Lessons From the Wilderness

I did a study of Luke 8:43-48, on the woman who had been dealing with an issue of blood for twelve years. It prompted me to ask myself the question, “What ‘issue’ have I been dealing with for the past many years?” What I discovered in this retrospective moment was not just one but many "issues." And that was an issue!

Years ago we invited my mom to move in with our family to help support her and transition her into retirement. Two short years after that, our son was diagnosed with leukemia. A year after that he was promoted to his heavenly home. Three years later we made a difficult ministry transition which presented us with unexpected challenges, not to mention the already challenging phase of life I was in as a new empty nester in a pre-menopausal state. It was also hard to wrap my head around the fact that not only were my four kids not joining us in this new season of ministry, but one of them would never again engage in our lives.

Six weeks after our move, our oldest daughter was married in another province where she intended to stay for the rest of her life. Two weeks after that our son was in a boating accident that nearly took the life of a twelve-year-old boy. Two weeks later my mother-in-law fell and broke her hip, which required my husband to make several eight-hour trips from where we lived to be with her. Two weeks later we were at her funeral. It just so happened that it fell on the same date our son's court appearance was to take pace, which also happened to be our youngest daughter's 18th birthday. The cumulative effect of all these incidents found me in a cardiologist's office and led me into depression. That depression was my companion for the next five years through a vast empty wilderness experience.

Yet, it was there in the middle of the wilderness that I met a woman in the Bible named Hagar (Gen. 12, 21). I reaped so much from getting to know her. She, too, had been blinded by her tears, resentment, and disappointment, and nearly paralyzed by her past. She helped me to see the God who sees me. I opened my eyes and she pointed to an oasis in the middle of the desert. There she taught me not only how to survive, but how to thrive in the wilderness.

LESSONS FROM THE WILDERNESS

Here are some wilderness survival tips:

1.  Run to God, not away from Him.

"Come near to God and he will come near to you" (Jas. 4:8).

2.  Be honest with yourself and with God.

"Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God" (Ps. 42:5).

3.  Immerse yourself in the truth of God’s Word.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

4.  Take time to taste the tears.

"Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll; are they not in your record" (Ps. 56:8)?

5.  Be quick to forgive, slow to trust, and slower to entrust.

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord" (Rom. 12:18-19). "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly" (1 Pet. 2:23).

6.  Reflect on God’s faithfulness.

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lam. 3:21-23).

7.  Surround yourself with people who will speak life into your heart.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb. 10:24-25).

8.  Turn your misery into ministry.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God" (1 Cor. 1:3-4).

I wonder who of you might be wandering in the desert about now? Let me first assure you that you’re not alone, and secondly, that there’s so much beauty to be found in the desert. Sometimes we just have to dig a little deeper in the hot desert sand to find the buried treasures. "And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name" (Isa. 45:3).

RELATED RESOURCES:

• Understanding God's Faithfulness
• Living with Grief