The Wilderness

When I was younger the word 'wilderness' had a wonderful connotation - rugged, untouched places, with bald eagles and whitewater canoe trails through the north woods of Wisconsin.

After reading the Bible a few times and watching the Ten Commandments movie, the word 'wilderness' has a much bleaker meaning.

The wilderness of The Bible is synonymous with a period or trial or time of testing.

God made His people wander through the desert wilderness for 40 years until an entire generation had passed away. Only then did God allow His people to enter into His rest - The Promised Land.

Have you undergone a period of testing in YOUR life? A wilderness of the soul? It can be a very trying time. But what are we to learn from our trials . . . our time in the wilderness?

I was talking with a friend he other day about his Thanksgiving. He told me that who they were seated at the table each one took turns telling the others what they were thankful for. My friend's son said that he was thankful for the difficult time his family experienced this year. Why?

He was thankful because the hard times brought his family closer to one another. Their time of testing made them stronger.

Are YOU thankful for times spent in the Biblical wilderness? Do we lean on God when times get tough? If we fully trust in God, we will have fewer trials to go through. And the trials we DO experience won't seem nearly as bad . . . if we trust on The Lord.

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” - Matthew 4:1-4

Attention Please!

A couple nights ago I met a friend at the local truck stop, each of us ordering of a piece of dessert that we probably shouldn't have eaten. We had our usual waitress. She's amazing. Always attentive, refilling coffee cups, making sure everything tasted okay, always smiling. But then . . .

Then there are those waitresses that would rather be doing something else. You probably know the ones I'm talking about. Trying to get the attention of someone who is not really interested in serving you can be a real struggle. That leads us right into today's lesson.

Have you read the Old Testament? Chances are, if you open the Old Testament ANYWHERE you will find a story about a nation who is unwilling to serve God - Israel. Let's take a look at the Book of Jeremiah for example. This is God speaking through the prophet.

5 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
    look around and consider,
    search through her squares. If you can find but one person
    who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
    I will forgive this city.
² Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’
    still they are swearing falsely.”

³ Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
    You struck them, but they felt no pain;
    you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
    and refused to repent.
⁴ I thought, “These are only the poor;
    they are foolish,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the requirements of their God.
⁵ So I will go to the leaders
    and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
    the requirements of their God.”
But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
    and torn off the bonds.
⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
    a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
    to tear to pieces any who venture out,
for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many." - Jeremiah 5:1-6

There is a common pattern that runs throughout the entire Bible and it is alive and well in the world we live in today. Here's how it goes. Disobey God, God demands attention, Israel refuses to obey, God punishes them, they eventually repent, God forgives them. Repeat. Over and over and over again.

Here's another verse to consider before we get into the meat of what I want to talk about. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." - Hebrews 13:8. In light of the fact that God never changes, why would his approach to us change today? We are forever disobedient.

When we are disobedient God will warn us. He warns us in His Word, He warns us through the words of others in our lives, and still we disobey. And so we get punished. And how does God punish us and get us to the point where we will turn back to Him in desperation?

It might be cancer, it might be the loss of a job, perhaps it's a car accident or a messy divorce after an adulterous relationship. I think God will do whatever it takes to get our attention. Look at Israel, the nation He loved. He turned them over to their enemies and nearly destroyed them but saved a small remnant who were faithful. Our God is a jealous God.

When we drift away from God, we can expect trials and tribulation until we repent of our unfaithfulness. If we repent and return to God He has promised to forgive us. So, what are we waiting for?

Trust and Obey - Big Daddy Weave
The Church, Israel and The Tribulation - John MacArthur

Heart Of Gold

A couple days ago a high school classmate of mine posted a Neil Young video on Facebook. I watched it. Wow. 1971. The year I graduated from high school! That was a LONG time ago my friends.

The Vietnam War was still going on, there were protests in the streets of most American cities, there was civil unrest . . . hmmm. What goes around, comes around I guess. The same thing can be said of our nation today. Have we really progressed as a nation since this video was recorded, some 40+ years ago? Not really.

The only thing that seems to be different is the way we treated soldiers returning from war. Now we cheer them and honor them for their service, we make videos of their homecomings and put them on YouTube to show each other how much we care. A far cry from when we used to spit on them and dishonor them with our mouths. Do that today and you would be arrested for hate speech. Why the change?

I think it's largely because the people of my generation have grown up. Wee were the spitters and dishonorers. We were the "peace" generation of hippies, free love and drugs. And now, in this present day and age, we feel guilty for what we have done. In short, we have repented of our sins.

What will this next generation be sorry for when they are my age?

If I had to make a guess it would be a sense of direction and purpose. Basically, I see a generation wandering in the desert. Sound familiar? A generation falling away from God and we, the generation that went before them, are simply watching them walk away without saying much of anything. Wouldn't want to offend anyone.

This nation, this world, is doomed unless it repents of its ways and we return to being a God-honoring people. Otherwise it will certainly die spiritually. And should we require a "cause of death" to be written on our death certificate it will ready simply, "SELF."

In the chorus of the Neil Young song I mentioned we can get a clue about our nature as humans.

"Keep me searching for a heart of gold.
You keep me searching and I'm growing old.
Keep me searching for a heart of gold
I've been a miner for a heart of gold."

If we look at out spiritual lives, who is the "You" in line two? It's God. We keep searching and we never find our "heart of gold" because we are looking for answers that satisfy ourselves. Those answers never satisfy and so we keep searching . . . and I'm growing old doing so.

There is a solution to our fruitless search. There is a way we can be satisfied in our longing for a heart of gold. The illusive treasure is found in Jesus. He has the ability to refine our hearts, to cease our endless wandering, looking for that one thing that one He can provide. And here's the thing. Once we find Him, we will never "grow old." Not if we are in Christ Jesus.

"3 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts." - Proverbs 17:3

"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." - 1 Peter 1:3-9

Heart Of Gold - Neil Young