Desert

In Isreal we hiked through the desert a lot. Hours and days were spent experiencing the heat, the rocks, the sun. It takes incredible effort just to BE in the desert, so imagine hiking and climbing throughout it as well.

It was hard. Really hard.

Being one who walked those miles, I can say by personal experience that deserts, at least the ones that the Bible refers to, are powerful. They sap your strength. Deserts stretch and challenge and require all your energy. Deserts not only weaken the body, but also the mind.

And Deserts are long. They stretch for miles and miles without any sight of green. Deserts are vast.

I say this because one of the most powerful lessons I learned while in Israel was this: That God very purposely leads us into deserts, and that the deserts we face are some of the most important experiences of our faith. They hold incredible purpose.

And what is that purpose, you ask? To strengthen us. To push us. To prepare us. To make us weak in order to remember that God is strong. To remind us. To make us like our Rabbi.

And to teach us further, deeper, better, that God is the God who provides and loves and leads and meets us when we feel dry, used up, alone. When we feel as though we can't go on and the rocky path ahead seems too long, it's in those moments that God reveals Himself. It's in those moments when we gain the most understanding.

Understanding has to be earned. It has to be fought for. It has to require of us.

So God leads us into the desert.

Because He wants us to be strong. And more importantly, He wants us to know Him. He wants us to see what He's made of (and also to see what we're made of).

In the desert, God shows us not only who He is, and not only who we are, but who we CAN be.

Yes, the desert is strong. Yes the desert is important. Yes, the desert is good. But the desert is not where the story ends. As is always the case with God, the real story ends with love.

Powerful, life-giving love.

Because the biggest reason God leads us into the desert is so that we get to experience the depths of His incredible, healing love. Only when we have nothing left can we truly know the power and the glory and the intimacy of the love of God.

And so, in the midst of my own personal desert, God speaks these words into my heart:

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." - Hosea 2:14

The desert is strong.

But His tender voice speaks within it.