40 Years in the Wilderness

I think we’re on the cusp of something….let me explain.

I’m getting more and more into numbers – and I want to share what I felt like the Lord impressed upon my heart today.

The Isrealites, before they could enter the promised land, wandered in the desert for 40 years.  40 years of punishment because of the lack of faith of 10 men, who said that the Jebusites, Hivites, Amorites, and Girgashites were too formidable.  “We’re like grasshoppers compared to them!” the 10 said. 

Likewise, I think America has been “wandering” for 40 years in its own desert of kinds – and it has to do America’s worship of sex.  Think back to when this started….the free love movement…Vietnam, the hippies, with Bruce Springsteen’s song “Summer of ‘69” being the overarching meta-song that encapsulated so much of that era: sex, drugs, and rock and roll.  Not to be missed is the slang use of the number 69 in a sexual context.

1969 would have been 40 years ago…exactly.  The summer when so much went wrong in America is about to have run her 40 year judgement.  The summer of 2009 just ended 7 days ago.

And already I’m seeing changes in the landscape.  Men by the hundreds are now seeking to have accountability in their internet surfing.  I’ve talked to not 1, not 2, but 4 other men who just have had extended periods of sexual abstinence (from pornography, masturbation, and illicit contact) that started about the same time mine did.  And many more that are in my 12 Step/Celebrate Recovery Group.   

Lots of things happened in 40s in the Bible – Moses had 2 40s (in Pharoah’s house, tending the flocks of Midian).  The Israelites in the desert, Jesus in the wilderness, the number of days of rain on the earth during the flood.  Even the book of EXODUS, which refers to the people leaving….has FORTY chapters. 

I think it’s time for a second “Sexual Revolution” and I’m praying into that.  A sexual revolution that’s characterized by men and women changing their beliefs about sex – that it’s no longer to be enjoyed with anyone other than their spouse.  That it’s NOT to be enjoyed by one’s self in a fantasy context at a strip club, in front of a computer, or with an unmarried partner.  That it’s not to be dwelt on in mind or heart.  That’s my kind of revolution – a return to God’s standards with these 4 C’s:

Courage – to repent and to humbly seek help

Confession – to dare to speak openly about what has been hidden for SO LONG

and

Contempt for accepting any kind of Compromise – whether it be things as innocuous as magazine covers, checking out women at the beach, etc.