The Wilderness Way

The truth of what happens in the wilderness is something that can only be highlighted in the wilderness. What happens in the wilderness? Miracles do. Sure, miracles happen all the time, but there is something special about it in the background of dry and dead. Our eyes tend to focus more, and our minds highlight events in the seclusion of nothingness. I've been in the desert a while now and slowly have been approaching the edge of an oasis. But more than an oasis, I want the land of promise. There are wildernesses of our own choosing and making, there are times when circumstances and things come against us that suck the life out of us. There are times we are tested in the faith that leads us away in the seclusion of the desert. The wilderness can either push us towards leaning into Jesus, or it can make us bitter, not ever fully recovering. There has been a deep longing in my heart for more. It has been a time of solace. A time for God to be highlighted in my life, to be seen, to see the light. A time of repentance, and learning. All along God has provided. I've been camped out for a while, stuck in the sin of wanting to justify actions that are displeasing to God, and as a result, stuck in neutral neither moving forward or backward, just plain ole stuck.
Then one day I had enough of disobedience, and distance from God. I didn't even pack up my campsite! My mind is made up! More of Jesus. No more arguing, no more excuses, No more complaining. No more spiritual oppressors haunting and giving an illusion to running my life. No more being quiet and rolling over. No! I'm a warrior in the army of Lord! His truth is on my lips! There is truth in the Lord Jesus Christ, the source of life, THE LIFE. His Holy Spirit is in the believer and burns unending. I'm no longer a slave of fear, or of SIN, I am a child of God!
Rise up, believer! Don't wander anymore. There is a promise in Isaiah 35:

1-2 Wilderness and desert will sing joyously,
the badlands will celebrate and flower—
Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,
a symphony of song and color.
Mountain glories of Lebanon—a gift.
Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon—gifts.
God’s resplendent glory, fully on display.
God awesome, God majestic.

3-4 Energize the limp hands,
strengthen the rubbery knees.
Tell fearful souls,
“Courage! Take heart!
God is here, right here,
on his way to put things right
And redress all wrongs.
He’s on his way! He’ll save you!”

5-7 Blind eyes will be opened,
deaf ears unstopped,
Lame men and women will leap like deer,
the voiceless break into song.
Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness,
streams flow in the desert.
Hot sands will become a cool oasis,
thirsty ground a splashing fountain.
Even lowly jackals will have water to drink,
and barren grasslands flourish richly.

8-10 There will be a highway
called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious
is permitted on this road.
It’s for God’s people exclusively—
impossible to get lost on this road.
Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road,
no dangerous wild animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed
will come back on this road.
They’ll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.

All praise to the ONE who is always good, the source, no matter where life has us, and who loves us always! The God who gives so many chances. If you are in the tent of wilderness living as I have been on account of unrepentant sin, or deliberate sin that you refuse to call sin, I urge you, come to the altar of repentance. Tell on Satan. You can't manage it, you can't keep living like this by yourself. Get up! Get back to truth. In the words of The Beatles/Paul McCartney, "Get back to where you once belonged!"


Oh God, I'm so wretched in my sin. Laying in this dirt feeling like my life is shot with no recovery. But You keep calling our name. Get up! Lord, we confess our sinful ways, the sin that is deliberate, and sin that we don't even know about. Help us Lord. We are but dirt. You have chosen us to be Your vessel in this world. There is but so much time to do the work You have created us to do. Strengthen us Lord to do what is right. We look for Your light, as it illuminates our life to others. In these times in the wilderness may we learn quickly the lessons, as we learn to lean into you and listen only to your voice, Lord we'll learn to shout your truths over the lies of the world. We'll shout your truths to the enemy of oppressors. Unto you be the glory, and the power, and the praise. As we reach to Heaven you are reaching to us, and in us. Kill our fleshly ways, make our spirits stronger to overcome the lures and lies the World throws at us. Give us clean hands, clean hearts. Protect and blind our eyes when they need to be blinded. Renew and heal our minds. Restore to me the things I once loved to do for you. Restore the unending song, the lyric of hymns that once filled my head. Give me a wisdom like Soloman, Bless me as Jabez. Make my heart soft once again. I turn from things that have desensitized me from Your Word and Your law. Thank you for the wilderness, for the barrenness that has highlighted Your miracles, and your presence. I pray all this in Your Name, Jesus, the Savior of the World. Amen.