![]() The Lord, however, commands that he go, saying, “ But I will be with you” (v.12). It’s an impossible task, and Moses tries to push it off as he protests his ability. He’s suddenly confronted with a bush on fire that will not burn, and the voice of the Lord booms, telling him to return to Egypt to free God’s people. ![]() Moses – In Exodus 3, Moses has been hiding in the wilderness after killing a man. To keep things short, let’s simply look at three prominent men. Finally, take note of the phrase God repeats in desert times. At no point does any saint in Scripture give himself/herself a Facebook-esque motivational speech that says, “The world has knocked me down, but I’m going to get up and prove how strong I am!”. Second, notice the stunning lack of self-congratulatory and positive talk. First, being in the wilderness is a sign that we’re not in control. To see that, let’s visit some of our Biblical heroes as they sit in the heat of the wilderness, and notice the familiar themes. Rather, it’s to offer us something we desperately need: God. The problem is not weathering the storm, because we don’t really have a choice: we’re going through this whether we like it or not, and simply having an intellectual knowledge that God’s sovereign hand brought us here does little more than cause us to switch nouns from, “ We will get through this” to “ God will bring us through this”.Ĭhristian or not, we will get through this, so what in the world is the point? – It’s not to make us stronger people, as though God needed something from us. Of course we will, because we don’t have another option. Humans are resilient creatures, and the phrase we’ve all probably heard more than anything else during this is, “These are unusual times, but we will get through it”. Now, chances are you know that, and truthfully, it’s not very comforting. After all, Exodus 8:1 tells us that the reason God brought Israel to the wilderness was so that they could go and worship God. Thus, the wilderness is the place where God is calling us not to suffer for suffering’s sake, but to suffer a distaste for what this world offers in order to drink deeply from the living water that is Christ. Desperate times produce desperate prayers. It’s the place where God takes us so that He can get our attention, because it’s the one place we can’t survive without Him. It’s the place where we can’t distract ourselves with the things of this world nor take them for granted. ![]() The wilderness is the place where the black and white words of Scripture begin to ooze with color, coming to life as we don’t simply feed the mind but the soul. And, “ O God, you are my God earnestly I seek you my soul thirsts for you my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). It’s where the words of the Psalmist become our words: “ As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1). God operates in the wilderness, because it’s the one place in this world where we get downright desperate. It’s also the place where Jesus was first called when his ministry began, and where he was tempted by the devil. It’s where David was forced to flee from Saul and then Absalom, penning beloved Psalms. It’s where the nation of Israel was brought immediately after slavery and before entering the Promised Land. It’s where He met Moses to raise up the leader to bring Israel from slavery. It’s where God wrestled with Jacob and Israel was born. That’s why the wilderness is so prevalent in the Bible. God feels closest in hospital-rooms, when we’re oppressed, scared, lonely, and desperate. Why? – Ask yourself: when do you feel closest to God? Is it when all your ducks are in a row and life is churning along as you desire? Probably not. It’s also a place where many of the stories of the Bible take place. In fact, that’s really where the story of fallen humanity begins, as they are driven from a garden and into the wilderness. That’s why so often in the Bible we see God bring His people into the wilderness. ![]() How can this be? – It’s because everything is going down right now – employment, income, milk and gas prices, moods and hopes – and when things go down, people usually start to look up. It’s a terrible place to be, and yet it’s paradoxically also the place where the best things begin. We don’t know if the news is trending good or bad or somewhere in-between because no one really knows anything. People are losing work, and the goalposts continually shift. With the news that mid-April will see the peak of impact from the virus, it feels like everything is starting to hit a bit harder. ![]()
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