WILDERNESS WAYS

Matthew 3:1-2  In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

John the Baptist proclaimed the life changing revelation of the Kingdom of Heaven (Jesus), arriving…in the wildernessof Judea.  Revelation is often in the wilderness.  That same wilderness is where John’s own life had been shaped and prepared for what God had designed and called him to be.  Preparation is often in the wilderness.

In the Greek, (the language of the Scriptures), the meaning of wilderness is desert, lonely or quiet place, or even wasteland.  These descriptions seem the most unlikely places for the preparation of a person, and certainly not where one would expect life changing revelations to be announced in.  Would not some great university, church hierarchy, or group of elite religious leaders with titles and clothing to match be a greater source and means of preparation and revelation?  Yet, was it not in the night fields of Judea where angels met shepherds to reveal the birth of our King?  Are you starting to see a pattern here?

Have you found yourself before, or even now in a kind of wilderness…a lonely or quiet place?  Friends, I urge, I beg you; do not seek to run from it.  Perhaps you need to run to it.  Jesus by need and leading of the Spirit went to the wilderness.  Perhaps in the wilderness distractions are less and definition of voices more clear.  Perhaps most important is that the wilderness may go beyond terrain to your environment or where you position yourself.  My older brother has a difficult time hearing so there are two things he needs if he really wants to hear me.  First, distractions, (like background noise), have to be lessoned or eliminated, and then he turns his best ear towards me so my voice is more defined…then he can hear.  Less distractions and more definition are common in the wilderness.

The way of the wilderness or the lonely place might be just what God can use to break through the “noise” to yourneed.

With love, from "your father's heart" (DWJ)