Retreat in the Desert

“Desert”, “wilderness” or “barren land” in our spiritual dictionary depicts a place of difficulty and severity. No one wants to be in a spiritual desert or voluntary to live uncomfortably. But I found something quite interesting. Three places in the Bible that I have read recently seem to describe the desert as a good place, a place to encounter God, a place to grow and mature in His love.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40: 3 – 5)
This passage predicts the future ministry of John the Baptist, for he will be the one preparing the way of Jesus. Why in the wilderness? Why prepare the way of the Lord in a barren land? There were no people or vegetation there; people and all the goods were in the city. In the time when there was no motel 6 or 7-Eleven, going out to the wilderness just to hear the message of the Lord was very inconvenient. But that was precisely the point. Our hearts are preoccupied with the things of the world, full of valleys or rough grounds, and they are impossible the word of the Lord to enter. Going out to the desert will level our hearts, thus the ways of the Lord will be prepared. Desert is the place where our heart is ministered, as we intentionally leave our comfort to pursue the ministry of our heart.

While Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. (Luke 3: 2)
This verse is full of meaning. Just to unpack a little: Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests in power who put Jesus through trial and had Him sent over to Roman officials to be crucified (John 18: 12 – 14, 24, 28). Zacharias and John the Baptist, on the other hand, both were upright, filled by the Spirit and received the word from God (Luke 1: 6, 13, 67- 80). Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas while Zacharias was the father of John the Baptist. These two very important religious families at the time of Jesus represent two quite opposite ministries.
The verse says that the word of God came to John in the wilderness. Firstly, why was it John the Baptist, not the high priests? Secondly, why was the place wilderness, but not at Jerusalem, the apparent whereabouts of all religious activities? Isaiah 1: 11 – 17 tells us that God was sick and tired of their religious activities but want them to “learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” That was the repenting message that John preached to the tax collectors and solders, namely the oppressors of the people. Wilderness is where true repentance, contrast to religious activities, occurs and wilderness is where the message is received and preached.

Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? (Song of Songs 8: 5)
The Shulammite, or spiritually can be interpreted as the Bride of Christ, has come out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved, the Christ. Wilderness removes all the conveniences brought forth by the modern technologies and inventions. In a place of no supermarkets or big companies, money ceases to have power and past accomplishments loses their reputation. In the same way, spiritual wilderness occurs when the difficulties of life are beyond our control, power and abilities. We lack sufficient self preserving resources and thus are forced to turn to God. Wilderness then becomes the divine invitation to woo us to depend, to yearn and to draw close to Him. Everything we strive for in this life, sometimes even including the ministries done in the name of God, is an attempt to make us richer, stronger and more independent on Him. So ministry diminished, success removed, health taken away and comfort ebbed away in order that we will not waste our soul on attaining them. Wilderness is the secret garden where our dependency on God or our intimacy with God is nurtured.

In conclusion, wilderness is where we receive the ministry of our heart, the message from above and where we cultivate our dependency on Him.

One more point to make here is that fear really has to do with desire. When we desire God and Him alone, there is no fear. When we desire more of the world, we fear more, for they are fleeting like shadows and fading like grass. People who are afraid of wilderness are those who cannot let go of their desires in the flesh. It is worse when our desires are sins, contrary to God’s design for us. The beauty of loving God is this: if we just have a little glance into His love, His glory and His beauty, our desire for the things of the world will cease, for who He is will fascinate us, surpassing all the things of the world. So the secret of the life is to pursue God wholeheartedly, to be poor in the spirit, to be hungry for His righteousness, as Jesus taught two thousand years ago. Granted, we will still be afraid and we will still sin at times because of our imperfection, but the occasions will be far less. Apostle John who Jesus loved was right saying, “There is no fear in love.” (1John 4: 18)