The Darkest Desert

The Darkest Desert

What’s on your mind today? Are you overwhelmed? Too much to do in a day? Too many hard things? Is it your health or a loved one’s health? Is it your finances? Too much month for the money to stretch? Maybe it’s problems in your marriage or with your children. Maybe it’s just the rhetoric we hear on the news. The world around us is hard. It’s hard not to be triggered by the lies we hear on the news. 

In Genesis, Jacob incurs the wrath of his brother Esau. When Esau gives is going to get even, Jacob runs. After being on the run for a while he was so tired he decided to lay down under a tree, using a stone for a pillow. He was feeling dejected, rejected and alone. He probably felt his life was over. He had lost everything. But as he slept, he had a dream. He saw a ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending.

When he awoke, he made the realization that God had wanted him to see that he had a God who was present, involved and wanted to hear his prayers. A God who would be for him in his darkest hour, A God that would be with him in his desert experience. That would protect him, in spite of his less than perfect actions up to this point. A God who would never leave or forsake him. Do we remember that when we are in the desert? In the dark of night? When our minds tell us there are wolves right outside our line of vision and they are waiting to pounce. The wolf today maybe a bill collector, a doctor, divorce papers, a child with drug problems. Whatever our “desert” is, it is real, dark and lonely.

But then, we see God. Then we know He is with us. We know He won’t leave us and whatever we need to go thru, we won’t be alone. He brings us into the light and out of the desert. He sets our feet on dry land.

Psalm 40:2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

We have been there, in that muddy, miry pit. Whether it was of our own doing and disobeying God or if it was something around us, we have been there. Isn’t it amazing to know that OUR GOD, doesn’t give up on us. He doesn’t leave us in a pit of pain. He loves us and wants the best for us. And that best is HIM.

Lord, forgive us today for all the things that we do to push you away. Remind us often how close you are and that we should call out to you, and you will answer. Amen

Shirlene Peterson