24 Words - Wilderness

This is the twelfth (I know I'm way behind) of 24 blog 'thoughts' throughout June as part of a challenge to honour my sister Anna Murray who died on 20th October 2019. You can read my reflections on my sister here and watch a film I made about her here. If you want to donate to Pancreatic Cancer UK you can do so here. These posts will be short 'thoughts' rather than detailed blog posts.  So far we have looked at the words rest, steadfast, hope, mercy, lament, providence, grieve, lockdown, prognosis, covenant, preaching and today I want to look at wilderness.

I was really stuck by this article by Mike Emlet on the CCEF website.  So much of the Bible is about the wilderness: Hagar, Abraham, Joseph, David and of course John the Baptist and Christ all spent time in the wilderness.  The whole Exodus story took place in the wilderness.  God led people into the wilderness to learn certain things.  Hagar met the Lord in the wilderness of Beersheba (Gen 21 v 17).  God met with the people of Israel again and again in the wilderness and the stories and theology from those wilderness journeys are the foundation for the whole Bible.  The wilderness is a recurring theme in the Psalms and is big theme in the prophets particularly Isaiah and Jeremiah. Famously Isaiah predicts the coming of the Lord: 

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The wilderness might not look much but it was the place where John the Baptist prepared for the greatest man who ever walked the earth - the Lord Jesus Christ.

The wilderness can be a lonely place.  Perhaps we feel like the owl in the wilderness in Psalm 102 v 6.

As Mike Emlet says it can also be monotonous.  He reminds of the Isrealites gathering manna morning after morning: 

'Put yourself in their place. Each day is nearly the same. Wake up. Gather manna. Check to see if the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle to indicate whether you were to pack up or stay put. Build a cooking fire. Prepare the manna for your next meal. Eat. Clean up. Prepare manna for your next meal. Eat. Clean up. Take a goat to the priest as a sin offering once you are convicted of your anger toward your brother. Change clothes. Go to sleep. Wake up and repeat. One day kind of blends into the next. Forty years = 14,600 days = 350,400 hours. That seems like a lot of monotony.'

The last 12 weeks have often felt monotonous.  It has felt frustrating.  But could it be that God had led us into the wilderness, into lockdown to teach us some important lessons?  Could it be that we are questioning God like the Israelite's 'can God spread a table in the wilderness?' (Psalm 78 v 19).  How does the Psalmist respond? 'He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed.  Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?'  

Could it be that like Hagar, as we cry out to God that we meet with him in a glorious way during our wilderness experience?  Lets not despise the wilderness, God has thing to teach us.