BREAKING THE SPIRIT OF BARRENNESS! (PART ONE)

Has God quickened to your heart promises that you have not seen fulfilled? Are you in the midst of a very dry period in your spiritual life? Does it seem that your prayers get no higher than the ceiling? Has there been a withering to little or nothing of an area of your spiritual life or ministry that in the past has been extremely fruitful? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then the prophet Isaiah has a word of instruction and help for you!

      “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
            break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
            you who have not been in labor!
      For the children of the desolate one will be more
            than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD.

                                                                        (Isaiah 54:1, ESV)

When we hear of barren areas, we tend to think of landscape such as the surface of the moon or perhaps the hot, dry sand of the deserts throughout the world. Actually, those thoughts are accurate. In the Bible the word barren means “sterile, no forthcoming life” or it means “to be rendered useless and unfit for work.”

When the prophet Isaiah tells the barren to sing, to break forth into song, he is not suggesting that we burst out into a medley of our favorite pop music or a rousing chorus of our favorite college fight song. No, he is exhorting us to sing exuberant praise to the Lord in a ringing cry of exaltation, joy and rejoicing. 

When we are in a battle against fruitlessness, breaking out and singing is an act of faith that releases the power of God to work on our behalf. Worship and praise will lead the way to victory!

Many of us are reserved and we immediately think, “How could this ever work? Surely I have done something that has caused this unfruitfulness and I really should do penance for my mistake.” Singing and shouting praise and worship, we think, is just too simple! The answer must be more complicated than this. And then, our mind tells us, “Wow, singing and worshiping just doesn’t seem too classy!” That’s just the point.

The breaking of the barren spirit is typified in the destruction of the walls of Jericho. In Joshua 6:20 we read, “The people shouted a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city . . . and they took the city.”

The shout spoken of here is the shout of joy and rejoicing. It is the “faith song” of triumph over barrenness and resistance. There was nothing classy about what the people of Israel did. Their conduct defied good sense but they were obedient. Then when they were instructed to, they broke forth in a shout of joy that broke the back of the resistance that had held them back from possessing their inheritance.

The story of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail is well known (see Act 16:19-40). “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God . . . and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s bonds were unfastened” (verses 25-26, ESV). The apostles were not amusing themselves by singing “Let’s cheer up and have a good attitude” songs in the midst of their confinement, but they were praying and worshiping Almighty God. As they sang and worshiped, God’s power was released and they were set free to continue their miraculous missionary journey.

  

Take a careful look at what the prophet Habakkuk says about barrenness and securing the victory through praise and worship.

      Though the fig tree should not blossom,

            Nor fruit be on the vines; 

      The produce of the olive fail

            And the fields yield no food,

      The flock be cut off from the fold,

            And there be no herd in the stalls,

      Yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
            I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
     GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
            He makes my feet like the deer’s;
      He makes me tread on my high places.

                                                                        (Habakkuk 3:17-19, ESV)

In other words, Habakkuk declared that when barrenness surrounded him, by faith he began to sing and rejoice. The prophet knew that praise and worship would bring the presence of the Lord and with it would come His strength. Further, the prophet understood that it would be the strength of the Lord that would establish the breakthrough and set him to walking in victory! Can you say AMEN?

A higher level of loudness on the decibel scale is not important or necessary. We are just to stay intently passionate and focused with our singing of praise and worship. “I will rejoice . . . I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

I think it is time for the choir known as “The Barren, Broken and Needy Chorale” to sing! Are you ready? Come, join me, and let’s sing our songs of praise and worship!