THE LONG MARCH

 In 1934 China was in the midst of civil war. Two ideologies were fighting to control the future of this great nation. On one side were the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek, and opposing them were the Communists with a rising leader by the name of Mao Tse-Tung. In late 1934 the Red Army attempted to break free from the encircling army of the Nationalists and escape from the south of China by marching to the west and then north to a more friendly area of the country.

In October 1934, the Red Army, numbering about 100,000 soldiers, broke free of the Nationalists and began a yearlong trek that would later be called the Long March. In the next twelve months the Army covered nearly 8000 miles over some of the most difficult terrain in China that included mountain ranges, swamps, rivers and deserts. They were continually attacked by Nationalist forces and of the 100,000 soldiers that began the Long March, approximately only 20,000 made it to the desired goal.

The Long March is a picture of a tenacious desire to break free from an enemy and achieve a goal. It is an example from history of the journey of faith every follower of Jesus Christ makes. At salvation we are called to be pilgrims (Hebrews 11:13-16). A pilgrim is one traveling in a land that is not his homeland. Our journey is to move through this life free from the encroachments of the enemy, do the work of the Lord, and achieve the goal of being with God in eternity.

Psalm 84 is sometimes called The Song of the Pilgrim and it is filled with powerful insights and promises for us on our “long march.”

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God” (Psalm 84:1-3, ESV).

Every “born-again” person has a “birthed-in” desire and hunger to be in the presence of God; it is a part of our spiritual DNA. Some immediately recognize the spiritual hunger for home and it becomes the driving force, the focal point of their lives. Their lives are ordered by what they understand to be the important things for a pilgrim journey. Others do not understand the desire right away but as they mature in their walk with God, the understanding begins to take hold and they refocus their spiritual lives to be pilgrims on the long march. We sometimes call this revival or renewal.

Some never get the picture clearly. I call these the spiritually illiterate. They get saved but that is just about it. These are not immature Christians, they are illiterate Christians; they have little or no prayer life and spend little or no time in God’s Word. They have crossed the line of faith and nothing more.

Immaturity in a believer gets taken care of over time by prayer, counsel and the Word. Illiterates never change unless they make a conscious choice to do so. They are the most frequent casualties on the long march, as they never learn to walk in faith or to appropriate protection.

^“Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion” (verses 4-5).

The blessing, the favor of God, rests on those who choose to serve and worship the Lord. His blessing is upon those who know that the strength of the Lord is our salvation. The desire to make the journey home to be with Him in His dwelling place is planted in those who love and serve Him. The highways are the ways of God, the ways of the Holy Spirit that lead and point us home to a full life in Him.

^“As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools” (verse 6).

The Valley of Baca is a type of the hard, dry places we sometimes find ourselves in. The promise of God is that when we come to those places on our journey — and we will — as we press into Him, those dry and desolate places will become a place of refreshing springs. The early rain is a picture of “times of refreshing” that come from the Holy Spirit.

This is a powerful promise! In the most unlikely circumstances God will come and the power of His presence will refresh and restore His people on their long march. It is at the points of desolation that we see the great displays of miracle power (see an example in Mark 6:35).

I experienced this when I was going through my valley of cancer two years ago. In some of the hardest moments when I was filled with anxiety and concern, as I worshiped and pressed into God, those moments were turned from dry and desolate to incredible times of refreshing in the presence of God.

The psalmist David wrote about this same truth in Psalm 23. Following his famous statement in verse four about going through the valley of death, David says, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings” (Psalm 23:5, NLT). The valley of dryness and death becomes the point of God’s rich blessing to the heart set on completing the long march.

 ^“They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion” (Psalm 84:7).

The pilgrim becomes stronger as he proceeds on the journey. “From strength to strength” means that each point of the journey builds strength and stamina for what is ahead. The apostle Paul taught this same truth when he said, “Tribulation brings patience, which brings experience, which brings hope” (see Romans 5:3-4). This is strength building strength and then repeating itself again and again.

Our “long march” was never meant to be just our escape path from this world. The march was always destined to be the journey that takes us to the fulfillment of “The Great Commission” and on into the eternal presence of God.