Christian Writers Circle

Intimacy in The Desert Places

by

Kathleen Shore

As I listen all around me, I hear the sound of a grave condition…. no, not the moans of painful suffering within earthly circumstances. But the condition of a generation of people who are so unaware of Father God’s intentions within their desert places. And so, they live like prey to circling vultures, unplugged from their power source, full of confusion, vacant of joy, and blindfolded from the hope set before us; our Lord Jesus Christ.

They live tossed about like a wave of the sea…. one moment full of excitement in believing His Sovereign Lordship while boldly praying, “Your will be done!” And the next, running from difficult places God’s hand of providence has led them to because it didn’t feel good or it wasn’t what they thought it should be.

But scripture continues to pave the Way of the Lord into our hearts and minds through the joy of His fellowship, in suffering.

Isaiah 43 NET

(vs. 19) “Look, I am about to do something new. Now it begins to happen! Do you not recognize it? Yes, I will make a road in the desert and paths in the wilderness.”

Why would he ask us, “Do you not recognize it?”

I believe it is because God’s ways are not our ways, and our thoughts are not His thoughts. He is steering us to see Father’s intentions within the painful desert places when all we can think about is what we see with our natural eyes.

But if we would simply live captivated by His love of us, we wouldn’t care what our earthly circumstances “felt” like. If we would fully surrender and trust that He is doing a new thing, we would begin to know Him as our Oasis in our painful circumstances, right here and now.

Isaiah 35 NIV

(vs. 1)The desert and the parched land will be glad. (vs. 7) The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground, bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. (vs. 8) And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. (vs. 10)….only the redeemed will walk there.

You see God’s highway of holiness, which is the likeness of His son Jesus – The Way is being paved in us through our desert places.

This treasure was delivered to me through the darkness of severe physical pain when the Neurologist diagnosed me with Multiple Sclerosis.

I remember a few months later on a lighthearted Saturday morning with the family, while working hard to regain my normal routine, I came to the end of being able to hold it together through the pain and gave way to tears. Melting to the kitchen floor while scratching at my skin I prayed aloud to God, “Please Father, make it stop! You are my Healer and my relief! Oh Jesus, I need You….” And there He was. The Great Rider mounted upon His horse as my Prince of Peace, just waiting to hear me say, “I need You.” And in that moment, clearer than the visible scars on my MRI, Father’s words seared my heart.

“Intimacy with Me in your desert places.”

The Prince of Peace moved all over me like a river, and calmed my body as my eyes became fixed on the vision He set before me.

Hosea 2:14, 15 NIV

I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (The Valley of Trouble) a door of hope.

O love of His very life, God’s intimate presence is alluring us into places so that we would know Him more distinctly and most intimately. He is divinely fashioning circumstances just to draw our attention back to His passionate love of us. And all we want is for Him to make it stop….

Have we not had enough of seeking His hand and not His face?

After being turned to the nearness of my Lord through that moment of conviction on the kitchen floor, I spoke to my children who were at my side with love and concern for their mom. More than teaching them something, I needed to hear the answer to my question from little voices outside of my own head, and I knew they would give it to me.

“Just because we don’t like a particular circumstance,” I spoke slowly to them, “Does that mean that it’s not from God?” I knew the exact moment the answer entered their minds by the look upon their faces. “No….” They quietly spoke back to me with wide eyes and reverent fear.

Prayer:

Father, I bow my knee to You and repent for wanting Your presence but only when its how I like it. I say again, that You are trustworthy and I want what You have for me. I want to be a vessel of Your presence that is used for Your pleasure, no matter what that looks like. I’m all Yours. Amen

May we come to live with one singular desire….

May we seek to have no other reward….

May we be found consumed with His love of us.