Copyrighted ©2011 by Kim Brandsma

All Rights Reserved.

I was at my wits end, ready to walk out of the hotel room, get in the car, and head back to San Antonio. I thought God had lost His mind! Why would the God of the universe ask me to leave a wonderful home in south Texas to come to Clarksville, Tennessee? Why would He ask me to leave a fantastic church family in San Antonio to come to, what I considered, a podunk town full of strangers? Why would He ask me to give up a thriving math tutoring business—that He Himself had helped me establish—to be a stay-at-home mom? None of it made any sense. All I wanted to do was go home!

            You may be wondering about the events that led up to my emotional meltdown that evening at the Fairfield Inn in Clarksville, Tennessee, so let me fill you in. You see, several years ago, the Army sent my husband to San Antonio, Texas, for training. More specifically, Uncle Sam had enrolled him in a Master’s program for health care administration that was sponsored by Baylor University but held at the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences at Ft. Sam Houston. When we got the official notice that we were going to south Texas, I was elated. San Antonio is where my husband and I met and where I held my first professional job right out of college. It is a beautiful, cultural city with many famous attractions—the Alamo, the Riverwalk, the Missions—and, in my opinion, the best Tex-Mex food on the planet! As you can probably guess, when we arrived back in San Antonio, it did not take long for us to get settled in. We purchased our very first house; we joined a fantastic Bible-believing church; and I started a private math tutoring business in my home, which grew to the point where I was teaching math classes to groups of homeschoolers in a facility owned by a local home school organization. Talk about a dream job! Then that fateful day arrived when my husband came home with permanent change of station (PCS) orders designating Ft. Campbell, Kentucky—an Army post just outside of Clarksville, Tennessee—as his next duty station. Up until that time, I had been holding out hope that once he was finished with his Master’s program, he would secure a job at Ft. Sam Houston; but that job never materialized. I was devastated! At that moment in my life, the words of Job recorded in Job 1:21b became profoundly real to me: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; . . .” (NIV). However, Job’s statement does not end there. He goes on to say: “may the name of the LORD be praised” (NIV). Sadly, I did not share Job’s mindset. I was doing everything but praising God.

            Reluctantly, I went through the motions of preparing to leave San Antonio. But as the days went by, I became increasingly angry—angry with my husband for being in the military, angry with God for making me follow my husband to Clarksville. By the time we arrived at the hotel in Tennessee, my bitterness had reached a boiling point, pushing me to the brink of rebellion. As I stood there with suitcases in hand, ready to leave the four most important people in my life, my husband lovingly reminded me that I needed to trust in God and believe that He had a plan. I knew he was right; yet, in my flesh, trusting God in the midst of that seemingly disastrous situation was the last thing on earth I wanted to do. And even though I did eventually relinquish my suitcases and agree to stay, I was even more determined to prove to him and the kids that Clarksville was a bad idea. 

            When we finally received the keys to our rental house, I halfheartedly went with my family to look around. While I was in the kitchen, I noticed that someone had left a small handwritten note on one of the shelves along the far wall. Out of curiosity, I went over to investigate. There scribbled on a plain piece of notebook paper was the simple phrase: “Grow where you are planted.” I was cut to the heart. God was using those five, seemingly insignificant, words to speak to me. My gracious heavenly Father was trying to coax me out of my self-imposed wilderness of despair. I knew that I needed to repent of my nasty attitudes and turn to God; unfortunately, I was not quite ready to give up my pity party.

            Over the next several weeks, I unpacked an innumerable number of moving boxes and spent a lot of time listening to Christian music. Slowly, my heart began to soften and the darkness surrounding me began to lift. In the end, I surrendered my will and cried out to God for His forgiveness, asking Him to show me how to “grow where He had planted me.” Soon thereafter, we visited a small evangelical church that was meeting in a run-down building in the old city-center of Clarksville. From an outward appearance, the church was not much to look at; however, on the inside, we found a godly pastor faithfully sharing the truth of God’s Word from the pulpit and a small group of caring individuals who warmly embraced us from the moment we walked in the door. The church was fantastic! Things were truly looking up! Within a few short months, I asked the pastor if I could start a women’s Bible study in my home. He answered with an enthusiastic “yes,” and the rest is history. Each week, the ladies and I sang together; ate together; prayed together; and, most importantly, studied God’s Word together. That Bible study was the catalyst for an explosion of spiritual growth in my life that, even to this day, has never been duplicated.

            As I look back over the years of my life, I now realize that our two years in Clarksville, Tennessee, were truly a gift from God and some of the best years of my life. Even though I experienced many trials and tribulations while I was there, it is obvious that God sent us to that delightful community just outside of Nashville for our good, not harm. Unfortunately, like the Israelites camped at Abel Shittim, my faith was derailed in the midst of my circumstances. Instead of trusting God’s leading in my life, I bowed down to the worthless idols of money and success, and willingly embraced bitterness and anger. When I finally humbled myself before the Almighty, I was able to see and enjoy the abundant land that God had faithfully brought us to. Now I ask you: What is God leading you to do? Are you clinging to things that are keeping you from fulfilling God’s perfect plan for your life? Like me, have you even gone so far as to rebel against God and plant yourself in a parched, barren wilderness of despair? If so, do not stay in that “acacia valley” a moment longer. Confess your sins to God and ask Him to rescue you from that dry, awful place. Take it from me, if you surrender your will and turn to the Lord, He will faithfully lead you out of that spiritual desert and lovingly bring you into the fertile, well-watered fields of His grace!   

Copyrighted ©2011 by Kim Brandsma

All Rights Reserved.

1.  After the nation of Israel had wandered nearly forty years in the desert, God brought the Israelites to Abel Shittim, literally the “meadow of the acacias,” on the border of the Promised Land—the fertile territory God had sworn, years earlier, to give Abraham’s descendants.

2.  Balak king of Moab became alarmed when he saw the Israelites camping on the plains of Moab, so he sent his men to summon Balaam, a pagan prophet from Pethor, to come and curse the nation of Israel.

3.  God loves the people of Israel; that is why He refused to allow Balaam to put a curse on them. Instead, He caused Balaam to utter prophetic oracles that announced eternal blessings for God’s people. 

4.  When Balaam’s efforts to curse Israel failed, he encouraged the women of Moab and Midian to use their feminine powers of seduction to lure the men of Israel into Ba‘al worship and sexual immorality. Balaam’s evil plan worked; therefore, the men of Israel fell victim to sin in the acacia valley. God punished His people by sending a plague among them.

5.  Abel Shittim has been stained by Israel’s sin and shame; nevertheless, in the last days, God will bring living water into this valley of acacia trees and transform it into a lush paradise. According to Isaiah 41:20, God will do this “so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it” (NIV).

6.  We, too, can rebel against God and enter the wilderness of sin and shame. When we confess our failures to the Lord, He not only forgives our sin, but also sends the healing waters of His gracious Holy Spirit to cleanse our hearts, transforming our personal deserts into fertile fields!

¹² The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals;

he shapes an idol with hammers,

he forges it with the might of his arm.

He gets hungry and loses his strength;

he drinks no water and grows faint.

¹³ The carpenter measures with a line

and makes an outline with a marker;

he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses.

He shapes it in the form of man, of man in all his glory,

that it may dwell in a shrine.

¹⁴ He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak.

He let it grow among the trees of the forest,

or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.

¹⁵ It is man’s fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself,

he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.

¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal,

he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”

¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me; you are my god.”

¹⁸ They know nothing, they understand nothing;

their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,

and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

¹⁹ No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge

or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel;

I even baked bread over its coals,

I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable

thing from what is left?

Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

²⁰ He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him;

he cannot save himself, or say,

“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

Isaiah 44:12-20 (NIV)

Copyrighted ©2011 by Kim Brandsma

All Rights Reserved.

When God brought the Israelites to the edge of the Promised Land the first time, He wanted them to believe His Word and trust that He would bring them triumphantly into the territory of Canaan, a “land flowing with milk and honey.” Unfortunately, this did not happen. The people of Israel lost faith in God’s promises and rebelled; consequently, God decreed judgment against them.    

²⁴Then they spurned and despised the pleasant and desirable land [Canaan]; they believed not His word [neither trusting in, relying on, nor holding to it]; ²⁵But they murmured in their tents and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord. ²⁶Therefore He lifted up His hand [as if taking an oath] against them, that He would cause them to fall in the wilderness, ²⁷Cast out their descendants among the nations, and scatter them in the lands [of the earth].

Psalm 106:24-27 (AMP)

After Abraham’s descendants had wandered in the desert for forty years, and the last of the men who had taken part in the rebellion had died, God brought a new generation of Israelites to the border of the Promised Land. God’s people knew that if they remained faithful to the Lord, they would see the hand of God bring them safely into the fertile land their forefathers had rejected. Sadly, before the Israelites had a chance to enter Canaan, their faith was derailed. At Abel Shittim (the “meadow of acacia trees”), the men of Israel abandoned the Lord and began to indulge in Ba‘al worship and sexual immorality with the women of Moab and Midian who were heeding Balaam’s evil advice. Once again, God poured out His wrath on His people, sending a plague among them to kill all those who had participated in the revolt. But those who remained alive held fast to the Lord; carried out His vengeance on the nation of Midian; and then, at God’s command, prepared to leave the desert valley where they were camping, which was littered with acacia trees. After the Israelites’ final departure, you would think that Scripture would make no further mention of this dry desert lowland known as Abel Shittim. But this is not the case. The Bible revisits this valley of acacias and reveals that in the last days, when Jesus returns to earth and rules for one thousand years (Revelation 20:1-6), Abel Shittim, the barren region scarred by Israel’s sin and shame, will, at God’s direction, undergo a major transformation.

Joel 3:12-21 (especially verse 18) describes the method that God will use to restore the desolate lowland known as the valley of Shittim (Acacia).

¹² “Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side.

¹³ Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.

Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full

and the vats overflow—so great is their wickedness!”

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!

For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

¹⁵ The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

¹⁶ The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem;

the earth and the sky will tremble.

But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.

¹⁷ “Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill.

Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her.

¹⁸ “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk;

all the ravines of Judah will run with water.

A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s house and will water the valley of acacias.

¹⁹ But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste,

because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

²⁰ Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations.

²¹ Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon.”

The LORD dwells in Zion!

Joel 3:12-21 (NIV, emphasis mine)

Isaiah 35:1-10 reiterates that in the last days, healing waters will flow into the desert regions.

¹ The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus, ² it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

³ Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;

⁴ say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come, he will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

⁷ The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

⁸ And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.

The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way;

wicked fools will not go about on it.

⁹ No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;

they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,

¹⁰ and the ransomed of the LORD will return.

They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 35:1-10 (NIV, emphasis mine)

According to Isaiah 41:17-20 and 43:18-21, why has God purposed to bring life to the desert?

¹⁷ “The poor and needy search for water, but there is none;

their tongues are parched with thirst.

But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

¹⁸ I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys.

I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.

¹⁹ I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.

I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,

²⁰ so that people may see and know, may consider and understand,

that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Isaiah 41:17-20 (NIV, emphasis mine)

¹⁸ “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

²⁰ The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls,

because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland,

to give drink to my people, my chosen, ²¹ the people I formed for myself

that they may proclaim my praise.

Isaiah 43:18-21 (NIV)

                The Bible teaches that in the last days, a fountain of living water will flow out of the house of God and water the valley of acacias (Abel Shittim)—the desert lowland located just slightly north and to the east of Jerusalem, across the Jordan River. This once-barren region will become so fertile that a wide variety of trees, even those that normally do not grow in desert areas, will grow there side-by-side. Shittim will no longer be tarnished by sin and shame; instead, it will shine as a beacon to the world, testifying to God’s limitless, restorative power. (To learn more about the river of life that will flow from the throne of God, read Ezekiel 47:1-12.)

The rebellion that took place in the acacia valley may seem far removed from our day-to-day experience; yet, in reality, not much has changed over the course of human history. Like the Israelites, people today continue to rebel against the Lord and willfully participate in sinful, grievous acts that test and try the outer limits of God’s patience and mercy (see Hebrews 3:7-13).

In 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, the apostle Paul lists many of the transgressions committed by the people of Israel on their journey to the Promised Land, including their sins at Abel Shittim. According to Paul, why was it essential that a record of Israel’s failures be written down and preserved for future generations?

¹ For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ² They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

⁶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

⁷ Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” ⁸ We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹ We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

¹¹ These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. ¹² So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! ¹³ No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,

he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV, emphasis mine)

The biblical account of the heartbreaking tragedy that transpired in the meadow of acacias serves as a warning to all people, reminding us that no one is immune from falling into temptation—Christians and non-Christians alike—AND that rebellion towards God is risky behavior that should be avoided at all cost. According to the following Bible passages, what spiritual realities do rebellious people face? Read Psalm 68:6 and Jeremiah 17:5-8.

⁶ God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing;

but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

Psalm 68:6 (NIV, emphasis mine)

 ⁵ This is what the LORD says:

   “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength

   and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

⁶ He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes.

He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

 ⁷ “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NIV, emphasis mine)

“God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land” (Psalm 68:6, NIV). God does not want His children to rebel against Him. Why? Because He knows that when we do, our fellowship with Him, and others in God’s family, suffers (1 John 1:5-7). Consequently, we enter into a self-imposed spiritual wilderness that is dry, barren, and empty; full of guilt, shame, and despair. Fortunately, God is “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6b-7a, NIV). “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NIV). In other words, if we want to escape the “acacia valleys” that we oftentimes find ourselves in, we must repent and turn back to God. When we do, God faithfully floods the barren regions of our heart with the healing waters of His Holy Spirit so we, like the valley of acacias, may be restored!

                In the next lesson, we will continue to follow the Israelites as they leave the wilderness of Shittim and cross over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. God’s people will not go far before they encounter a military hurdle—a walled city of people nestled in a forest of palm trees. Thankfully, God’s people have undergone a spiritual revival and are once more following the Lord wholeheartedly. They are ready to exchange their home amid the dry desert acacia trees for a new home—a God-given one—beneath the well-watered palm trees of Canaan. Let the conquest begin!      

⁸ But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God;

   I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.

⁹ For what you have done I will always praise you

   in the presence of your faithful people.

And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.

Psalm 52:8-9 (NIV)