Streams in the Desert

What is the desert/wilderness?

Today we are talking about streams in the desert. Streams in the desert. Sounds like a contradiction, right? Yeah a little bit!

The desert and the wilderness are are synonymous in biblical metaphor. They refer to difficult places among other things. I want to talk with you about those places and seasons.

Let’s read Isa 35:3-6

Isaiah 35:3–6 ESV

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

“The description in this chapter of the land and the people is a highlight of the first half of the book. This is the desired millennial state for which the nation has longed since God first promised it to Abraham. This is the state that mankind constantly longs for—a utopia in which peace and fertility prevail. This condition will not come, however, till after God’s judgment on the world (chap. 34).”

Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1085). Victor Books.

I think it is interesting that the first Messiah figure to Israel, Moses, delivered the people and then brought them into the wilderness. The second Messiah, the prophet like unto Moses, Jesus, delivered us from sin and the devil and now we are in the delivered, but not in the promised land scenario. Isaiah encourages his people to hope. The day of the Lord is coming. All is not lost.

I grew up in the wilderness. It was a place of mystery, imagination, danger, and wonder. It is a wild place. Where I grew up there were beasts. Mountain lions, bear, wolf, coyote.

I remember being in the woods for several hours, exploring and then climbing a hill only to see what looked like a wolf heading my way from below.

But it was also a place where God was. I first remember really praying in the wilderness where there were no distractions from your true self and your thoughts.

Things grow in the desert/wilderness that do not grow in town or more habitable places. Deserts are very difficult places that burn you by day and freeze you by night. Some of the deadliest creatures come out at night and it is so important to have protection.

What typically is not there are people, distractions, blatant sins of the flesh. But the roots are still there and maybe a little easier to see. Voices and urges and temptations are there. Temptations to leave and go fulfill, but if you stay… you might discover the roots and grow.

The wilderness might not be a place you want to go if you do not want to face yourself, your fearful thoughts, your sin and the roots of those sins. It is not a place to be distracted. You’ll need your wits about you and you’ll want to go with God as your focus.

The desert/wilderness is seen, historically as a season, a place of releasing and refinement. It is preparation for something. The word eremos denotes uninhabited, formless and void, chaos, etc.

But God loves to bring new creation out of the formless and void. He did it at Creation.

Examples of desert/wilderness experiences:

Abraham:

12 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ge 12:1–3). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

God calls him into the Negev to a land that He will “show him.” What does that mean? How many times did Abram wonder why here? What’s next? Why did I leave my family and comforts and culture for this? What are you doing God?

Israel:

2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Dt 8:2–5). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

After Israel was freed from slavery, they spent a long time in the wilderness. 40 years to train and raise up a Joshua and Caleb and for most of that generation to die out. Does God lead us into the desert to kill us? Absolutely. The desert is a place for your flesh to die.

Joseph:

If my promise is the palace, then why am I in the pit or prison? For no known fault of his own, Joseph was put in terrible circumstances and it grew him, exposed him to important people, and eventually elevated him to royal status to save his people from starvation. He had multiple desert/wilderness scenarios, but was faithful to God during them.

David:

36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 Sa 17:36–37). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

This sounds great, after the fact, but when the lion and bear approached I’m sure he wasn’t so glad and thankful. He had been anointed king, but was now facing Goliath and would later be on the run from his father-in-law.

John the Baptist:

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way,

3  the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’ ”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Mk 1:1–3). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

God called him to have a ministry in the desert. He was to be a voice shouting in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord.

The desert place prepares the way for the Lord like no other. It can be the prophet, the Eliah, the John the Baptist.

Jesus:

Mt 4:1–4

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Mt 4:1–4). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

Jesus is baptized, the Spirit comes upon Him, and then He is driven to the wilderness. He defeats the devil in the wilderness before demolishing him on the cross. I find it interesting that Jesus quotes from Dt. 8 during this trying period. Man doesn’t live on bread alone. It is in the desert and wilderness places that we learn that gluttony does not equal happiness. Even spiritual gluttony does not bring happiness.

Paul:

In 2 Co 4:8–18 we read,

8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2 Co 4:8–18). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

He went through awful circumstances and yet continued to grow in humility and influence. His difficulties resulted in

What is a desert season? What is a releasing season?

Perhaps you are going through a season of doubt, illness, pain: emotional or physical. Maybe the things that used to bring you joy and laughter are boring to you. Perhaps you have been pushing and pushing towards a goal that now has no enjoyment for you. Perhaps you used to enjoy church and discipleship, small groups and worship and preaching and now they are utterly uninteresting to you. Perhaps you feel abandoned by God. You feel that God doesn’t answer your prayers or maybe it feels like He isn’t even listening. Maybe you once felt God so near, but now His presence is completely gone. And you don’t know of any gross sin or wrong that you’ve done to deserve it. What is to be done about this?

What is the Lord doing?

I remember my dark night of the spirit. I have had many dark nights of the soul, in other words, going through difficult seasons when there were no answers, no foreseeable blessing, but I sensed that God was still with me through it. A dark night of the spirit is when you feel that God has abandoned you. There is no sense of His presence at all. When it first happened to me, I was wholly unprepared. I finally shared my circumstance with my mentor, who could not empathize with me at all. He told me that his brother had experienced that, though. I was not ready to hear that. I wanted someone to understand me and empathize with me. Sit with me and lament with me. But I felt so alone.

God was creating desperation and resolve in me. He was cultivating in me a persevering spirit. In those moments, I exclaimed that God had been so very good to me that if I never experienced His presence again I’d still seek and serve Him. He was still good. This experience marked me. I would never be the same. You carry the marks and they are badges of courage, because they remind you that you made it through the desert/wilderness and learned to flourish. You learn where to find streams in the desert. That desert, the stream was called resolve.

How should I respond to it?

Listen. What is God doing? It doesn’t matter what you feel. What is happening in this place? Ask great questions:

Questions from Susan Currie’s Spiritual Direction Questions for Helping a Directee to Live in the Desert:

-What part of this might be simply of your flesh? (Are you rested, and in health? Do you notice that the weather affects you, or the time of day or month or year? These factors can make you ulnerable. How might your own sin patterns be playing into this? Try to name those, simply stating them without judgment, and then confess what the Spirit is leading you into confessing.)

-What part of this might be of the world—circumstantial or others sin towards you? Try to name that, simply stating it without judgment.

-Having identified those aspects of this temptation, aspects that makes you vulnerable to attack, what part of this feels like it is an actual attack from outside, with a feel to it of darkness or confusion or untruth? How can you identify what is not true, from ‘the father of lies’?

-If you sort through what’s from what source (the world, the flesh, the evil one), sifting discerningly, what clarifies? What is true here? (When you come to clarify around God’s voice, God’s perspective, youll notice clarity, light, truth, freedom, the fruit of the Spirit in your soul.)

-And over or under all of these, how might this, or part of this, be about something is doing, a “testing” strengthening into life rather than a “tempting” into darkness?

-Get a companion for the journey. When a woman becomes pregnant, one of the greatest helps is a book called, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”. I am a spiritual director in training and what I do with my directees has been compared to being a midwife. A midwife does not give birth, but has been through the process with others and usually themselves. They know what to look for, what questions to ask, how to respond/not respond, etc.

When we are in a desert/wilderness experience, we need someone who has traversed or at least understands the season. Someone who doesn’t just offer advice and council, but prayer and a listening/noticing ear and eye. Someone who can lament with you, hear your confession, and offer incarnational ministry. When we feel abandoned by God or unheard, when we are going through great difficulty, it is important to remain with the people of God as a vehicle for grace and grounding.

Find an older believer who has lived for God a long while who has a listening ear and a good prayer life. Share with them what you are going through. Meet with them regularly for prayer and unburdening your heart. Allow them to sit with you in silence and listen for God’s voice. Listen for what God might want to highlight in your life, what He might be doing, what He might want to reveal about your heart through the difficult circumstances that are before you.

Isaiah 35:3–6 ESV

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;