We nicknamed it ‘never-never land’. I’m sure all who have traveled by roads in foreign countries will know what I mean even if by another name. It’s the strip of land you drive through after you leave the border post of one country and before you get to the border post of another. It’s just a buffer between the two countries. Your passport says you’ve just departed one country, but there’s nothing about the country you about to enter. In other words, you’re nowhere. There are no petrol stations, no rest stops, or snack stores. You’re always hoping the next country will allow you to enter. When we would leave Zimbabwe to enter South Africa or Zambia, a large sign was posted: You have now leaving Zimbabwe—Good Luck. We always had nervous feelings about what we’d face with the guards and customs officers, hoping they were in a good mood and sober.
We all have those spiritual never-never lands in our journey through this life. We know that one chapter of our life has closed and we’re about to enter a new one. We may even know where we’re going, but we have to get across the ‘never-never land’ between these two points. I crossed some that were only a short distance. However, I’ve been through some that were so wide it made me wonder if I’d gone in the wrong direction. In reality and in spiritual journeys, we’re always wondering what we will encounter as we cross and what will the new place be like. We once drove from Jerusalem to Cairo (don’t try this). We got stuck in the never-never land for some reason. It was sandy, hot, and smelly, nothing to drink, and the toilets were something my wife would like to forget—it was just plain out miserable. It was at least an hour which felt like days. You can’t imagine all they went through our minds. “Did we make a mistake taking this trip?–We’ll we ever get out of this place?–If it’s this bad just to get in, what’s the rest of this trip going to be like?” When we finally crossed the border, we were joined by a soldier armed with an automatic rifle sitting on our back seat for the remainder of the journey to Cairo. He didn’t even speak English and I certainly didn’t speak any Egyptian.
I’ve recently thought a lot about Jesus’ journey through this place. He knew it was time to depart this life and go back to be with His Father. But to get from here to there, He had to go through the scourging, carry the cross, suffer the agony of crucifixion, endure the shame, and enter into death. The author of Hebrews tells us, consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Heb 12:3). All of our ‘never-never land’ experiences pale in comparison to what He endured for us.
One of my first acquaintances after committing my life to Christ was an old gentleman everyone called, Uncle Neal. He was a tough old guy and never believed in taking medicine. He would have a root-canal and refuse to take anything. He once fell off a truck while deer hunting and broke his arm leaving the bone sticking out the skin. He actually allowed the doctor to reset his arm, put in a steel rod and sutured it up all without any pain medicine. I went to visit him and ask, “Uncle Neal how do you endure such pain?” His response has stuck with me, “I focus on the moment the cross on which Jesus was nailed was lifted up, and all the pain Jesus must have felt when it hit the bottom of that hole. My pain is nothing compared to His pain for me.”
Well, I’ve never once told the dentist to withhold the pain medication and know if I broke my arm, I wouldn’t tell the doctor just to reset the bone because I was just going to endure. However, when life is painful or when I’m stuck in my ‘never-never lands’, I remember this and begin focusing on Jesus. Hebrews 12:1 says to fix our eyes on Jesus . . . who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The phrase for fix our eyes, means to gaze with such intensity you don’t notice anything else. Jesus gazed at the joy set before Him after His resurrection.
As a human, I wish I could write that we won’t encounter ‘never-never lands’, but I can’t. I’ve been through many, both between two nations and two points in my spiritual journey. The one thing I can write is regardless of how miserable they were or how long I was stuck there; I’ve never, not made it to the other side.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Are you stuck in ‘never-never land’, is life painful, are you wondering if you’ll ever get to the next border? Begin gazing on Jesus and the joy beyond the border. He’s been there and is leading you through.