Get Me Out of the Wilderness!Sýnishorn

When you hear the word “wilderness,” what comes to your mind immediately?

Hard.

Scary.

Beautiful.

Overwhelming.

Disorienting.

Most of those words are negative. They indicate that the wilderness is difficult and outside our comfort zone. That view is not new. It was reflected as long ago as the era of the Old Testament prophets.

In the book of Hosea, the prophet was called by God to pursue and marry a woman named Gomer who would cheat on him multiple times. Hosea’s marriage to Gomer would have been a living testimony of what God would do with His people.

Early in chapter 2, we see the image of wilderness as a consequence of their sins of idol worship and unfaithfulness to God. Those verses are intense and hard to read. They reflect the jealousy of God and how seriously He took the people breaking His covenant with Israel.

However, in the middle of chapter 2, we see a tone shift. In verse 14, Hosea relays a surprising promise from God. “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there.”

If you’re in the wilderness, you may expect God’s voice in this season to be harsh and condemning. You’ve recognized the sinful path you were on and the consequences of your human relationships and your relationship with God.

But what if God wants to speak to you tenderly in the wilderness? What if God has led you into the desert, into the wilderness, in order to heal you, not to wound you? To convict you, not condemn you? To encourage you, not to shame you?

I often expect God’s voice to sound like my inner critic - harsh, judgmental, and shaming. I anticipate God rehearsing all of my worst moments and sending me into despair about the future. But, God’s voice is not like the voice of our enemy, Satan. They are so very different!

I once read a book where the author posed a fascinating thought experiment. He asked his readers to imagine that Jesus appeared at your dining room table tonight. Sitting there across from you, He has total knowledge of your whole life story, including all the secrets you pray are never known publicly. He knows how mixed your motives are.

The author then prompted his readers to finish a sentence, “If Jesus sat across from you with all of that knowledge, you would feel ____________________.”

How did you expect that sentence to end?

The first time I read it, I filled it in with DISAPPOINTMENT.

Friends that I’ve shared this thought experiment with have added their own words.

“Displeasure”

“Wrath”

“Sadness”

“Frustration”

“Let down”

But that’s not how the quote ends.

The author then came back and reviewed the prompt again and filled the blank in himself: “You would feel his acceptance and forgiveness.”

That is really good news!! That quote is rooted in the truth of Romans 7-8. Paul cannot escape his sin and the misery it brings with it. He wonders who will free him from this bondage and the answer he proclaims is Jesus. Not long after, he writes, “So there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” If you’re hearing the voice of condemnation in the wilderness, you’re not hearing from God. You are hearing your enemy.

I pray you find this wilderness experience to be the place where you discover God’s voice. A voice that is not like your sin and shame, nothing like our enemy, the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:12). Instead, I pray you hear a voice that allows you to take a deep breath, drop your shoulders, and surrender yourself into the acceptance, forgiveness, and rest that Jesus Christ came to give you.

May you allow God to speak to you tenderly in the wilderness so that He can heal the deepest parts of you.

In Day 3, we're going to look at how to pay special attention to our needs while we're in the wilderness. What's next may be exactly the permission slip you need to make it through this season! See you soon.