The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted"
In describing the highway for our God, the phrase “every valley shall be exalted” ties in nicely with that theme. What I find interesting though is that the literal phrasing seems to carry an additional layer of meaning. So we’ll need to keep with tradition and define the words behind the English to get a peek under the hood (see: AHLB).
Every = kol (H3605)
Valley = gay (H1516)
Exalted = nasa (H5375)
If we were to just read the meanings of this phrase we’d end up with something like this:
In order to make you whole or complete, your pride needs to be lifted up. Not a lifting up to make it stronger, but lifting of the burden of pride off of you.
The word shalom doesn’t just mean peace -- it means completeness, wholeness. Therefore, this word kol is an action into that state: providing what is needed to make others have shalom.
How often do you consider providing things for others so they can experience this state of completeness?
I think the primary thing that prevents us from serving others in this way is that we are fighting for our own shalom day-in and day-out. We don’t have the time, energy, or resources to provide for others. Sure, we can give away money to cover that call of providing what is needed, but that assumes everyone’s problems are money-based.
I’d argue that 95% of your problems have nothing to do with money. And yet our continual striving to gather as much money as possible takes center stage in our lives. We can’t breathe or see straight at times because we have worked ourselves into the ground in order to have more.
But we don’t really need more, do we? No, we need to provide more. And if it isn’t money, what is it?
Healing.
We all carry so many wounds it isn’t even funny. Wounds from the hands of others and wounds from the hands of ourselves.
Once we get healed, however, we are put back into our initially created state. You were created perfect and wounds have come along to put you in this hardened condition. Your pain today is the culmination of things that have happened to you, lies you’ve believed, and your unwillingness (or not-knowingness) to forgive and repent.
When you realize every person on the planet has this exact same backstory, you should be moved with deep compassion. You should also realize your money will never permeate the depths of people’s pain. Sure there are some programs and books you could supplement, but there is no substitute for learning about people, building relationships, and taking the time to walk them into truth, slowly.
The objective here is turning our lives over to a complete surrender of Abba’s ways. Then teaching and guiding others into that same space. The space of full healing.
Have you ever noticed how your pride can keep you pushed down even though you are trying to force an elevation of yourself? As a result, people ignore or despise you because you are, generally speaking, repulsive. They may not tell you that, but time sure will. It doesn’t take long for people to distance themselves from you.
Why do we carry pride anyway? I think we can look at the valley for an answer.
The valley is obviously lower than the surrounding terrain. Mountains are clearly higher, but even level ground is higher than the valley. Now, the valley may have been formed by just the raising of the mountains or perhaps it was carved out by the continual flow of a river. So it was left behind by others going up or it was pressed down by others forcing their existence over yours.
This makes you feel as though you don’t matter, but deep within ourselves is a huge desire to matter. What’s interesting is that we do matter. We matter to the One that created us. But that isn’t enough, is it? We are more interested in mattering to the world. We want to prove to those that went above us and those that kept us down that we have value. And this behavior leeches into the core of our being, then it permeates into absolutely every area of your life.
This creates pride.
Once we’ve filled ourselves with pride, we are weighted down in such a way that we feel everyone is trying to keep us down. We start to believe lies and create opportunities for wounding. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
To the one crying out in the wilderness, you have a responsibility to bring truth and help these people.
There is a fascinating phrase in the definition of exalted: To lift up a burden or load and carry it.
Can you see the responsibility woven into this meaning? Not just to lift this up but to carry it. Supporting others on their path to healing will require you to do some heavy lifting and carrying.
How does this look practically?
We’ve participated in healing sessions for people that introduced physical sickness in the ones facilitating the healing -- not the one receiving it. In fact, this seems to be the typical model for those that work in healing environments. The things that come after them are almost on the level of fantasy. You can’t make most of this stuff up. While this can show up on the ones receiving ministry, it’s the ones trying to help that experience the brunt of it almost every single time.
It is up to you to help people climb out of their wounded state. You are to show them how they appear in the eyes of God so they can find value in themselves outside of the world. Once they see their value, it’s time to break the pride. This can be quite painful -- for everyone involved. But healing is critical.
When you step into this space, prepare to carry some kind of burden on their behalf. This is temporary so you can at least find some relief in that.
I believe this is the dividing line between those that want to call forth the Messiah and those that do. It’s one thing to give up money or even time, but it is a completely different thing to carry a burden for someone, albeit temporarily. We’re way too selfish to give up our comfort.
But this is the call.
Abba has established authority within you out in the wilderness and it’s there you are crying out.
Calling others to turn from their ways and follow THE Way. And that way is the Messiah. It’s the Torah.
Understand this all begins in darkness and no one will see clearly. But you are called to make a taught path full of a necessary tension. And this path is to rise high above everything else. Do it for our God.
Bring shalom to those that try to cover their pain with pride. This comes with a definite introduction to healing. Lift them up and help carry their burdens.
Full Series:
Day 1 - A Voice Cries Out in the Wilderness
Day 3 - Make Straight in the Desert a Highway
Day 6 - Make the Crooked Places Straight
Day 7 - Make the Rough Ground Smooth
Day 8 - The Glory of YHVH Revealed
Day 9 - All Flesh Will See It Together
Day 10 - The Mouth of YHVH has Spoken