I have been staying in semi dessert country, Botswana. Life in the desert seems to be difficult as no many fertile land to be cultivated. Dryness of the country brings dryness of life and heart. Botswana value water and rain like they value money and life as they have similar word of rain and name of the currency (Pula). Desert, in my view, brings its own beauty and ugliness, strength and weakness. This experience leads me to think of my God, Yahweh, who led Israelites to the Promised Land by taking them out from the slavery of Egypt and accompanying them for forty years in the DESERT. My questions are: What God reveals Himself in this situation and context? Does desert influence of God’s attitudes and characters? Or is this God reactive to the condition of the people in this situation? Does God have a grand plan for his people in the desert? Does this plan have impact for His people? This God, whom I call Him, is the God of dessert. He comes from the dessert; He lives in the dessert; and His place of worship is the dessert.
Wow… A surprising statement as we know and belief that God only be found in the temple. But when I read the book of Exodus 3: 1-15, which is about God revealing His name to Moses as I AM WHO I AM in the burning bush, I convinced about it that God is found in the dessert. He is from desert. Here I quote the related verses, “… One day he (Moses) led the flock to the far side of the desert, and come to Horeb, the mountain of God… take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground”. God holy place is not heaven but in the dessert and His holy ground is desert.
A desert, a place of terrible extreme weather between hot and cold and dry, where each living being tries hard to survive with very scarce food and water, is a dangerous place to be. Someone needs to be strong to be there because of many challenges. This place is very hostile to humans. However, desert shows its beauty; it is an open place; it gives a sense of freedom; it presents the universe closer to you, where you can experience sky-meeting-land; and it raises up the experience of how small and tiny you are in this fast and huge universe; it presents the dependency of living beings toward the God of universe. It express a search for oases of life because living beings in this desert try hard to find oases as a source of water.
God of the desert shows Himself as Creator, Protector, Providers, Freedom Fighter, Warrior, and Savior. He is a weather God; desert God, creative God, and Freedom God. He is God of universe; He brings everything into existence; He creates animals and humans; and He helps His people in their warfare and provides them win their welfare; He is God who has power over life and death; and He is all-mighty God. He is God of ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is God of the nomadic, the unsettled and wanderers. He is YAHWE.
After living their life as slaves in Egypt, the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were led to leave the country of Egypt. Moses who encountered God in the burning bush, took a leadership role and became a person who speak in the name of God, leading them out of the country having enslaved for many generations. It was happy moment as well as sad moment: happy because they would find their freedom, and sad because they left their normal “comfortable” life as slaves to journey to unknown place and become wanderers. Moses led the Israelites as God commanded him to do. But it is God who started his master plan for Israelite and what God has started must be completed. So God called them out into the desert to be with God alone, to see, to experience His presence among them, and to worship Him.
By leading them to desert, God invites His people to solely trust Him. God reveals His identity to them and shows them His characters. He gives them regulation so to be faithful to him. His promise to them is to be with them because they belong to Him and they are His people. He provides food and water when they have nothing to eat and drink. He leads them to desert to experience that He is in control over all. So all depends on God because God has a grand Plan, that is, to lead them entering Promised Land, where there are plenty of honey and milk (Ex.3:17). Desert is like a stop-over place of being with God; a place of testing; and a place of preparation to enter the Promised Land.
Israel found God and He wanted to be worship in the desert. God ordered Moses to say the following word to the king of Egypt, “the God of Hebrew, Yahweh, has met us. Now let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to Yahweh our God” (Ex.3:18). It is not in Egypt and not in nearby villages or in the land of Goshen but it is in the wilderness of Massah and Meribah. This place has nothing but only mount Horeb, the mountain of God be their cover against wind and severe climate of desert. There is no altar but the mountain of God becomes their altar. In this place, God makes a covenant. He gives them commandments to follows. In this place God selected judges for His people. In this place, Israelites are unfaithful to God and God punishes them. In this place, the healing and forgiveness is taken place. God performs as God and Israel worships Him. (See Exodus 16- 20)
So to save us…
Looking at the experience of Israelites and their encountering with God who revealed Himself, His identity, and His characters, leads us to see our life, especially in the context of encountering the God of desert. If He is present in the desert, a place of great danger for life, He is here also with us in times of our troubles, problems, and calamities. If He is God who is in control of everything, He will be in control of our life. He is present in our wilderness of life, where difficulties and challenges seem so huge to handle and He finds every solution for it, which leads us to our Promised Land. His grand plan of our life should be fulfilled.
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