“In the third month after the children of Israel went forth from the land of Egypt, on the same day they came to the Desert of Sinai and camped there. Israel camped before the mountain and Moses went up to God (Exod. 19:1-2

After the great crossing of the Sea, the Hebrews have arrived at Mt Sinai.  It is a holy mountain where God reveals Himself to Israel.  Thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud hiding its summit as Moses ascends to receive the Lord’s commandments.

This great mountain is in the midst of the desert.  The people are encamped in the desert opposite the mountain. 

Having lived in the desert I can vouch for the its barrenness.   We find scorpions, snakes, a thirsty land.  However, this desert becomes a sacred place where God interacts with His people.  But there are lessons to be learned.  

Leaving Egypt even with its bondage, brought complaints among the people.  Here they are in a barren wilderness.  They have left the flesh pots of Egypt and its dozens of deities but at least they had food to eat and water to quench their thirst.  Now they must rely on this God to supply their needs. 

Egypt is like America and the developed world.  Our abundance deludes us into thinking we really don’t depend on God.  We can supply ourselves with everything we want or desire. 

The earliest life of Messiah opens in the desert.  After His encounter with John the Baptizer, Yeshua goes into the desert to be tempted.  After the temptation He is ready to go back to the villages and towns of Israel, but he continually returns to the desert to seek God and pray (Mark1:35, 45; Luke 5:16)

We too have our own desert experiences.  We find that we are vulnerable, dependent, profoundly in need of God.  In our desert, we encounter spiritual thirst and hunger, sickness, estrangement from family and friends, and our ultimate inability to meet these needs for ourselves, thereby making ourselves dependent on God.

However, despite the fears of being in our desert, God does not leave us.  God does not lead us into the desert to feel forsaken, but to live in freedom from the false Gods that we have created in our life. 

The desert experience is an essential transition in the life of a Believer.  Without it, there will be no encounter with a Holy God.  Our transition from Egypt to Sinai, separates us from the old ways and brings us into a complete realization that we can no longer supply our deepest needs.

Without the realities of discipline, trials, and preparation we cannot become a completed and devoted follower of the very One who created us.  We have come to understand that we can no longer be a singular person but one who seeks something far greater in life.   

May the lessons of our desert experiences bring us closer to finding our true selves and who we are meant to be.

                             Learn the lessons of the desert.