O God, .... my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
Psalm 63:1
Water will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
Isaiah 35:6,7
When you were dead in your sins .... God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us .... He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:13-15
In Israel, in the land where Jesus lived and died, there is a great, wild valley along the eastern border. There, less than 25 miles from flourishing Jerusalem, is one of the lowest and deadest places on earth: the valley of the great “Salt Sea” – the “Dead Sea.” Its waters are almost ten times saltier than ocean water. It is so salty that people do not sink (as tourists like to prove for themselves). The Sea is rich in minerals, which are used in fertilizers, cosmetics, and health products. Legend had it that birds would die if they flew over the Dead Sea. While the story about the birds is false, it is true that nothing can live in the sea except some microorganisms.
Somewhere nearby were once the living cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, before they were destroyed by fire from Heaven. Heading west toward Jerusalem, is a rough and rocky wilderness of caves and hollows that was the refuge of outlaws, wanderers, and monastics (
Learn more). The hot desert air can rise to temperatures of 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Here only a few inches of rain fall yearly.
In these barren hills, Jesus once walked. He went there to pray after His baptism, and there He was tempted by Satan. For many centuries, people have claimed that this "Mount of Temptation" is located on the north side of the Dead Sea. Nearby is the ancient monastery of Quarantal, clinging to the side of steep cliffs (
Learn more). The monks who lived there were like many who go to lonely and wild places to pray, or to find God, meaning, atonement for sin, peace, or any other satisfaction.
Wilderness sojourns can be fruitful times of prayer and reflection. But sinners who enter the desert in search of God will never exit sinless. There is no place so remote that it allows an escape from the attacks of Satan or the urgings of sinful human nature. If Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, so will we be – wherever we go, whatever we do. But Jesus entered the wilderness sinless. He left it sinless. Where Adam and Eve and all the generations after them failed, Jesus never failed.
Crops and lush gardens can never grow in desert wastelands except an outside force brings sweet soil and fountains of water. And we who are dead, body and soul, can never be made alive by any means of our own doing. We need Jesus Christ, the fountain of life, our only Savior.
God bless you!
Donna
