Meeting God in the Wilderness

 

Shaken 

Psalm 29:8: The voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

You find yourself alone in the desert. You wonder if there is a word from God. There is silence. You pray. You seek. You meditate. You let the Logos take root in your heart. You wait expectantly and time passes ever so slowly. Suddenly, there is light on the obscure point over which you have prayed. As Cowper wrote, “sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he prays. It is the Lord who rises with healing in His wings.” There is clarity as your heart rejoices. You are learning to lean on God.

Stripped

Psalm 29:9:- The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

God’s voice speaks dramatically to us sometimes in prayer and we see the bark stripped from our old notions of truth. We ourselves are stripped of every false dependency and every layer of façade is peeled away from our lives. We are left with only the essence and we are overwhelmed. At first we make shrink from the experience of such magnificence, but as we drink in the presence of God we are transformed and our only legitimate response is worship. It is in those moments our hearts cry, “Glory!”

Strengthened

Psalm 29:10 –11:  The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever. The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

When you pray, do you ever envision God as enthroned over the floods of your life and the overwhelming perplexities and troubles of the world? He is King and there is none above Him. He in enthroned over governments and armies, terrorists, criminals, multi-national corporations, and even the mass media. He is enthroned over human opinion and over the destiny of the earth. He is Lord and when we pray, we lean on Him. He will never falter. He will never fall. Whatever else you do today, pray.