developed in the desert…
April 26, 2018
I find comfort in the desert. I’ve been here so long and desire to stay; relying completely on Him to provide for me each day, to draw the water for me, to fill me with His food. I desire the intimate understanding of God’s character that He has revealed this year to never fade away and I want to stay right here in this dry land, waiting for each drop He provides to quench my thirst.
“O God, you are my God; I will seek you eagerly. My heart thirsts for you, my body longs for you in a land parched and exhausted, where no water can be found.”
Psalm 63:2
I feel His leading though. Leading me into the oasis. Leading me to declare just how good and sovereign He is…through triumphs and tragedies. I don’t know what it looks like, but I know I can trust Him wherever he leads me and whatever He asks me to do.
“You have made me see much trouble and hardship, but you will revive me again and bring me up from the depths of the earth. You will increase my honor; turn and comfort me. My lips will shout for joy; I will sing your praise, because you have redeemed me.”
Psalm 71:20-21, 23
April 26, 2019
We’ve all experienced or will experience the desert at some point in our life. Some of us have experienced multiple trips to the desert and have found that initially it is overwhelming and uncertain but provision comes in the sweetest of forms. The water in the desert is more refreshing, the food more decadent, the rest more peaceful than ever imaginable. The days are long and nights can be cold but the filling one receives is imperishable. If one treks through the desert seeking only the provision the Lord delivers, they become satisfied and learn that He is their portion.
“My mind and body may fail; but God is the rock for my mind and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
I do not wish to glamorize the desert journey. It is filled with struggles of anguish, wounds that require constant attention to avoid infection into the heart, loneliness throughout the day that seems to burn new wounds…it is not glamorous but at some point it becomes habit, which most of us know becomes comfortable. I became accustomed to the habit of trusting solely on God for daily provisions.
I knew I could not rely on myself, for in the desert the mind can play tricks on oneself.
“When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”
Psalm 73:21-24
I have learned so many wonders of God since the death of my son. Desert living, as noted by the counsel of much wiser and experienced lovers of God, has been a life-giving experience where I’ve been intimately tended to and developed by the Scarred hands of my Savior.
He taught me how to survive the desert, because He endured it first. Temptations arise in our vulnerable state of mind when we are collected in the desert, but we are shown the way in which we should respond.
Having been tempted in the desert, Jesus responds to the adversary…
“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
“Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
“Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”
Matthew 4:4,7,10
It’s so easy to listen to the adversary and get trapped in the desert ways. We desire to feel satisfied by what we indulge in, forsaking the words that leave us with the imperishable fullness God provides. We test God with ignorant statements of our own selfish ambitions to be fulfilled in order for Him to prove His love. And finally, the desert has a deceiving way of self worship that leaves God completely distant and us bathing in the sun of self-glorification.
It can be a hard journey if you forgo the way Jesus approached the desert. It can be a victorious journey when we follow in His footsteps and allow Him to carefully tend to our every need.
There is a quote roaming around by an anonymous individual. I believe they must have had a desert experience that left them surrendered unto the way of the Lord.
“I am willing to…
Receive what you give
Lack what you withhold
Relinquish what you take
Suffer what you inflict
Be what You require.”
May each of our desert journeys leave us declaring this simple prayer to God and declaring His good deeds throughout time.