Desert Places

Dear friends,

As I’ve struggled through the difficulties and worries of work – the “desert places” – the past few weeks, I have been encouraged by a passage in Deuteronomy which I’d like to share with you.

Deuteronomy 8:2-5 (New International Version)

2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

1. God leads us: The focus is not on the desert, but on God who leads. When I am weary, I can say with full confidence, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” I don’t need to understand or like the desert place or even trust myself, but I can trust the One who leads me and keep my eyes on Jesus.

2. God restores us: Verse 2 says that God uses desert places to humble us and to test us. God reveals what is hidden deeply in our hearts – the ideas and beliefs we have about God which are only revealed in times of deep crisis. As the poison of our heart bleeds out, he leads us to repentance and restoration and a renewed hope in him alone. Then he restores us to his calling and his mission with a right spirit. As Jesus questioned and restored Peter to himself, he restored him to his mission: “Feed my sheep.”

3. God feeds us: God causes us to hunger in order to teach us to feed on him. He removes our regular sources of food to redirect our hunger to him. The root of idolatry is a hunger (or over-desire) for something other than God – even an over-desire for a good thing (work, sex, relationships, money) can become an idol of the heart. Jesus uses desert places to root out the idolatrous hungers in our lives so that we can “eat and be satisfied.” What are your hungers?

4. God fathers us: Like most parents, I discipline my daughter because I love her. I know that if she gets everything she wants, she will become a slave to her own hungers and desires. Hebrews 12:7-8 says, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons…If you are not disciplined, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.” God wants us to know in our hearts (see Deut 8:5 above) that we are his true children. He fathers us into a love relationship with him so that we can say, as Job said, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

From a desert place,

Jonathan