When I'm Found in the Desert Place...

Have you ever been there? That place where it seems God is not with you? I have been going through there recently. It is not a pretty place.

I have come to the conclusion that the Desert Place is where God sends His Green Berets for survival training. During my time in the desert, I was struggling to figure out why I was there. I thought I'd been doing pretty well in my prayer life and reading the Word. I thought I'd been doing pretty well in reflecting God's Light. But I was still lost and lonely without Him. Thus my conclusion. And, shortly after arriving at that conclusion, I find this NASA Image of the Day:

This is the Original Mercury Seven returning from Desert Survival Training. No, they're not pretty. The third from the left is, perhaps, the most famous - John Glenn.

So, here I am in the desert place. No, I haven't come out of it, I'm still here. But I have to go on about my daily life. And that includes Thursday nights with Doug at the prison. I cherish these moments with Doug - I'm there to lift him up, and always leave feeling lifted up myself. Anyway, Doug asked me about this very subject. It seems he's here as well.

We started looking up passages in scripture relating to times it feels that God is not with us. Several of the Psalms, written by a man after God's own heart include phrases about God not answering when I call. Job, described by God Himself as a blameless and upright man who shuns evil asked why God has ignored his pleas. And one passage in particular from Daniel - Daniel has fasted and prayed for three weeks seeking an answer from God. The angel tells him that he was trying to come, but the prince of Persia was detaining him and he had to get a higher-ranking angel (Michael) to help him get through.

Then I asked Doug, "Have you ever spent any time in an actual desert?" He had not. I, however, lived for two years in the Nevada desert, an hour's drive from the nearest grocery store. It was a place with little shade for the trees were few. The heat was oppressive and unbearable in the summertime. The environment was stark and barren with only sticks poking up from the desert floor. If you wanted water, there was none to be had - even an hour after a rainfall the puddles were dried up.

But even in the midst of the desert, there is amazing beauty. You can go up the mountains and find trees, water and shade. The nights are cool, and wonderful for sleeping. And springtime in the desert is an amazing time when all those dried up sticks bloom with incredible color. And don't forget that there's no humidity like there is in Houston all year long...

I told him, "If you're in the Desert Place, find a place of beauty. It's there. And that's where God is."

Then I had to fess up - I didn't come up with that line. I believe the Holy Spirit put that one on my heart. Both because Doug needed to hear it, and I did too.

Adios,
Clay

(äd-s) [Spanish adiós, probably translated from French à dieu. (I commend you) to God  : a, to (from Latin ad. See ad-) + Dieu, God (from Latin deus. See dyeu- in Indo-European Roots).]