Sweetness Follows
- Elise Ehrenholz
- Jan 15
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 22
If you are a certain age or a certain kind of film person, you will have watched or at least heard of the movie, "Ben-Hur" with Charlton Heston, based on a book of the same name by Lew Wallace, published on November 12, 1880. Now if you've never heard of that movie, I entirely encourage you to go watch it. There's something really wonderful about it, except for maybe the part where they are rowing. If you've seen the movie you know what I mean. If you haven't, well, you'll get there. Now while I'm not going to summarize the plot for you, because that would ruin it for sure, I will talk about one part that keeps coming back to me. Not too long into the movie, Judah Ben-Hur gets arrested for something he didn't do while protecting his sister. Since this movie takes place during the Roman occupation of Judea, Judah Ben-Hur ends up shackled in a chain gang and sent on a trek through the desert. The journey is long, so long and arduous in fact that the prisoners start dying on the way. They finally get to a village, Nazareth, and they are looking very rough with their clothes in tatters and all of them pretty much almost dying of thirst. Now the villagers come out and they draw up water for the horses and for the Roman soldiers and then finally for the prisoners, as ordered by the soldiers. It is a scene so well done, you can almost feel their desperation. They are literally crying out for water and reaching out for the wooden cup that is being passed from man to man. Water, we literally cannot live without it. Finally, the cup gets to Judah Ben-Hur and he almost gets to drink and then the Roman soldier in charge comes and rips it from his hands and says, "No water for him!" and shoves Judah. It's all too much for him and Judah then falls to the ground too weak to stand and weakly says, "God, help me." And then the music changes and Jesus who had come out of his carpentry shop and who has seen the whole scene unfold, stoops down to Judah and pours some water on his neck and face where the sun has beaten down on him for hours. Jesus opens Judah's hand a bit with His own and then lifts Judah's head off the ground and puts the wooden cup to his lips. While Judah is drinking, Jesus starts stroking his hair like one would a small child. Judah then looks up into the face of Jesus, whose face they never show, and drinks his fill. The Roman soldier finally notices this is happening and starts beaking off to Jesus, "You! I said no water for him!" And then, Jesus stands up and faces him and the soldier has nothing to say, absolutely nothing. He looks at Jesus and you can see how conflicted the Roman soldier is, Jesus obviously impacting him somehow on an unspoken level, and then just turns away. This next part is my favourite ever. Judah finishes drinking water and then looks up into the face of Jesus with gratitude and you see this recognition come over him and he realizes that this Man is the answer to the prayer he just prayed not minutes before, standing there in the flesh helping him. Judah then reaches out to Jesus, just wanting to touch His hand. Judah's countenance has changed and one can see that he is completely mesmerized by Jesus. He can't take his eyes off Him, even as he is whipped and his chain gang is now slowly led away. The music swells and as Judah starts up the incline of a hill, he is standing tall again, rejuvenated for the rest of his journey.
Most of us aren't almost dying of thirst, but I think there a lot of people out there who are waiting for their next good thing from God, even if they aren't quite sure what that is going to entail. But when? How? These are my questions too. I keep going back to them over and over. Just how is God going to do this? I have had God encourage me that my current circumstances are not all there is going to be for the rest of my life, that there is going to be even more goodness from His hand. I believe the Bible when it says that God is good and He blesses those who earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). I recently heard someone say that God is completely aware that He has no limits. What a thought that is! I've been thinking about that some while I wait to see God move in my life just like He said. There are a lot of prophetic voices right now that are encouraging that the next from God is right around the corner. Can I just be really transparent about this? I am scrolling through a lot of them. They are all saying good things, but it has been such a long time coming that it's just not hitting deep for me. These people, who are trusted voices by the way, are so excited because they heard God speak to them and they are trying to encourage us! They heard God, you know, God God, and they know that they know that they know that they heard Him. But when you've waited this long for something to come into the natural that you've only heard in the supernatural, well as much as those people mean well, it almost doesn't encourage a person anymore. This is when a person, me included, has to do what is known in certain circles as "pressing in".
So, what is that anyhow? “Pressing in” is when people who have a deep need to hear God for themselves about something take extra time to read their Bible, or have a dedicated time of solo worship, or it may be even sitting in silence doing absolutely nothing but showing God they are waiting for Him. They pray more, they might even fast from food because that "pressing in" requires more of them. It has to cost you to get deeper with God. It will cost you time and focus and perhaps other people's opinions of you to seek God, but when you decide to press in for yourself for more of God, it is entirely worth it. When you hear God speak to you about you, well there's not going to be anyone who can tell you otherwise. And when I say anyone, I include the enemy of your soul because he wants to do everything in his twisted power to get you to give up. Do not give up. Go get your word. It is not an impossible thing for this to happen for you. If you knew me, you would know that I am just a person, seeking God's face with the ebb and flow strength of any other human being on the planet. It says in the Bible that God is no respecter of persons, which sounds kind of rude at first, but what it really means is that if He will do it for one, he will do it for anyone. Now that sounds like good news, and don't we need it.
God is always speaking. He is speaking through His word, but still also through the ways He spoke to people in the Bible. It sounds a little antiquated, but God is still speaking to us through our dreams, and through visions, internal and external, and through His still small voice to deep in our spirits. While I have never had a true vision like some people get like they are seeing a movie unfold, I do get the kind that I see in what I call my "mind's eye." I might see a flash of a person that I know, or see something about a person that I don't even know. Once I was praying for a man who was visiting our church and I felt like God showed me an empty turtle shell because this man felt and was empty inside. I prayed the opposite of that for him so that God would fill him up again, that he would be made whole, and he left encouraged. These little "pictures" and words can be very useful in helping people. It was the inside intelligence that only God knew that was the exact wisdom for that moment in time. And God's wisdom is not only for individuals, but for the collective, all of us. He knows all and sees all and He sees that we have arrived at another moment requiring inside information. I feel like God has given me intel about what comes next on the timeline of our modern world. I don't remember exactly where I was when I "saw" this, but I know it is for now, to get us ready for the next. I "saw" the words, "BIG UPHEAVAL", just like that, in all caps. And I think it means just what the words are, that there is a big upheaval on its way in the world, so be prepared in all the practical ways that you can. Be ready for emergencies. And whatever you do, don't fear, because fretting only leads to evil (Psalm 37:8). Press in, I'm going to. I don't understand the timing of God or what He is doing, but I know what God has clearly shown me, and spoken to me. I'm going to keep reading my Bible and worshipping Him until it comes to pass because when I do these things, I remember that He is good and He is with me and the peace that surpasses all understanding returns to my heart. I am filled up again, with the Living Water that only Jesus is, ready for the next, and I will not be discouraged even if the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea (Psalm 46:3).
And today I feel like God is saying, "Return." Maybe that means something else to you than just the obvious return to Jesus encouragement. I couldn't tell you that for sure, but I know it's always a good time to return to Jesus. If you've been away from Him for a long time, now is the time to come close again. If you've never asked Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour, now is your moment to tell Him so. As for me and all of you who are waiting on God to do what He said, let's keep our eyes on Him, pressing in, for sweetness follows.
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of the dawn." - Psalm 46:1-5 (NKJV).
"For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." -1 Timothy 4:8 (NKJV)
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." - John 7:38 (NKJV).
"If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”- Romans 10:9-10
Keep stretching your hands out to God dear hearts. Pour your heart out like a waterfall to Him. The road has surely been rough, but we are mighty in Him. Praise you Jesus. You did it all.
Comments