The Widest Part of the Desert - Part Two

April 23, 2010 by Teri Frana.

A continuation from Part One…

You can find several stories about the desert in the Bible.  In fact, most of the prominent “faith hall-of-famers” suffered a dark night season at least once in their lives.

Abraham - God called Abram out of the land of Ur to the land of Canaan.  Abram wandered to at least four places before he found the land God promised Him.  TWICE Abram practically prostituted his wife out so the leader of the land wouldn’t kill him.  Things got better after God changed his name to Abraham however, when God told him he and Sarah would give birth to a son and years passed before it happened.  They both figured God didn’t mean exactly what he said - so he slept with Sarah’s handmaiden to get the son he wanted.  That didn’t work out so well.

But, after almost two decades, God was true to his promise and gave them a son, Isaac.  After that, Abraham’s faith could not be shaken even when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac.  Abraham had learned so much in his desert time, he no longer doubted God and his goodness and his promises.   God stayed Abraham’s hand at the very top of the arc meant to deal a fatal blow to Isaac and provided the scape goat (ram) for sacrifice instead.

Joseph - God gave Joseph a dream that he would rule over his brothers, father, and all of the nation.  Joseph was so excited, he ran out and told them all, “I’m going to rule over yoooooooouuuuu! And look at this terrific coat that dad gave me because he likes me the best!”  He wasn’t very popular after that, in fact, his brothers proceeded to try to kill him but got cold feet.  They dumped him down a well and sold him into slavery instead.

Joseph thought he’d work himself right up the ladder and did.  Until he was the head guy at Potifer’s house.  I wonder if he ever thought that was the pinnacle of his ascent?  Just when things were good for him, he was accused of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison.  I’m sure it was even worse than slavery.  He sat in prison for years.  It had been over a dozen years since he had the dream and there he was sitting in a prison cell.

When his chance came to interpret the Pharaoh’s dream, we see a different Joseph.  When Pharaoh says, “I hear you can interpret dreams?”  Joseph replies, “I can not, but God can through me.”   A much different Joseph appears after his desert wandering than before.

Moses spent 40 years in Egypt as a prince, 40 years in the wilderness as a lowly sheep herded, and another 40 years wandering aimlessly through the desert with whiners and complainers.  Yet, we see a very different Moses at the end of his life.  One who was allowed closer to God than most of us could even imagine.

Job - Probably the most famous dark night is suffered by Job.  He was a righteous man before he suffered but as he sat in the ashes of mourning the loss of everything he knew, he listened to a rather intense tongue lashing from God which revealed to Job the depth of his very soul.  He said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”  Job 42:5

I could go on and on with Esther, Ruth, Saul/Paul, or any of the Apostles.  Their faith was sharpened, honed, and purified through their fiery trials and desert wanderings.

God never once said we wouldn’t experience suffering if we follow Him.  What He said was that He would NEVER leave or forsake us.  Ever.

In the next post, we’ll talk about why God allows these desert seasons in our lives…

Posted in Dark Night, Exploring Deep, Transparently Human | No Comments »