Transforming the Desert
Author: Andrew Comiskey
February 22, 2021
‘At once the Spirit sent
Him out into the desert, and He was in the desert forty days, being tempted by
Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him’ (Mk. 1:12-13).
The Spirit invites us to
follow Jesus into the desert. Hard to imagine in our deep winter freeze. No
matter—burning sand or burning cold—Jesus transforms the wasteland into a
garden.
He commissions demons and
beasts to rouse us. Wake up! All is not well! Victories, hard-won, have softened
into sloth; alien fires enticed and now warm us, killing us softly. ‘Paint our
dragons red, Jesus!’ Forty days of Lent seem too brief for Him saving us again.
Yet save us He will! That’s why He ventured desert-ward in the first place—to
blaze a path and loose a fountain in our barrenness.
His obedience, our surrender.
No other posture. Wild things arrest us on well-trod paths and taunt: ‘No
getting out of this your way!’ No more
tricks…only Jesus now. Maybe that’s why God, through Hosea, invited divided
Israel into the desert. It was not to scourge her but to save her; He ‘allured
her’ as to restore original beauty. Only God can transform prostitutes to
virgins. Only the divine Bridegroom can prepare for Himself His Bride. He does
so in the desert—a place of leanness, of undivided attention. In light of our divides,
the desert reveals Love that unites us, mends our integrity.
‘I will lead you into the
desert and speak tenderly to you. There I will give you back your vineyards and
will make the Valley of Achor {judgment} a door of hope. There you will sing as
in the days of your youth…’ (Hosea 2:14-15)
My friend Beth from
Atlanta says He recreates us in the desert. Maybe so. She has been the human
source of ‘living waters’ in her church for the last 18 years. Troubled by a
lesbian relationship 35 years ago, she discovered Living Waters in a
charismatic Baptist Church in Boston; there, in our first group run outside CA,
Jesus transformed her burning sand into a pool (Is. 35:7). She wound up in
Atlanta and vowed to recreate for herself (and every thirsty soul) a pool of
mercy in her new church.
She did just that. We
rejoiced with Beth last week in Atlanta at blessed Church of the Apostles where
we celebrated over 54 teams of wounded healers and Living Waters/Cross Current
groups that Beth oversaw there.
One woman followed Jesus
into the desert where He released a fountain. Not too complicated--Jesus
overcame the desert and invites us to transform ours. He ‘satisfies our needs
in a sun-scorched (or frost-bitten) land and strengthens our frames’ (Is. 58:11),
so that our wastelands become gardens. Grateful and fruitful, we give
generously.
Thank you, Beth, for
encouraging us as we re-enter Lenten encounter and refinement, 2021.
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