THERE are many a day of late when I make eye contact with bewilderment – some dear soul whose life has met a tragedy, a disappointment, an unexpected, or uninvited heartache. They may be old or just starting out, but whatever, their fantasy of an undisturbed and “happy-ever-after” existence has been turned upside/down, and it is quite unsettling.
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens …” Heb. 12: 5-6
WHEN I was young I used to question suffering, now I see things very different. Often when I encounter a look of “bewilderment” and it appears to be a teachable moment, I will smile and with a sympathetic tone say, “God has just giving you a blessing.” It doesn’t lessen the uneasiness, but it often opens an inquiring heart. There are things learned and imprinted only through the trials of our faith. The Apostles tell us these things are blessings; Jesus said our journey would be fraught with them even though our flesh “would rather not.” As I often tell my students, when I was young the thought of “troubles” were that they are to be avoided at all cost. But in time one finds trials and difficulties are unavoidable. And as one becomes aged, like the gray head before you, you come to finally understand that they are in fact blessings all along – opportunities in disguise.
I REMEMBER telling my youngest son many a time, “Where only the sun shines, only a desert grows.” To which I got the same roll of the eyes I gave my step-father whenever he quoted to me “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice” (Phil 4:4) whenever he caught me in one of those moments. He was right of course, fathers usually are.
SO, with that in mind, let’s enjoy today’s excerpt from None But The Hungry Heart – “Desert Riches.”
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas. 1:2; Prov. 21:30
********************
1-4. Desert Riches
“And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart, into a desert place, and rest a while” (Mk 6:31).
In the early days of our lonely pilgrimage, the desert is nothing but burning heat and barren sand. As we “keep on keeping on,” we see our desert become full of springs and blossom as the rose.
“Has the Father led you into the desert? Has He plucked from under your feet all that you depended upon? Then a glorious experience is yours. See if this be not a way whereby God will glorify you! Do not complain about what you have lost, and do not yearn to have it back again, for then you are like Israel who wished to turn back to Egypt. God leads on, and instead of the flesh- pots He gives you bread from heaven, and instead of water from the Nile, water from the Rock. But you must put your trust in Him also in the desert, and through the days of darkness and difficulty. This is possible, however, only for those who have lost their self- assurance in the desert whereto God beckons His children.”
“Are there sorrows that sorely test our hearts? Be assured that our Father intends every one of them to be a road for us to Christ; so that we may reach Him and know Him in some character of His love and power, that otherwise our souls had not known.” -C.A.C. “And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts: He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. . . .” “. . .for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (Isa 48:21; 1Cor. 10:4).
