"Coming Up From The Wilderness"

“Who is this that comes up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?” Song of Solomon 8:3.

As the Beloved of Christ, the path we follow is not just one of ascent, it is the daily journey of the Cross as well. It leads us through this world which still lies under the ripple effect of original sin and Satan's temporary reign. To live victoriously in this fallen world we must learn to lean upon our Beloved.

The wilderness can represent many things. It can be the place of a wrecked and confused life where we have struggled and failed to find our true identity and destiny in God; or the wilderness can also be a good place. The prophet Hosea spoke of God drawing backslidden Israel into the wilderness where He would renew them to their first love experience. (Hosea 2:14-15)

Almost always, I have found that the "wilderness" is a combination of both of these things. It is the place of spiritual ruin as well as the place of restoration. It is often the place where we collapse from the exhaustion that comes from the rigid performance of religious duties where we have sought to find God's love as a reward rather than as the gift it really is. Many of us reach the wilderness because we have been taught that we must lean upon the promises of the Bible. Yet, the picture we are given is that of the Bride leaning upon the Person of the Bible. Sometimes we fall headlong into the wilderness because we feel we did our part by living by God's precepts only to find God had seemingly let us down. Only when self-endeavors (even our self-endeavors to live the Christian life) cease and are abandoned can we begin to learn how to truly lean upon our Beloved.

The way "down into the wilderness" is actually the first step on the ascending path that will eventually take us closer to the heart of our Bridegroom. The wilderness is not the place to lie down and die as was the fate of the children of Israel when they wandered there for 40 years! Our wilderness is meant to be the place of restoration and renewal! We are destined to "come up from the wilderness" - but the key is that we come up "leaning upon our Beloved."

Jesus invites us to overcome our wilderness by finding Him there. Yes, He was there before we were there! He was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days so that He could conquer it for us! He has been there - waiting for us to find Him in the midst of our darkest moments. Yes, we can lean on our Beloved in the wilderness because He has tamed it on our behalf.

What have you been leaning on?

Your own strength?

Your own plans?

Have you been leaning on the comfort and support of friends?

Have you been leaning on the promises of the Bible?

Jesus came out of His wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit. We come up and out of our wilderness - not empowered - but de-powered! We come up weak and feeble knowing (as Paul came to know) that "His strength is made perfect in our weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9) We can lean on our Beloved once we have learned that His grace is our sufficiency.

Our Beloved is not impressed when we flex our muscles and proclaim how strong we have become and how well we are doing at living the Christian life. No! He loves the feel of our of arms linked to His in trembling dependency. He loves to join our feebleness to His great "Almightyness."