Wilderness

Brooke Momblow

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and emerged filled with the power of the Spirit to begin his ministry. Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, and John the Baptist all were led into the wilderness or found themselves seeking refuge in desert places. They all emerged led by God and functioning in his power, anointed to serve God for a purpose.

In the desert Jesus was tempted/tested – he suffered. And he can help us because he suffered like we do. (Hebrews 2:14-18) Hebrews also tells us that because of his reverent submission Jesus was heard when he prayed and that he learned obedience through his suffering. (5:7-8)

The journey to the fulfillment of God’s promise often takes strange turns through places we’d rather not go. We can find ourselves tempted to turn back to familiar places, people, patterns, and thoughts that are harmful to us because we think we know what to expect and how to manage the affliction. God wants to lead us to a place of freedom.

John Piper writes “Biblical stories like Joseph and Ruth help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.”

Sara Groves’ song “Painting Pictures of Egypt” describes well our tendency to start doubting in the desert places. We just want to have arrived already and be comfortable. We start wondering, like the Israelites, if freedom or the promise is worth the cost and if familiar slavery is better.

I don’t want to leave here

I don’t want to stay

It feels like pinching to me

Either way

And the places I long for the most

Are the places where I’ve been

They are calling out to me

Like a long-lost friend

It’s not about losing faith

It’s not about trust

It’s all about comfortable

When you move so much

And the place I was wasn’t perfect

But I had found a way to live

And it wasn’t milk or honey

But then neither is this

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt

Leaving out what it lacks

The future feels so hard

And I want to go back

But the places that used to fit me

Cannot hold the things I’ve learned

Those roads were closed off to me

While my back was turned

The past is so tangible

I know it by heart

Familiar things are never easy

To discard

I was dying for some freedom

But now I hesitate to go

I am caught between the Promise

And the things I know

If it comes to quick

I may not appreciate it

Is that the reason behind all this time in sand?

And if it comes to quick

I may not recognize it

Is that the reason behind all this time in sand?

“To renew your mind is to involve yourself in the process of allowing God to bring to the surface the lies you have mistakenly accepted and replace them with truth. To the degree that you do this, your behavior will be transformed.” Charles Stanley

o   Have you been obsessed with something from the past that’s kept you from perceiving what God is doing in your life now?

o   Have you grown tired of the desert and just want to settle for comfortable?

o   Do you need freedom from something?

o   How is God asking you to respond to him?

o   How might God be preparing you for his purpose?

Father, you have not forgotten us. Nor have you left us alone in the dry and weary places of our hearts or our circumstances. We believe you are doing something new. Make a way for us, be streams of life in us. May we emerge victorious from the desert experience ready to do your will. Be glorified in us. Amen.