The wilderness often gets a bad press.
In the world of Christianity it is often associated with times of spiritual dryness.
Those times when your life seems to have no purpose or even a shape to it. I've even wrote another blog-post last year describing one of my own "wilderness" experiences.
So why am I feeling today the wilderness has some significance?
I picture as I am sipping my coffee today an actual place of wilderness. I was on vacation (I'll use that word seeing as my American readership outstrips my UK readership now! Thank you USA) in one of the Canary Islands, Fuerteventura to be precise. I was out walking, alone one morning. the sun was high and hot, and I walked for about five miles without seeing a single other Human Being. the blackish volcanic ground was dry and parched. whatever plant life that was around amounted to pathetic sun-withered shrubbery that looked so lifeless and brittle. there was miles of dry open space to the right of me, and a vast expanse of crystal green ocean to my left.
It was wilderness.
Yet, even though everything was hot and scorched, there was something tangible you could sense.
Something very real.
Something that seemed to lift my hope levels, yet kind of unnerved me at the same time.
It was the silence.
|Well near silence actually. The only sounds I could hear were my breathing, my footsteps and the gentle boom of the ocean.
In our times of what we would deem as a wilderness experience, when life seems to have no purpose or shape, hope seems flat, and vision seems to be obscured, we can often long for something deeper, something real, something that will bring hope, energy and focus back to our lives.
Read this scripture guys:
Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back the vineyards and will make the valley of trouble a door of hope. there she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. (Hosea 2: 14-15)
Judah and Israel were frequently falling out of step with God, in other words falling out of his ways. God allures them, leads them into the wilderness. he says, there I will speak tenderly to her.
You may believe that wilderness is a kind of negative experience, so its interesting that God wants to allure people into a wilderness experience, so he can speak tenderly to us?
It seems to me this gives the wilderness experience a whole new dimension!
The wilderness is a place where all is stripped away, where silence hangs in the air, where physical distractions are at a minimum. It appears this is a place where God can get our attention! Where he has us positioned to really hear his tender voice.
Silence.
Solitude.
Space.
These things are so necessary to reach a deeper encounter with a Holy God.
How are you guys feeling lately? Are we walking in God's ways? Are we encountering Him deeply? or do we maybe feel disconnected from Him somehow, like we are unheard or like he just isn't responding? Maybe we feel he doesn't really speak to us like he seems to speak with someone else?
Here is a question for us to contemplate for a moment.
What are we filling our lives with?
Busyness or its close relation Business?
Stuff?
Maybe God wants to speak tenderly to us but he cant get through the busyness or business so he cant get our full attention.
When were we last in a silent place?
Just us and God?
Silence is crucial to our survival on the Christian journey.
I had an interesting conversation with a homeless guy the other week. I have tried to get this guy to get a roof over his head, but he just won't go, he prefers it on the street. I asked him, "why do you choose to live in a doorway?
His answer surprised me.
"I would miss the silence, I always seem closer to something bigger in the silence."
Could this be the "allure" of the wilderness?
At the beginning of the BBCs ace series "The Big Silence" Abbott Christopher Jamison makes a very provocative statement. He says, "If you want to be deeply connected to God, then you must spend time in silence."
God allured His people by leading them into the wilderness. So he could speak tenderly to them.
Maybe that's a word for someone today?
Maybe you have been so busy lately that your connection to God hasn't been too strong or even there at all. Your relationship with God has been a bit hit and miss?
Maybe a trip to the wilderness, the quiet place, the silent place is in order?
The next few verses of this scripture are so amazing.
There (In the wilderness) I will give her back the vineyards and will make the valley of trouble a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
These verses are all about hope and fresh energy. When we hear His tender voice there will be hope where there is trouble. where there is tiredness and fatigue physically, mentally and spiritually, He will bring verve and fresh energy. where there is blankness he will restore vision.
God wants our full attention. So maybe its time for the wilderness.
Because there he will speak tenderly to us.
In the silence.
In the world of Christianity it is often associated with times of spiritual dryness.
Those times when your life seems to have no purpose or even a shape to it. I've even wrote another blog-post last year describing one of my own "wilderness" experiences.
So why am I feeling today the wilderness has some significance?
I picture as I am sipping my coffee today an actual place of wilderness. I was on vacation (I'll use that word seeing as my American readership outstrips my UK readership now! Thank you USA) in one of the Canary Islands, Fuerteventura to be precise. I was out walking, alone one morning. the sun was high and hot, and I walked for about five miles without seeing a single other Human Being. the blackish volcanic ground was dry and parched. whatever plant life that was around amounted to pathetic sun-withered shrubbery that looked so lifeless and brittle. there was miles of dry open space to the right of me, and a vast expanse of crystal green ocean to my left.
It was wilderness.
Yet, even though everything was hot and scorched, there was something tangible you could sense.
Something very real.
Something that seemed to lift my hope levels, yet kind of unnerved me at the same time.
It was the silence.
|Well near silence actually. The only sounds I could hear were my breathing, my footsteps and the gentle boom of the ocean.
In our times of what we would deem as a wilderness experience, when life seems to have no purpose or shape, hope seems flat, and vision seems to be obscured, we can often long for something deeper, something real, something that will bring hope, energy and focus back to our lives.
Read this scripture guys:
Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back the vineyards and will make the valley of trouble a door of hope. there she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. (Hosea 2: 14-15)
Judah and Israel were frequently falling out of step with God, in other words falling out of his ways. God allures them, leads them into the wilderness. he says, there I will speak tenderly to her.
You may believe that wilderness is a kind of negative experience, so its interesting that God wants to allure people into a wilderness experience, so he can speak tenderly to us?
It seems to me this gives the wilderness experience a whole new dimension!
The wilderness is a place where all is stripped away, where silence hangs in the air, where physical distractions are at a minimum. It appears this is a place where God can get our attention! Where he has us positioned to really hear his tender voice.
Silence.
Solitude.
Space.
These things are so necessary to reach a deeper encounter with a Holy God.
How are you guys feeling lately? Are we walking in God's ways? Are we encountering Him deeply? or do we maybe feel disconnected from Him somehow, like we are unheard or like he just isn't responding? Maybe we feel he doesn't really speak to us like he seems to speak with someone else?
Here is a question for us to contemplate for a moment.
What are we filling our lives with?
Busyness or its close relation Business?
Stuff?
Maybe God wants to speak tenderly to us but he cant get through the busyness or business so he cant get our full attention.
When were we last in a silent place?
Just us and God?
Silence is crucial to our survival on the Christian journey.
I had an interesting conversation with a homeless guy the other week. I have tried to get this guy to get a roof over his head, but he just won't go, he prefers it on the street. I asked him, "why do you choose to live in a doorway?
His answer surprised me.
"I would miss the silence, I always seem closer to something bigger in the silence."
Could this be the "allure" of the wilderness?
At the beginning of the BBCs ace series "The Big Silence" Abbott Christopher Jamison makes a very provocative statement. He says, "If you want to be deeply connected to God, then you must spend time in silence."
God allured His people by leading them into the wilderness. So he could speak tenderly to them.
Maybe that's a word for someone today?
Maybe you have been so busy lately that your connection to God hasn't been too strong or even there at all. Your relationship with God has been a bit hit and miss?
Maybe a trip to the wilderness, the quiet place, the silent place is in order?
The next few verses of this scripture are so amazing.
There (In the wilderness) I will give her back the vineyards and will make the valley of trouble a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
These verses are all about hope and fresh energy. When we hear His tender voice there will be hope where there is trouble. where there is tiredness and fatigue physically, mentally and spiritually, He will bring verve and fresh energy. where there is blankness he will restore vision.
God wants our full attention. So maybe its time for the wilderness.
Because there he will speak tenderly to us.
In the silence.
