-Mark 6:31- And He (Jesus) said unto them: " Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat."
Well, this wasn't the verse I was intending on talking about this morning, but it jumped out at me and it is very fitting right now.
If I had to go to a place to rest, I don't think a desert would be my first choice, especially not a desert back in the Bible days...there was probably no Raddison or Marriott to sleep at and no spa for a nice massage. Yet, Jesus called His disciples into the desert.
If you are called to go into the desert by the Lord Jesus Christ, do not fear it but embrace it. A desert is dry but He is the Living Water. The desert heat can be intense but He is the breath of life that will protect us from the heat. A desert is lonely but He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. A desert may be a place where your cell phone will have no coverage to call our friends, but we always have access to His Throne of Grace and what a friend we have in Jesus!
This past week has seemed more like a desert than previous weeks. Things are uncertain. I am awaiting some news about some important situations, yet the mailman hasn't made it to my desert yet. I have a mother in law that is quite ill and it has been a roller coaster ride wondering if she will pull through this, the concerns of the present leave me feeling quite parched and zapped of life.
Yet, in the midst of my desert, in the midst of any child of God's desert, there is JESUS. He sometimes sends us into deserts to "rest a while" as He did His disciples. As we rest, we regroup and get a new perspective on things.
Isaiah 43: 19 Behold, I will do a new thing now and it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
If you are in the desert today, look for the river that God has prepared for you dear child, and drink from the Springs of Living Water!
Let me know how it goes!
