THE DESERT EXPERIENCE
Go and cry out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,Thus says the LORD:
`“I remember you,`
`the kindness of your youth,`
`the love of your bridal days,`
`when you went after me in the wilderness,`
`in a land that was not sown.`
`Jeremiah 2:2`
The desert is the place where you would not want to go. It is not flowing with milk and honey. It is a dry and barren place. Life is bleak there. If you take faith in God seriously you too will learn something of his roundabout ways. You will know times when your heart aches with hurt or loss. Times when you are fatigued and even sleep does not refresh you. Times when you long for a good thing, when your motives seem pure, when it seems like God could so easily answer your prayer, yet he does not. Times when life hardly seems worth the effort. Often the journey to the desert is triggered by some event. A relationships shatters. A child rebels, a prodigal son or daughter leaves your home and does not come back. You endure a financial disaster. You cherish a dream for years, looking forward to the day when it is going to come true, and then one day you realize not only has it not come true so far, but it is not going to happen. The dream dies, and so do you.
But sometimes the desert seems to come for no discernible reason at all. In these times, even faith is hard. You pray, you pour your heart out to God, but there is no response. No sense of nearness. The Bible is no comfort. You are confused, and you wonder why, but you receive no answer. It is your spirit, your soul, that feels dry and barren. You are not just in the desert. The desert is in you.
In the desert all we have to cling to is the promise. God has not forgotten you. You have not been abandoned. He leads his children in roundabout ways. He is not in a hurry. God is at work in the roundabout way of the desert, in ways we do not see and cannot understand. God’s way is rarely the quickest way. It is seldom the easiest way. But it is always the best way. Hallelujah
Your brother in Christ,
Apostle Ashok Martin