The contrast in environments got me wondering if it always looked this way when Adam, Eve, Abraham, Noah and Jonah walked this land. If it has always looked this way, that led me to think of what was God trying to teach the early men and women by putting them specifically in this environment. He could have chosen the Amazon rainforest or Yosemite Valley or some Hawaiian Island. But He did not. He chose a place with quite a bit of desert. The desert is an awesome place. Its heat during the summer is overpowering. It has already been up to 122 here and the high is expected to reach in the 130’s. The local culture does little outside during the heat of the summer day and from what I have read this has been true for thousands of years. So what is God’s purpose for putting the first men and women in this kind of climate? They could have been in a place where they could climb trees and explore the forest or hike through the mountains and pastures or they could be swimming in beautiful Pacific waters. I know God always has a purpose and my mind wondered what that might be, for this to be chosen as the “cradle of civilization”. Gods seems to like to have people wander through the desert when He is trying to teach them or mature them and then once they have matured they are allowed to enter the “promised land”.

I thought of what does God desires of us. In Micah 6:8 that question is answered, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God ”. I can act justly and love mercy anywhere I am; but, what does it take to walk humbly with God? A few things come to mind: 1) time that is free from distractions (I find distractions often have a way of getting my eyes off God and on what ever I have involved myself with), 2) quietness to hear God, 3) a respect for the smallness of us compared to God, and 4) the ability and necessity to wait on God. As I look at this list the desert is a great place for each of these. The barrenness of the desert is relatively free from distraction, no beautiful tropical fish to stare at for hours. There are few sounds in the desert besides wind to cloud our minds. I do not here birds or insects or other animals, just wind. The vastness of the desert lets one realize just how small we are, especially if you think of God using the Earth as his footstool. Finally, the heat of the desert gives one much time to wait on God to speak. It is so hot during the midday sun that one is forced to be still and wait for cooler temperature.

Once again I am convinced that God is much more concerned with our eternal home and happiness than the comforts of everyday life. This is especially true when those very comforts can distract us from walking humbly with Him.

I find it very hard to be still and wait and listen for God. I have quite a bit of free time in the evenings. God has given me a choice “Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10 or I can find a thousand and one things that I can be active with, watching DVDs exercising, playing games and so on. He also exhorts me to wait on Him. “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14, but I often find myself wanting to get things done in my timing instead of His.

My soul longs for the quietness and the peace of the desert to walk humbly with God; but, my flesh and its pride wants nothing of idleness. The man in me would rather be busy with pleasures and activities that make me feel important. I have found in my own life, if I do not make arrangement for time in the figurative desert, God will do it for me and sometimes it ends up being the real desert.

Soli Deo Gloria