Streams in the desert

Recently, because it's Advent, we've been talking a lot about the desert. In Thursday night Bible study this week we studied John the Baptist, and for awhile we disussed the desert; what it means for our lives, and what it looks like to us... It's facinating hearing people talk about the desert, because we all have similar, but different, things that stick out to us.

There is the desert of loneliness. It's a place where there's nothing around you, and you are simply alone...longing for water, longing for trees, longing for another person's company.

There is the desert of suffering. A place where you're experiencing sweltering heat and pressure, and the pain you feel causes you to cry out for help and say that you're in the desert.

There is the desert of "lostness"...a place where you have no idea what road you're traveling on, or if you're even on the road...maybe you've wandered around the same sand dune of despair and mistakes a thousand times, and you have no idea how to get away from it...the roads all seem to lead to the same place...

There is the desert of weariness. The place where, although there is no water in you--nothing that even seems like life--still you need to keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep working, keep going.

There is the desert of fear. All you see is sand...what is lurking, what will happen if you don't find water, what will happen if it does suddenly rain?...what happens when you can go no further? Your mind can race with the possibilities of what exists in the wilderness that can hurt or hunt you.

Over and over again, God promises that He is making streams in our deserts...maybe we can't see them...but then again, maybe we're not looking for God's kind of streams. Friday evening, at the end of evening worship and prayer, Sensei said, "For a pastor, Christmas is a really busy season. Usually I go through this season kind of dry...it's so busy...my heart gets dry. But this year is really different. My heart doesn't feel dry this year...I think it's because almost every day, we have time to worship and pray together..."

Life in the wilderness...streams in the desert. Moments where God's Spirit brings us into His presence. Moments when we can cease our trudging, our worrying, our suffering, and be healed, cleansed, and cared for by our Maker. Moments where living water flows, where our loneliness is set aside as we're drawn into our Father's lap, where knowing the road doesn't necessarily matter, because we have a Guide who knows the way.

Receiving such "streams" is such a joyful thing...and it is painful beyond belief to see others struggling through their deserts without the streams. Or rather, when they reach a stream that God gives them, they don't recognize the Giver behind it, so they don't recognize the love in it either. Their streams are simply places to take a quick drink before they are driven on again by their restless wandering... My stream is a place of life and love, and the reassurance that this whole crazy experience is guided by One who I can trust.

Sigh. Thinking about this just gives me a whole mixture of thankfulness and pain. Joy and sadness. Rejoicing in what I have, and weeping for those around me...

Come, Lord Jesus, and come quickly. Drinking from your stream only make me thirstier for you. But before you come, let your grace flow here...