One of my favorite tricks to remembering the different between a Desert (hot, dry, sandy body of land) and a dessert (ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, Crème Brûlée, cheesecake) is because someone will always want a second dessert, but no one will ever want to go to a desert for a second time.
You may be reading this and thinking that I used the wrong D word in the title, however, I really do mean Desert. Sure, if you have experienced a real life desert, I am certain that you would be less likely to take things like running water, vegetables, and air conditioning for granted.
If we look at the life of Moses, after he was removed from Pharaoh’s palace, there came a time that he killed an Egyptian guard. As you can imagine, that didn’t go over too well with Pharaoh, and he sought to kill Moses. Moses had no other choice but to flee across the desert. (See Exodus Chapter 2 as a point of reference). Moses had to endure a physical desert with very limited provisions, and scripture really doesn’t tell us what he got to leave town with.) Regardless, Moses endured a physical desert, and when he reached a place he could rest, that was near a well, he ended up helping serve some lady shepherds, as they were having trouble with other local shepherds, while they were trying to water their flocks. In that moment, Moses, someone who had been served constantly and never had to serve anyone else, help and served others. It is obvious that this journey through the desert is something that help to change him for the better.
In our lives we will likely not have to endure crossing a desert with minimal provisions, well, a physical desert that is. There will be times that we experience an emotional, spiritual, or mental desert. I am definitely ones of those people.
I was very blessed to be raised in a Christian home by parents that loved me. It was a love that you could see and feel. Contrary to all of the wonderful biblical principals I was taught, I ended up making choices that was pretty life altering, and I am pretty certain, it took me down a secondary path. This path started with “love”, family, and a great job. However, as time would go on, and bad habits became the norm, that path ended with a divorce, a credit score that was just about negative, and a lot of emotional and mental wounds. I went from living in a decent home, and being able to spend time with my kids (which are now adults), to having to move to an apartment just off of the UGA campus. For the months that followed, they were some of the lowest of my life. While I did have some friends/coworkers, I was able to spend time with, it was not the family setting that I had been accustom to, and that was something that I really missed…but up and until that point, I really didn’t understand how much I would have missed it.
I will be the first to admit, if the “right girl” had come along, at the start of my desert experience, I would have tried to marry her right away, and get back to a family lifestyle, but little did I know, I had a desert I needed to endure. There was plenty of challenges, and I can look back and see I really didn’t have the best priorities, but I can also look back and see how God’s hand was on my life. I know that was not because of any praying I did, it was because of the prayers of my parents and close family.
There came a day when I existed this emotional/mental desert, it was the day that I met my now wife. Our first date went on for hours, and we called it the 5 in one date. From that day forward, I don’t think there was more then 24-48 hours that would go by without us talking or trading a message. Sometime our work schedules meshed well…and then there was times, we would go weeks without being able to see one another. Eventually the came the day we were married, and while no marriage is ever perfect….I know I have the perfect wife for me (and no, she did not pay me to say that).
Our message today at church talked about Moses' journey through the Desert and how that journey put him on a path to a transformed life. One of the things our pastor taught us, was the Hebrew word for desert, means to speak. In other words God uses trials and tribulation to speak to us. God wants our attention, and He will try to get it casually…but there does come a time, when He will use a desert to get our attention. During our time to respond, the Holy Spirit made it very clear to me that the life I have now is a direct result of the emotional/mental desert that I endured, and while it was not pleasant, it is something that was necessary and not something I should ever regret.
If you have endured or are enduring a desert, I would love to hear about it. The crappy things we endure through live are made better when we can share them with others. If this is something that you would rather not share publicly, I totally understand. If you would like to share privately, please send to kb3alj@startmail.com
I am going to post the link for the message in the comments section, once it becomes available, it was a great message and I hope you will take time to listen to it.
Here is the video of the message mentioned above.
https://youtu.be/iGI2fsFHVVA