Print(2)Whose Desert - God's or Mine?
The Christian life is not one endless mountain top experience. Nor was it ever meant to be. There will be valleys and there will be deserts. They are all part of our spiritual journey and each contributes to the whole.
It occurs to me that not all desert experiences are of God's will or doing. Some desert experiences we unwisely bring on ourselves by making foolish choices that involve stubbornness or rebellion. King David is an example of two different kinds of desert experiences - one was the result of bad choices and his own sinful decisions and the other was due to circumstances outside his control.
In the first instance he entered a spiritual desert as a result of his adultery with Bathsheba and the accompanying murder of her husband, Uriah. Psalm 32 records how he felt in that self-imposed wilderness. Ps 32:3-4"When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer".
David's other desert experience was when he fled for his life because Saul was determined to kill him. Many of the Psalms record for us the highs and lows of that season in David's life. Yet, in what must have seemed to David a never-ending drama, he learned more about his God and himself than would have been possible in any other setting.
So I have to recognize that not every desert experience necessarily originates in the mind and will of God for me. However, if my experience of the desert is not due to foolish or sinful choices on my part (as best I can tell), then, by faith, I can anticipate that God will use that very setting to teach me about Himself and myself.
