Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where, for forty days, he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1
Unfortunately, “dwelling in the desert and wandering in the wilderness” comes in many forms. Next time you find yourself at the edge of a crowded room wondering if you will have a meaningful connection with someone, you will have found the feeling I am talking about. The aloneness experienced in the crowded room is certainly desert-like.
Ask the widow or widower about “dwelling in the desert and wandering in the wilderness”. They will tell you what it is like to wake up to an empty house at midnight, again at two, then again at four-thirty. They will tell you about desert dwellings at length. Listen to them talk. Listen to their stories…
“It seems impossible to cook for just one.”
“One minute, I want to be alone. The next I want to do something, anything.”
“I just can’t seem to get anything done anymore.”
“Will I ever feel normal again?”
Talk to them for a while, and you will realize that a few evenings in the “desert dwellings” of their lives would make our strength childlike. It makes our wisdom look foolish. It makes our ability appear remedial. The desert/wilderness can do that.
Ask the college student about the wilderness they feel while plotting their life course. They are plunged into a setting both unfamiliar and antagonistic. They are prodded through academic livestock chutes. They feel reduced to a tuition bill and a grade. They are forced to make decisions that seem permanent and are positive they are unqualified to make them. There is no question why college students are often treated for depression. The desert/wilderness is too large, unmanageable, and uncompromising. It is like standing in the middle of a million acres of desert/wilderness and wondering how to get out. Ask a college student about the desert.
Stand next to the deathbed of a mother or father, a husband or a wife, and you will understand the meaning of the desert.
Powerless.
Empty.
Impotent.
Useless.
You stand as a tourist watching an out-of-control scene you did not create or wish for. You are a watcher at the shore of life, and everything is vast, and you are small. This feeling is the desert and the wilderness incarnate.
I am eternally grateful that the Bible talks about times of dwelling in the desert and wandering in the wilderness. This morning, I remind you of one of these truths. Just one! But it is a good one. “Jesus…was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” Whatever wilderness you find yourself in, you can trust that you are not alone. Christ is there with you.
Have a Great Week!
-Pastor Corey