Out of the Desert

In my post of July 10th I mentioned that I was snowed under. I was. But I was also in the desert.

Snow in the desert? Well, in case you’ve never been there, let me explain.

If you’ve been a Christian for quite a while, then you’ve been in a desert at one time or another. The signs are easy to spot. You feel a sense of distance between you and your Lord. You feel alone, even though you know you aren’t. You find yourself straying from the path a little more frequently. Things start going wrong, and instead of going to the oasis you run farther into the desert. Then the enemy shows up. He’s smart, isn’t he? He knows just what buttons to push and what temptations to throw in front of you to try to make you stumble. Maybe you do stumble. Then you blame everyone and everything but yourself. You fill your time with actions and works instead of with Him. Eventually, your hunger and thirst for Him gets almost unbearable. But you’ve wandered so far out into the desert that you feel like it will take forever to get back to where you came from.

That’s where you are (I was) wrong. Consider Jesus’s time in the desert (from Matthew chapter 4).

And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

I’ve been in the desert that long. My fasting was self imposed. I was fasting from God, from His presence, from His Word, and not from earthly bread.

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

The tempter came to me too. If your God is so great, why doesn’t He get you out of this desert you are in? Where is He?

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

I knew, though I didn’t FEEL it, that God was still there. I knew I needed to get back in the Word.

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

I was tempted to throw in the towel. People had let me down. Friends had hurt me. I felt unappreciated, overworked, misunderstood and insignificant.

Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

I got pretty rebellious with God. Demanding. Blaming. He could have put me in my place quickly, but instead, He listened. He guided through His Spirit. He spoke to me through His Word and through the sermons I heard.

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

I considered what my life would be if I did throw in the towel and live for myself. But studying those lost around me and their lives, I realized that I would be miserable without Him, and that in fact, I was already miserable – BECAUSE I was without Him.

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

I decided to seek Him once again. Fervently, with a hunger and a thirst. Focus back on Him and not on myself.

Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The enemy hates it when we pray to and worship God. Because when our eyes are on God, that means our back is towards the devil.

I have so many angels around me ministering to me that I couldn’t count them.