My Lord’s wisdom requires a wilderness after Egypt and before the Promised Land

"Therefore, behold, I
will allure her,
Bring her into the wilderness
And speak kindly to her" (Hosea 2:14).

Although I love, admire and enjoy God’s creation, I have great difficulty finding a sense of satisfaction when I look at deserts. I’m an outdoors person, but my outdoors must have mountains, trees, rivers, lots of animals and cold weather. A desert scarcely has any of that, which is why I rarely think about visiting any desert or someplace that resembles a desert. Interestingly enough, the Bible mentions deserts more than it mentions any other topography. It’s understandable since the Promised Land is surrounded by deserts; the land itself has deserts as well. I know that the original created planet didn’t have any deserts, wildernesses, or barren lands. Chapter 1 and 2 of Genesis inform us that the whole Earth was a heaven-like planet, and had no such places, since sin had not entered the human race, nor my Lord had cursed the ground (Genesis 3:17-19).

A good reading throughout the entire Bible will reveal that God has a special place in His heart for the wilderness, even though it represents death, curse and banishment. It seems that despite the harsh conditions of places like this, God time and time again used the barren lands to work with His people. All the fathers of the Hebrew/Christian faith at one point or another in their lives lived in the desert, and the Lord revealed Himself to them and worked marvelous works in those conditions. The chosen Nation was delivered from Egypt and taken to the ‘land that flows with milk and honey’, but not without first passing through the desert for 40 years. Godly prophets, kings and priests had to live in the difficult conditions of the wilderness. The last prophet of the old covenant spent most of his life and ministry out in the Judean desert. Even the Lord of glory was led by the Spirit to be in the desert for 40 days. Paul in like manner spent 3 years in Arabia, a deserted place. Time and time again, deserts and wilderness appear in the biblical text, and the wonder of it all is that God planned for that to happen.

What’s the mystery behind such hard, difficult places? I consider the Christian walk to be a copy of the Exodus (Romans 15:4). In the old covenant, God came down and delivered His people from slavery in Egypt, led them through the wilderness and brought them to the land that He promised. In the covenant of the cross, God also came down in Jesus Christ to deliver us from the slavery of sin, is leading us in this life by the Holy Spirit to a kingdom that He has promised to give to all who believe in His Son. Since I have not reached my final destination, I am in the desert right now, and HOW PAINFUL, DISCOURAGING AND DRY IT CAN BE! In this spiritual desert, I have found myself full of fears and doubts that God was able and willing to fight for me when I had seen the pharaohs of this life coming to get me ( Exodus 14:11-12), and then after seeing my strong Warrior/Redeemer conquering my foes, I have sung the song of Miriam and Moses, saying: ” I will sing to the LORD for He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider, He has hurled into the sea” (Exodus 15:1). I had grumbled at my Savior when the waters He provided were Marah (bitter) when in fact, His purpose was to show me that He was able to turn bitter circumstances into sweet ones (Exodus 15:22-25). Like the Israelites of old, I have asked for earthly bread just to see Him provide Manna, angel’s bread, for me (Exodus 16:1-7). I have complained when lacking meat, just to receive quails ( Exodus 16:8-21). When quarreling with my Lord because I had been thirsty, He has spoken, just spoken, to the rock to provide water for me, even me (Exodus 17-17). When God had taken His time to teach me His law, statutes and commandments, I have become impatient and worshiped the golden calf that could neither deliver nor give life (Exodus 32). At other times, my Lord had been very busy using evil men to pronounce blessings on me (Numbers 22,23,24), and what have I been doing? I have been preoccupied going astray after the lusts of the flesh, just like Israel at Peor (Numbers 25:1-5). What more can I say? When He had told me to spy out the Promise Land (heaven) by faith and consider all the wonderful gifts that my Lord conquered for me (Numbers 13:1- 24), I have been a coward and tested God by distrusting His word, just like the 10 spies (Numbers 13-27-29).

Again, the spiritual wilderness is dry, difficult and full of needs, but the Lord in His mercy has used it to show His loving kindness, power, care, provision and wisdom. In this barren land, my Lord has humbled me, tested me, made me go hungry to see what was in my heart, to teach me that I must not live by bread alone, but His Word (Deuteronomy 8:1-3). In this desert, my Lord has lovingly disciplined me like a father does his son, not allowing my clothes to wear out, nor my feet to swell (Deuteronomy 8:4-5). My Lord has and is leading me through this terribly wilderness with its fiery serpents, pain-producing scorpions, and thirsty ground, so in the end He might do me good, eternal good (Deuteronomy 8:15-16). Even though I very much dislike this desert, I cannot but thank my God for this desert because I realize that I need this desert. Like Joshua and Caleb, I can go forward in faith to take possession of the Promised Kingdom because ” faithful is He who calls [me], and He will also do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).