Season Of The Desert

I studied to show myself approved (2 Timothy 2:15), but now God has drawn me into a place to show me the value of all my learning in the light of knowing only Jesus Christ crucified and as Lord--just that, and that alone-- and I am struck dumb.

Not that I didn’t know Christ crucified and as Lord before. But my season of learning must undergo the purifying fire of His true presence, it must endure the fiery gaze of the cross, burning away what is vain and leaving what is eternally valuable. As His holy hands sift through my collective knowledge, my soul cries, “My God and Lord if You leave me with nothing, if all I have left to know is You crucified, that is enough.” Are you willing to let Him sift all the learning you have amassed and leave only what is eternal truth? Are you willing to endure the fiery gaze of the cross, leaving only what reflects the true vision of Christ? Are you willing to have your knowledge and understanding scrutinized by the wisdom of God and whittled down to nothing, if that is all you have left of eternal truth in all your “acquiring wisdom”? (Prov 4:7)

There is a season of learning and then there is a season of the desert. In the desert season, all that is not sourced by the Living Water of Jesus Christ shrivels up and dies, and is only fit for burning. We take all our learning into the desert with us, where knowledge is tried and flesh is tempted, and when we come out, the only thing left is what cannot be shaken. The only thing left is the true word of the Lord. Because the desert is where God and man wrestle through what is the bread of heaven versus what is the bread of man. It is the place where the chaff of human reason is winnowed away and the leaven of religious scaffolding is put to death. If all that is built of Christ in your life and understanding is founded upon human reason and religious scaffolding, you will be left with nothing.

Deep down inside, there are many who know this to be true, which is why they are not willing to enter the desert, since the desert costs you everything of yourself, so that the only thing left is Christ in you. Because there is nothing to hide behind in a desert. And there is no man to give you food or drink, except the Lord.

(Luke 3:2) … during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness…

(Luke 4:1,2) Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil…

(Gal 1:15,16) But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia…

(1 Cor 2:1-5) When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified…my message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on God’s power.