Beyond the Wilderness by Thom Gardner

Author:Thom Gardner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Destiny Image, Inc.
Published: 2020-04-20T18:36:02+00:00

Chapter 4: The Repurposing of the Wilderness

The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am” (Exodus 3:2-4).

Put yourself in the sandals of Moses for a minute. Maybe you are in his sandals right now. What emotions and thoughts must have run through his heart and mind? This encounter on a mountain, often representing a place of solitude and reflection, at the edge of the wilderness took place forty years after Moses fled from Egypt (see Acts 7:30). God had not forgotten Moses. Egypt was out of Moses’ system. Moses had gotten married, had a couple sons, and had nothing left but to shepherd the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro.

What might Moses have thought as he sat alone at night by a campfire resting among the sheep? What thoughts of what might have been replayed in his head as he consumed some meager ration recalling the sumptuous foods of Egypt? I have to believe that as Moses listened to the bleating of sheep and the sound of the wind in the wilderness that there were remnants of disappointments and loss. But God has a long memory. He had not forgotten Moses.

Now as the embers of Moses’ life and flight from Egypt were going out, a new flame was ignited in the form of a bush that burned but was not consumed. The far side of the wilderness brought Moses into a face-to-face encounter with the Eternal. The greatest rescue mission in the history of Israel began in this conversation. The man who likely believed his life was over was just beginning a new and powerful chapter. This conversation reveals a process that you and I go through to make sense of the pile of rubble in which we sometimes find ourselves.

One of the benefits of the wilderness and its silence is that it has the effect of preparing us to hear from God if we will turn aside from our own understanding to watch God transform our wilderness into a spring. As the psalmist says, “He changes a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water” (Psalm 107:35).

As you read these words, you are immersed in a sea of God’s presence. Psalm 139:7 reads: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” The question is whether we are paying attention to the activity of God around us. Our times in the quiet of the wilderness prepare us for encounters with something new or unexpected, just as Moses encountered the Eternal in the form of a bush that burned yet was not consumed.

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