Wilderness

dcook@GCTS · Post by **dcook@GCTS** » Mon Jun 10, 2013 3:51 pm

So often I found it intriguing that Jesus was led into the Wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. That is not the intriguing part...no, the interesting aspect is that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted, to undergo pain, to grow in dependence and to experience His own "Dark night of the Soul."
The wilderness to me signifies: lack of substance, lack of stability, lack of control, just plain lack. And here is where I have found that God is enough. Being a minister\is nothing like what most people think or admire or belittle. Being a minister usually begins with a great desire to serve Christ with some obvious gifts and talents that he has shown us that we have. Its exciting to think of Him as Boss and us under HIs providential and constant care. His people after all are worth all our effort and time. He is in control, thus, simply living "into" the position is thought of as an honor, a calling, a good life among the best people in the world. We are indeed part of the chain of priests and prophets, that in each generation proclaim the love of God found in the Great News of the Bible. We want so bad to be led...
And so we are...
Like the very Son of God who came to Proclaim, we modern day Troubadours are led by the Holy Spirit...to lack...
I love the quote in this chapter: " Our lives can become a wilderness when experiences expose our frail and tenuous existence. Episodes of bewilderment, abandonment, and inner terror reveal our soul's restless cravings and fundamental neediness. In the wilderness we can lose our bearings. Or regain them."
O Lord, you have seen me through so many wilderness experiences. Help me and forgive me when my vision of and for You is pushed aside under the weight of unbearable circumstances. Grant that I may not every time have to come through my wanderings not sure of all that I have found in You. I am a weak and needy child of Yours--Unfit for ministry, yet called and cherished. You take all who would follow you through deep valleys. But those called "Pastors," you reserve the wildernesses. Help all of us to regain our bearings.