Rupert’s Blog

I am tentatively attempting to return to occasional blogging, when I have time (rather than when I have something to say - which I pretty much do most of the time … whether it is worth listening to is another matter!).

My 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 faith.

One of the things that I have appreciated about my church tradition is the emphasis that God is present. He is not remote, far away, uninvolved, removed, uninterested. He is present, here, now, you can experience Him, He can fill you with His Spirit, empower you, touch you. You can have a relationship with Him. He speaks. He guides.

It brought faith alive to me in my late teens, having had no such expectations in my childhood church experiences. God became real. Exciting. Like a bubbling spring at the top of a mountain. Twisting and turning, sloshing and splurging, speeding its way down the mountain. Faith seemed so vibrant.

The problem is the expectation this emphasis produces in us or in our church culture: “It should always be like this“. For some people it sometimes seems as though it is. Although I do sometimes wonder what is happening beneath the surface, the mask, the hype. Is it real? Or are they statements of desire, rather than reality? Or are the harder, dryer times forgotten?

If you do find yourself in a “dry” time, I have been left with the impression that is not good, something to avoid at all costs, and get out of as quick as possible. It is as though we are standing on the beach, and the waves should constantly be crashing down over us. If they are not, it is because we have wandered too far into the sand dunes, and we just need to get back into the sea. “They are not in a good place spiritually” people cry. “If you are dry, lets us pray for you to be refreshed“. If only it was that easy all the time!

There are seasons when we do walk through different terrains. Sometimes the terrain is fruitful, full of life, green, vibrant, alive. But sometimes we find ourselves walking through a desert: dry, barren, lifeless, hot, dusty, and very quiet. God seems very distant or absent. It seems as though he has deserted us! He doesn’t seem to be speaking or guiding us any more. When we pray we don’t have any sense of someone we are talking to or communing with. The Bible is dry, and we end up reading without any sense of God speaking or understanding. Worship is difficult; church gatherings, especially the exuberant sort, are painful and excruciating, only emphasising our sense of aloneness and desolation. We seem so different from all these people who are passionately praising and thanking God for his presence and activity in their lives.

In previous seasons, we probably learnt particular ways of pursuing our relationship with God. We have found ways of prayer, reading, worship and other spiritual disciplines that help us to come into God’s presence and listen to His voice. But as we enter the desert, these disciplines no longer have the same effect. No longer do they bring life and nourish us. They seem dry and empty.

This can leave us feeling adrift, the anchor points that held us in our relationship with God seem no longer that strong. Our sense of drifting can be exacerbated by our sense of aloneness, a road less travelled, and often with a strong sense that we have done something wrong, we have missed a signpost somewhere along the way and ended up a desert that God didn’t want us to be in, and nor did we!

I will look in future posts some of the reasons why we do end up in these desert seasons, but suffice to say at this point, that often God seems to be the one that leads us into the desert. Sure sometimes the deserts of faith of our own making, but often they are not. God leads us into a desert, as He led Jesus into a desert. He leads us into the desert to meet with Him, meet with ourselves and be transformed. But more of that in later posts…

We need to find a way of positively speaking about these seasons and helping people to navigate these terrains. There aren’t many people who are desert dwellers, but there are some, and they are great companions for the journey. I am interested in being one of those desert companions, and hearing of your experiences of desert in your faith. Perhaps we can learn together about the often uncharted territory of walking with God in the desert.

What are your experiences of desert seasons of faith? What was it like?

Tags: Desert, Wilderness, God, Christian Life, Prayer

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