I apologize that it is now Friday and this is the first post I've gotten around to writing. It has been a very rough week for my wife and I. Monday to Wednesday we were sick, my wife thinks it was bronchitis. For two days I didn't really move other than bed to couch. Wednesday we were taking it easy, oh I should mention that my wife is so much tougher than I am, she went into work Tuesday.
Yesterday we were both feeling better, but today I woke up with a tickle in my throat, and I'll probably be coughing most of the day. There is a lot going on in my life right now, so much uncertainty, and this has been one of the roughest weeks of my life, actually one of the roughest months.
But as I'm in the wilderness right now I'm trying to see it for the blessing that it is. Too often we see the wilderness only as a place of the cursed and rejected, a place of uncertain wandering. But I want to look at the lives of seven men, and see the blessings that have come from there time in the wilderness.
In my last post I gave a list of six things, but said some might be added or removed, so far I've added one. And while all seven of the men we'll look at could be listed under each one of these posts I'm going to focus on one at a time. To begin let's look at the wilderness as a place of rest.
One of the things I love to do is backpack. One of my best friends got me hooked in college. I tell him all the time that he's cost me a couple thousand dollars in equipment. But honestly, I'm grateful. I've only been able to take one backpacking trip so far, partly due to time and partly due to not having all of the equipment, but I just won a really nice tent from LL Bean so the most expensive piece of equipment I now have, and hopefully next spring my wife and I will get out into the wilderness.
I love backpacking because you get out in the middle of no where. Every ounce matters so you don't have a computer of cell phone, they wouldn't work even if you did carry them. It's time away from the rest of the world. Time to shut out all of the noise and chaos of life, and simply take in the beauty of creation. It's a time to rest.
In the wilderness we have time away from all of the distractions in life. We have time alone with God. Let's look at Elijah. The Bible tells us of two separate times in Elijah's life that he spent in the wilderness. The first is in 1 Kings 17. God sends Elijah to the king, Ahab, and tells him to warn the king about the drought. After this God says to him, "'Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.' So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook."
Eventually the brook dries up from the lack of rain, but for however long he is there, Elijah is able to rest and be alone with God. And this time of rest is crucial because following this time in the wilderness Elijah is going to face one of his biggest battles.
In 1 Kings 18 Elijah goes to Mount Carmel and confronts 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. Two altars are constructed, two sacrifices are prepared, and God must answer with fire. Elijah is out numbered 850 to 1, but he is prepared for this fight and God answers his prayer. Afterwards Elijah has the false prophets killed, which brings about His second wilderness experience.
Jezebel, the queen, is enraged and vows to kill Elijah. He heads south, falls asleep under a juniper tree, twice an angel wakes him up provides food and water, and then Elijah heads to Mount Horeb. And it is here that God speaks to Elijah in the still small voice. It is here that God tells him to anoint two kings and Elijah's successor.
The wilderness is a place to rest, and it's important that we do, because as the life of Elijah demonstrates, when we leave the wilderness the world is waiting. Battles are waiting. It is when we emerge from the wilderness that God has work for us to do that will affect more people than we realize.
In the wilderness we escape the demands of the world. In the wilderness we are able to rest. But we aren't meant to stay in the wilderness. The wilderness is temporary, it's momentary, it's time to catch our breath before diving back in.
If you are in the wilderness, take the time and rest. God will provide just like He did for Elijah. Recover your strength and get ready for the battle, and the victory, that is waiting back outside of the wilderness.
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
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