All in all we're fading
Like a soul lost in the wilderness
We're cold and we're cut off from it
Not knowing where it's gonna end
There's a star in Bethlehem calling you
It's a memory of one made it
-Be
Kevin Max
Wilderness experience. It’s not a very pleasant experience. We try to avoid it. We try to run away from it. All we really want is to walk by the still water… stroll by the garden of Eden… where there’s peace and serenity. Where there’s stillness of the heart and soul.
For what is there in the wilderness? Nothingness. Dry and weary land. Heat and discomfort. Not much of life forms to appreciate. Not much of a picture of what life should be. No wonder anyone who is experiencing life’s toughest, most difficult situations call themselves to be deep in the wilderness.
But a wilderness experience is not all bad. Yes, it’s intense and difficult. There’s hurt and pain everywhere. It can lead you to doubt. Does God really care about me? Am I really chosen? Why me... all these pain and misery? There might be despair and hopelessness. But a wilderness experience is not all that bad.
In the wilderness, the Israelites experienced God’s miraculous provision. They just walked out of Egypt journeying towards the Promise Land. But first they had to pass through the wilderness. And there God showed his power and glory by providing food to eat and water to drink. By going with them as a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.
The there was John [the Baptist] who said, there is a voice crying out in the wilderness. Indeed, oftentimes we hear God more clearly… we experience God more closely, when we are in our most trying times. When everything seems wrong. When every circumstance seems against what we hope our life to be. When nobody seems to understands us. it’s when God shows his love and kindness and assure us that he understands us. Just as what the King David said… “In my distress I cried to the Lord, and he answered me.” Yes, in the wilderness where everything seems dark and dry and destitute, we can cry out to God, pour out our heart and we will hear his voice.
How about the Messiah himself? Before he officially started his ministry, he stayed 40 days and nights fasting and praying in the wilderness. There he was face to face with the Deceiver… there he overcame the temptations of the Enemy. After that wilderness experience he came out mighty and anointed. But he is no ordinary man, we can argue. He's a Prophet, Priest, and King. He is the Anointed One. That exactly why he had to go thru a wilderness experience. So he could relate to humanity who he came to help and save. So that he could experience and understand the many painful trials each person go thru life.
So what do these all stories tell us? What do they teach us? They’re letting us know that there is a table in the wilderness… That in the wilderness we can hope in God to provide us faith and strength we need to overcome our desperate situation… That in the wilderness we can hear the voice of God more clearly... assuring us of his love, comforting us with his words and promises, affirming us of his call, instructing us of his directives… That our wilderness experience is only strengthening us so that we can be what God wants us to be… His children and army… tested and purified… unshakeable and immovable… strong and faithful… ready to display His glory.
All we really want is a fine, fine life... where everything's a-halo and all you can eat buffet. But God said that who he loves he chastens... purifies. The wroking of our faith and perseverance. And he does that in the furnace of afflictions.
Do you feel like you're deep in the wilderness at the moment?... dont lose heart... Worship and stay in God's presence. It's only a matter of time that God will show himself and speak to your heart...
