Last week I had the opportunity to attend a rather large conference. The worship leaders were world-renowned, and I was excited to worship with them. It was a great experience; and I had a lot of fun as well as getting some good teaching.
One of the songs we sang is becoming a popular anthem in the church at the moment:
You go before I know
That You’ve even gone to win my war
You come back with the head of my enemy
You come back and You call it my victory
You go before I know
That You’ve even gone to win my war
Your love becomes my greatest defense
It leads me from the dry wilderness
I’m sure most of the 8,000 people at the conference sang the last line and didn’t remember 10 seconds later what they had just sung. And while it didn’t wreck the experience of the song for me (how much fun it is to sing with 7,999 other people, “Hallelujah, You have saved me! So much better Your way!”), it reminded me again the viewpoint most of Christianity has about the wilderness.
To most people, the wilderness is something to be avoided. It’s without water or plants or fruit; it’s a scary place because you have no control there, little comfort, and no safety nets should something go wrong.
The thing we miss in this perspective is that God created the wilderness as much as He created farmland and the more lush areas of our world. When we see the wilderness as an enemy – or at least, as a place to be avoided – we forgo the blessings that God has placed in the wilderness for us to find.
God often called His chosen ones out into the wilderness for a season (think of Moses, David, Elijah, Ezekiel, John, and Jesus to name a few). Personally, if God has called me into the dry wilderness, I’d rather not leave until I’ve completed the assignment there. If I rush out as fast as I can, I might complete the goal, but I’ll miss the goodness of the Lord that He prepared for me along the way.
The wilderness path isn’t always easy. It can seem dry. It can seem long. It can seem like the scenery never changes (I’m thinking of I-20 through southern New Mexico). But it’s in the dry wilderness that we come to find God as the most precious: the Living Water, the Bread of Life, the sustainer of our souls.
If you want to hear the whole song, click here.
