Living in the Desert
1 02 2008Dear readers … it has been a long time. I have done some “cold turkey” on my blogging addiction (or has life just been too busy?), but I have even been encouraged by a few people to venture back into the world of blogs. So I thought I would write the occasional blog post and see how it goes.
I will try to write something more on this over the coming weeks, but here is a talk that I gave at our church before Christmas on times when God seems absent in our lives. God is never absent, but there are times when it seems as though He has left us; times when when we seem to praying to the ceiling; when all we hear is silence; when we have no sense of God’s presence. We are in a barren place, which can become a place of incredible fruitfulness, if we know how to walk with God in these seasons. Often we think we have done something wrong or we try to go back and do what we were doing in times of blessings. We can be tempted to give up. But if we can discern the “withness” of God, that God is with us in a unique, but different, way, we can learn to love the desert. And find it a place of transformation.
Intrigued? Well listen, and let me know what you think.
Good to have you back.
thanks duncan - will try to post a bit, and maybe keen an eye on a blog or two … just can’t do it all!
heh bro, great to see you back
thanks Paul … it is good to be back!
[...] Good news Filed under: Blogroll — duncanmcf @ 8:55 am Rupert’s back! [...]
Good to see you back on the blog scene. I’ve been absent myself now for a few months!
thanks alastair
Hey Rupert, this is my first time in a while since I looked at your blog, (good to see you back).
Yesterday in my cell group we were talking about Psalm 40, I think it’s profound to read what you have written about not sensing God’s presence where the first verse of Psalm 40 is ‘I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry.’ NLT
Also, yesterday morning in a word of the day booklet I read ‘God hears our cries and helps us always in His perfect way and in His perfect time’.
How great it is that He is always with us, even when we’re not always with Him and when we’re not with Him we should at least ‘wait’ on Him, especially as He knows what is going to happen, before we even know what’s happening.
thanks tayna - it is good to be back.
The Psalms are wonderful as they describe the whole of our Christian experience. Sometimes the Psalmist does wait patiently and God answers him. Sometimes he cries out in agony as it seems God has forgotten him, forsaken him, or isn’t answering prayer.
eg. Ps 10:1; 22:1-2; 42:9 etc.
We know that God never does leave us, but sometimes it seems as though He is absent or distant - it is how we navigate these seasons that i am interested in.
I totally find that my times in the metaphorical ‘desert place’ is the times when I really mature spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I learn so much more about God, I guess because so often these times are lonely, and you have no choice but to cling on to God in a way, trust that He will get you through and make good come out of the crappy situations we find ourselves in (or perhaps got ourselves into)…
I find the ‘no mans land’ more concerning. In the ‘desert place’ I know God’s there, even if I can’t feel His presence. I know it’ll end at some point. On the ‘mountain top’ well those times you’re so filled with joy that you want to drag everyone you know up there with you.
But the in-between - when you’re just ‘fine’ or ‘ok’. Nothing particularly testing, nothing particularly exciting going on, and there you have your comfort zone. You don’t need God, you’re not too bothered. Your prayer life becomes stagnant. You don’t ‘need prayer’ from anyone.
And suddenly time has passed you by and there hasn’t been a single tiny bit of transformation…
Laura Anne - thanks for the great and insightful comment. I love the concept of no-mans land. I think this is probably the ground that many Christians in the west stand on …
Have you any thoughts on how you can get off this middle ground?
I’m not sure. Been going through a bit of a no-mans land period over the last few months (coming out of it now I think). So I’ll let you know if I work out an answer to this one…!
Please do … i would love to hear…
[...] first post back was an opening shot looking the subject of “living in the desert“. Today I want to try to define what I mean by desert times in our [...]
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