I didn’t do anything this time. Largely, I am accustomed to being course-corrected by God because of some decision that I made that was contrary to His will. I’m used to the repercussions of my departure from His path, but this time I was hard-pressed to find out the reason for this wilderness transition. As a result, more times than not, I uttered, “What is the deal? What did I do to get here?”
Silence.
I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018. While many people immediately think of Sin City as a place to have “fun,” I did not. In fact, I was grieved to move to a place that was contrary to my lifestyle. Even more, I was resistant to moving to the desert! Interestingly, what many people forget about when they come visit Vegas is that it is in a literal desert. It gets hot here. Your skin dries out. Your eyes are crusty. You will get dehydrated quickly if you aren’t careful. Ultimately, when you move past the flashiness of the Strip, you walk into barrenness.
So, I find myself in a place where I don’t know anyone. In a place that walks contrary to my values. In a hyper-reality city where I am alone more times than not. In a place that is silent. It’s really silent in the desert.
Then God whispers to me, “I love you.”
Love?! “Sir, you just brought me to Vegas where I can easily be tempted with all manner of evil and you say that you love me? Do you not want me to serve you?”
He repeats, “I love you.”
Me: *sigh*
Him: “Shall we begin?”
My first six months in the desert were a challenge. It wasn’t so much as the lure of the Strip, but the inward war to which I was finally forced to pay attention. Moving quickly through life afforded me the ability to gloss over certain internal conflicts. Most of them I didn’t know were even happening.
Sometimes God will bring you to the wilderness to get your attention. It wasn’t so much that you’ve done anything wrong, but that the flashiness of the city might be a distraction from what He wants to say. Here, I define “city” broadly, which could represent friendship circles, careers, relationships, or routine. Because God is a loving Father, He will do something unconventional to ensure intimacy with Him.
Think about Moses and the burning bush. Though Moses had killed an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew and fled to the desert out of fear, the purpose of His time in the desert was that He had a divine appointment with God. Indeed, the loudness of his Egyptian lifestyle would not allow this to happen in the manner that it did, but it was in the stillness that He saw the angel of the Lord. (The interesting thing is that it was his choice to go to the desert.)
In Exodus 3, the Bible tells us that: The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush was on fire, yet it was not consumed. So, Moses said, “I must turn away [from the flock] and see this great sight—why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he turned away [from the flock] to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am” (verses 2-4 AMP).
Here, The Angel of the Lord is Jesus and He, Himself, took the time to appear to Moses. Wow! Talk about Him knowing Moses’ name, right? In love, not only for Moses but for the children of Israel who were crying out for a savior, He met Moses to chat. What is most important though is that Moses, because of his time in the wilderness, had the courage to “look.” Sometimes when we are in the routine of our lives, we forget that courage is needed to see what God is showing us. Even more, it takes courage to accept God’s love. It’s not always as glamorous as we may think.
What is most encouraging about Moses’ situation is that he said that he must see the bush. Who was he talking to if he and the flock were the only ones present? God? Definitely. Himself? Perhaps. Remember though that Moses is in the wilderness, which was a barren place. Yes, it was natural for things to catch fire because of the weather, but the bush was not consumed! Moses realized that something supernatural was happening in plain sight.
So, this is where I find myself. In the same place as Moses. Minding my business and God whispers, “I love you.” In His love, He may allow me to be in the fire but NEVER consumed. His love, though, is a consuming fire that burns deep within each of us.
In essence, my positioning in the desert has less to do with my actions but more to do with His divine plan. Here, He’s shown me, as He did Moses that no matter what, His love will never leave territory uncharted. His love will chase you down. His love will shift you. His love will challenge you to rise for the cause of others in pain!
What if Moses never had a burning bush moment? Do you think that we would know his name as someone who did something great for God? Would he be among the many nameless people in the Bible? Possibly.
Yet, because of this moment, the one he may not have wanted but couldn’t unsee, he is one of our heroes in the faith. Ultimately, the wilderness is not punishment, but it is a place where you can hear God clearly and witness, if only for a moment, the sovereignty of His love for you and others who may need you to fight for their cause.
