Making a highway in the wilderness...I wonder what kind of car Jesus would drive?

 

            Let me preface what I am about to say by confessing: this entire year has felt like a wilderness, spiritually speaking: a dry time, a desert, the beginnings of a dark night. Do you know what I mean? That period of time in your life where you feel like you’re just wandering, just keeping on keeping on. Still trying to follow Christ with all your heart while longing so fiercely for the cooling refreshing breath of the Spirit. Waiting for that gentle whisper but all you hear is silence. I want to clarify that I am not speaking exclusively about the Dark Night of the Soul St John of the Cross confronts in detail in his book by that title. Having experienced two such times myself I do not dare say they are one and the same.

            I have noticed that Christians do not speak about these times often and I wonder if it is because most of us do not understand these times because 1) we’ve have yet to experience it, 2) we are currently experiencing it and do not want to talk about it because being so vulnerable and honest is tough, or 3) we have the desert memorized and wonder what in the world we are doing back here again.

            Two years ago I had the privilege to attend the Nation Youth Worker’s Convention in Nashville (put on by Youth Specialties). At that time I was not even remotely experiencing a dry spell: I felt so keenly alive and in rhythm with God. While there, I heard a message that resonated so beautifully with my heart. Mike Pilavachi was one of the speakers and his message was about reasons for the desert times in our spiritual journeys. Reverend Pilavachi laid out in amusing and beautiful detail three reasons for the Spirit driving us to these times. The obvious first and second reasons are: sin and the refining our character (as exhibited in the entire Exodus story and the Children of Israel). The third and last reason was one rarely spoken of but by far the most beautiful of reasons. To allure us: to remove all that hinders us from pursuing God. To deposit us in a place where we reach a hunger and thirst for no one but Him. These are the times of being romanced by the greatest of all lovers. They are exhibited in Hosea 2, and Jesus’ time in the Wilderness before the Temptation and the start of His ministry (Matthew 4:1, Luke 4:1). Elijah was driven after on of his great victories, by fear, to the desert where he encountered the still small voice of God. (1 Kings 19:4-15) Moses’ intimate moments with God happened in the Wilderness. These times are for refreshing, for drawing strength from God to walk in His power.

Tomorrow, one of my childhood dreams is coming true. I will be playing Triton, my viola in Handel’s Messiah. Consequently, this morning was our dress rehearsal. As I was brushing my teeth (which is very good to do) shortly before leaving for Wilmore, through my head was playing the last line of “Comfort Ye.” (This also is very good because that is my cue to prepare to play “Ev’ry Valley”.) Those lines are straight from Isaiah 40:3  “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.””

            As I spat into the sink, for the first time in what has seemed like ages, that familiar churning of my spirit happened, my heart quickened as the phrases, wilderness, prepare, and highway stuck out to me as brilliantly as the lights illuminating my shocked face reflected in the mirror.  A highway? What are highways for? For moving quickly from one place to another. Could our journey through the Wilderness be a way of breaking ground for others? Could our struggles, temptations, tears and cries be the very stones God uses to pave the way for others to meet Him? After all, there is always a magnificent, eye opening, clearer understanding of the majesty and wonder of God on the other side of every wilderness.

            My moment of realization expounded on the overall purpose of the Wilderness journey. Yes, God wants us to be closer to Him, but He never does anything exclusively for one person, one single purpose. Every miracle, every act of judgment, every act of glorious redemption are for the greater purpose of bringing others closer to God, to the greater glory of God; the most astounding example of all being Jesus Christ.

            In American culture, it is so easy to fall into the mindset that everything is personal. I have often heard people talk about Jesus as their “Personal Savior and Lord.” A commonly heard explanation of Christianity is “It is a personal relationship with God”: which it is. It is so extremely personal and invasive and awesome. But what is the purpose?  Not just for us to get to heaven. (That is a whole ‘nother blog right there) No, we are followers of Christ so that we can bring others closer to God, to the greater glory of God.

            That being said, the command, ““Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” shines in a whole new light for me. I now imagine a thoroughfare where people and God run to embrace one another.

            The moment it occurred to me I would out of the Wilderness was when I stepped out two days ago in obedience; I determined that no matter what I was going to reach out to the “invisibles” of our world. And God responded by putting them directly in my path. Because my heart has been prepared in the wilderness, I can now bring Christ to others. That is when I realized: all of this is so much bigger than me: I never feel so alive than when I am running with Jesus and the Spirit’s breath fills up my lungs.

 And people think being a Christian is boring and full of “Thou Shalt Not’s.”