thinking like that, I ask myself, “What belongs to God?”
In Matt 6:30, Jesus said, “But if God clothes the grass of the field, which is today alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
In this verse lies the answer to my question - the “so much more” belongs to God.
The “so much more” God can do goes beyond providing for our physical needs. And God can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power that is at work within us…”(Eph 3:20)
What is God doing?
The next question to ask, then, may be what God is doing in this season that seems barren.
Here are some truths that may help discern what God is doing in your life right now:
A. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are developed in opposition.
Consider how joy is developed through passing the valley of Baca (weeping).(Ps 84:6)
Consider how peace is developed through confusion, strife and storms. (Mark 4:39)
Patience is refined through a steadfast continuance in difficult situations (including those that involve waiting). (James 5:7)
God is interested in our hearts, not in our hands. When nothing is happening, God is inviting us to look within. Jesus is within us. The kingdom of God is within us. He is doing something IN us. Sometimes, it is not about what we can do for God or others. Sometimes, God just wants to build His character in us.
B. God is surfacing something fundamental to the next chapter of our service
These could be parts of us that need to be pruned away. The period of non-activity surfaces such issues so that God can deal with them. The pruning shapes us into a ready posture for the “so much more”. (More about the new wineskins in another post!
Joseph’s “wasted” time in prison led the young man into knowing what belongs to God
And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.” (Gen 40:8)
It may be that God wants to show us what belongs to Him and is His to carry - our future, our family’s salvation, our team, the urban village, and the affinity group that God has called us to sow into.
Towards the end of his imprisonment, it was evident that Joseph had grown in humility before God.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.” So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” (Gen 41:15-16)
Pharaoh gave Joseph a golden opportunity to glorify himself, but Joseph chose to glorify God. The response of Joseph, the man, was a stark contrast to the boy who used to tell his brothers his dreams in such an arrogant way.
The wiser Joseph knew that God alone had the answer.
God’s work of character building was being accomplished in Joseph, even when he might have thought nothing was happening.
A period of training lies between being called and being placed. Training isn’t just for skills that equip us for the assignment. Character is equally important.
Someone has said, “All men that God uses greatly, He prepares greatly.” We see 80 years of training and preparation for Moses, 30 years for Jesus, and years, perhaps decades, for Joseph
In the meantime…
While God is training, testing, and proving our character, what should we be doing or not doing?
The key is faithfully obeying the last thing God spoke to us about. (1 Sam 28:6,18)
I will never forget how, on a train passing through the Swiss Alps, I asked God why He had given me the opportunity to travel to spectacular Switzerland, only to see the continuous grey and brown landscape of leafless vegetation. “They are barren, just like my life right now, God.”
In His mercy, God answered in His gentle, wise whisper, “Barren...but alive.” Nothing on the trees but it is not the end. Something is brewing. When the temperature changes, a new season will come.
Maybe you’re feeling barren personally. Perhaps you’re struggling with the tension between what you currently see in your harvest field or team, and what God has put on your heart.
Whatever barrenness might look like for us right now, may we walk through our barren seasons in joyful hope of a time when the conditions are right, and the flowers will bud again.
Reflection and Response
As you think about God's vision for your city and/or affinity group:
What comes to mind when you think of “fruitfulness”? Consider John 15:1-11 & Galatians 5:13-26 and think about how we can better align with His definitions.
Jesus mentioned that the seeds sown on good ground are those who hear the word, accept it and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty and some a hundred. What does this mean for us?
In this season when God seems quiet, what practical action step could you take to lean in to the reality of God's action?
Discipling the Urban Harvest provides practical insights and encouragement to walk with God in multiplying discipleship in an increasingly urban world - growing as children of the Father, serving the communities He has called us to, and discipling those hungry to know Him.