"In a desert land, he found him in a barren and howling wasteland. He shielded him, cared for him, protected him like the apple of his eye." (Deuteronomy 32) Those are the words in Moses' great oration we call the Book of Deuteronomy that describe how God found Israel - in a barren, howling wasteland. 

In a desert, the desert, it's really part of a much bigger picture in the Bible. The Bible begins with a description of chaos - not desert but watery chaos, the churning nothingness of Genesis 1:1. It's Jeremiah who connects that formless and empty waste of creation with the desert. So the desert, for all its beauty, for all its glory is also a metaphor in the Bible of chaos, of pain, of suffering, of things that are not the way they're supposed to be.

It's an interesting metaphor, because in a way, it's a paradox. On the one hand, the desert is dangerous and filled with peril, poisonous snakes, the Bible says, scorpions, wild animals. Demons are found here. No water, no food, no shelter, the blazing heat of the day, the valley of the shadow of death at night, a dangerous place. 

And yet, in the Bible, it's a place of refuge. David finds sanctuary in the desert and meets God himself. Moses finds refuge here. Israel does too from the bondage in Egypt. And Elijah as well. 

In another paradox, the Bible recalls the desert as a place of disobedience, lack of trust, building of a golden calf, worshiping the Baal of Moab, complaining continually. And yet, the Bible also recalls the desert as a place where Israel followed God like a bride. They met him there and God's faithfulness was proven over and over again. The desert, the place of danger and peril, the place of refuge and provision. 

There's another way the Bible looks at desert. There are different lands in the Bible. The Hebrews start in Egypt, which in a way is Pharaoh's land. Oh, I know the whole earth belongs to the Lord. That's 1 Corinthians 10. But in a way, Pharaoh rules in Egypt. And Pharaoh, by serving the gods of Egypt, Pharaoh as god himself, Pharaoh provides. The Egyptians believe Pharaoh makes the Nile flood, Pharaoh makes the grain grow, Pharaoh makes the sun come up. And Israel must have been tempted to believe this too. And so Egypt (Mitzrayim in Hebrew) comes from a root word that means bondage - the bondage not only of slavery but the bondage of giving credit for what is, for life to someone other than God. 

So God takes Israel out of Pharaoh's land and brings her to a Promised Land, belonging to God too, but a land that God will give them - a land where he will provide everything they need including rain from the heavens. But the danger in the Promised Land is that Israel will begin to think that they deserve the credit, that they deserve the praise for what they accomplish, and they forget that it is the Lord even in the Promised Land. 

And in between those two, what you might call God's land. It's a place where only God provides. It's water out of the rock, it's manna from the sky, it's a pillar of fire that leads by night and a cloud that leads by day. It's protection against the Amalekites, it's a snake that heals the snake bites. It's a tabernacle where they meet God intimately. It's the place where they learn to trust God completely. And when they get to the Promised Land and they forget, God inevitably brings them back to the desert. Not usually literally, but at least, metaphorically. And sometimes the Hebrews went into the desert because God led them there. It says so. "I led you all the way in the desert." Because in the desert, in times of pain and suffering, in times of difficulty and hardship, God's people learned to know him, trust him, and love him.

I've waited for a long time to do this series of studies. The whole project began 16 years ago. It started in a desert. My mother was killed in a car accident way too young, just before we started filming that very first study. And it was hot and hard and difficult. But in it, I found the presence of God - Manna, Living Water, and Shade. 

But the background to this study has been another desert in my life. About four years ago, in a normal yearly physical was discovered that I have coronary artery disease. I went through a bipass operation - maybe not as painful as some of the deserts that you've been in, but painful nevertheless. And as I wondered, I cried out why I needed to be in that desert. I realized I could not provide what I needed. I couldn't handle this one. God was going to have to take over. And little by little, he taught me. He taught me that in pain, he taught me that in the unknown and the times of difficulty and struggle, he is always there and just enough. 

I can't honestly tell you it made my desert any easier or less painful, but I can tell you it was an amazing discovery. And as I've come out of that desert, I'm closer to God today and more aware of his provision and his presence and his power than I've ever been. Because you see, in the desert, God joins his people. For whatever reason we're there, God is there too.

And as God joins his people, he always provides just enough right at the moment they need it. Again, it doesn't make desert easier. It doesn't make it less painful. But it makes it possible. And one can emerge on the other side of the desert closer and more intimately related to God than ever before. 

I'd like to invite you to join us in this series of desert studies. I'd like to have you join us, if you would, not as a spectator and watch our journey or in our study and our hiking in this desert to watch Israel's ancient journey long before us as recorded in the text. I'd like to have you join us in your deserts. It may be something you carry deep inside your soul. But in the heat, in the pain, in the struggle, in the unknown, I'd invite you to discover that God is there with you. And he will be just enough for you as he was for them. We were in the desert of Sinai, we were in the desert of Paran, we were in the desert of Zin, the Negev Desert, the wilderness of Judea. We were in all of the deserts and as we wandered, we kept our eyes open and the book open to discover those beautiful biblical pictures and metaphors that reminded us of how God sustained them and God sustained us.

So you're going to see a whole series of those moments where we suddenly discovered, again, how God is sufficient in desert. As you join us, I pray you would discover that God's purpose in desert - yours as well - is in this struggle to know him more intimately. I pray that in the silence of these deserts where somehow the noise of life that often drowns out our awareness of God's presence would be the moment where you discover him again and fall in love with him all over again.

Come. Let's find God in the desert.

Последнее изменение: четверг, 27 августа 2020, 13:03