(Note from Linda: Becky, a FAM member with a restored marriage, posted the following message on the private site, and since it’s such a powerful and encouraging message for everyone standing for marriage restoration, I want to share it here as well! If ever we question the wisdom and power of Proverbs 3:5-6, this Old Testament story should put all of our doubts and questions to rest, because the Israelites just had to trust God with all of their hearts and sure would have been in BIG trouble if they had leaned on their own understanding! Just look what trouble the Moabites got into when they did that! And what powerful reminder that things are NOT always what they might SO “reasonably” appear to be! So no matter what we hear and see, or don’t hear and see, let’s put our faith in God to SUPERNATURALLY do the impossible and to make every provision for all of our needs and then some! And when we start digging through all of those things that keep the Lord from working in our lives (unforgiveness, self-righteousness, pride, and failure to trust and obey and love and respect our spouses unconditionally for starters), we will without a doubt be blessed and encouraged beyond belief as His blessings and provisions begin to flow in our lives and the restoration of our marriages and families!)

*****
Hi Everyone,

I want to share a passage of scripture that the Lord has been reminding me of from II Kings 3 (NKJV), when the Lord tells His people to “Make this valley full of ditches.” God was instructing his people to make room for the provision of God, and there are many lessons in this passage of scripture we can learn when we are in tough places of life and need God’s miraculous and supernatural provision.

This story starts out with the Moabites rebelling against Israel. So the King of Israel King Jehoram (son of Ahab and Jezebel) went to King Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, and asks him to join him in fighting the Moabites. King Jehoshaphat agrees, so they made a plan to take a certain route through the dry wilderness and catch them by surprise. However, they found themselves in trouble when they ran out of water. King Jehoram blamed God because it looked like they would all die out there. But King Jehoshaphat said, “You know, that doesn’t sound like the God I serve. Is there not a prophet that we can inquire of the Lord what to do?” So the first lesson is that when we find ourselves in a dry place and it looks like there is no way out…seek the Lord about what to do.

So they brought in Elisha. And just look at what Elisha did when he wanted a word from God in verse 15…”But now bring me a musician.” Then it happened; when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. So the second lesson is that when we need a fresh word from the Lord, a word for the “right now season”…do as Elisha did and begin to worship the Lord; and when we begin to worship, we will find clarity in our mind and the Lord will speak to us.

Then the word of the Lord came in verse 16, and He said, “Make this valley full of ditches.” And verse 17 goes on to say, “For thus says the Lord: you shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.”

What the Lord told them made no sense in the natural because they were out in the hot, dry desert, where there was no water; yet the Lord was telling them to go dig ditches. So the third lesson is to be quick to obey what the Lord tells us to do, even though it may not make sense in our own minds.

Notice that the Lord said, “You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain, yet the valley will be filled with water.” So as always, God was saying that we won’t necessarily see where the provision is coming from, but He will provide. As we stand for our marriages, we don’t always see how God is working, but we can rest assured that He is at work.

So as the people were digging ditches, they were making room for God’s promised provision even though they didn’t know how it was going to be done. And since we know that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, we need to be digging ditches to make room for the provision God has promised us. We particularly need to dig the ditches needed to make room for His provision of marriage restoration, which means that we all need to dig ditches of forgiveness and make room for the flow of God’s spirit to come into our lives to bring us peace, refreshment, newness of life and fruitfulness. So I’m asking God to show me what ditches I need to dig in my life.

But a two-fold miracle took place here. Not only did God refresh them with water and save them from certain destruction; just look at verse 18….”And this is a simple matter in the sight of the Lord; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.” Don’t you just love that part…this is a simple matter in the sight of the Lord! God not only wants to refresh us with His presence and give us newness of life; He will deal with our enemies too!

Then He gave them instruction again in verse 19…”Also you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall cut down every good tree, and stop up every spring of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” So the fourth lesson is that when God gives us victory over our enemies, we are to burn the bridges behind us; crippling the enemies’ ability to recover and regroup to attack us so easily again. And we do that by using the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of the Living God, prayer, fasting, faith, obedience, and other spiritual disciplines.

It’s very easy to get complacent when we see the enemy start to retreat, but we are not to stop there; we are to be vigilant and relentless, and not stop until complete and total victory is won! So we can’t lose sight of the vision God has given us for completely restored marriages functioning as God intends; where both husband and wife are fulfilling the plans and purposes God has for our marriages and lives. So don’t settle for anything less, and don’t give the enemy room to regroup and attack again.

As we continue to read, we see just how God accomplished this amazing miracle. There was a storm beyond the mountains that they could not see or hear, but in the morning, the water came up through the ground and filled those ditches. And if they had not dug those ditches as instructed by the Lord, they would not have the water He provided. So the first miracle was the provision of the water to refresh them.

But our God always does exceedingly above all we ask or think and He wasn’t done yet! When the Moabites heard they were there and came out to fight them, God literally brought them to the Israelites so they could readily defeat them, as described in verse 22…”Then they rose up early in the morning and the sun was shining on the water; and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood.” Since that area was not known to have rivers or bodies of water, when the sun rose in the sky and reflected on the pools of water, the Moabites wrongly assume that the three kings’ armies had turned on themselves, and that it was blood they saw. So they thought they wouldn’t have to fight, and could just go in and plunder the spoils, which is what they did in a very disorganized fashion. So Israel was able to defeat them and utterly destroyed them.

God has already made provision for us, so we need to make room for it in our lives. Therefore, we need to ask God to show us the ditches we need to dig in our lives to make room for the flow of His supernatural miracle working power in our lives. So let’s start digging some of those ditches today and make room for God’s provision!

Posted Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 8:05 pm in Seeds Of Faith.