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The Wilderness
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The wilderness is a wild, untamed place where the stong survive and the weak perish. It symbolizes the flesh which is sinful. While we live on this earth we live in bodies of flesh. Without water, our physical bodies can not live and without spiritual water our spirits are like a desert, parched, dry & thirsty.
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However, with enough water & with people to care and tend it the arid wilderness comes to life and can become productive. As water is instrumental in bringing the wilderness to life in the physical world, so the living water the Holy Spirit brings, gives life to our spirit.
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"....and all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin", Exodus 16:1.
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".... for in the wilderness shall waters break out & streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, & the thirsty land springs of water", Isaiah 35:6-7.
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"... I will even make a way in the wilderness...", Isaiah 43:19.
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"... I give waters in the wilderness & rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen", Isaiah 43:20.
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"... God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh & for sin condemned sin in the flesh", Romans 8:3.
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"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us", Romans 5:8.
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Many years ago we were traveling from Price Utah to Denver Colorado on old Route 70 ( I remember it as a two lane highway). As we traveled East toward the Rocky Mountains across Western Colorado, we passed through country which had high mesa's on our left and flat land on our right. The land was so open and desolate that the car would reach speeds of 90 miles an hour and we would have no idea how fast we were going until we looked at the speedometer. There was nothing along that part of the road.
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At some point we stopped to change drivers & to take a break. I wandered over to the side of the road and noticed the ground. You could clearly see the clay which was puctuated from time to time with weeds & sage brush but little else. The clay looked like it had been inundated with water, that had stood for a time, and then slowly evaporated. Once the water was gone the clay began to dry out under a hot sun. It cracked, as it dried, and looked like a large tile mosaic. When I reached out to touch it I thought, from the look of it, that it would be soft; but it was so hard it didn't give way or break even when I walked on it or when I tried to break it. Once the water was gone the clay was baked in the hot sun until it was hard as a rock.
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I feel this describes how the heart is hardened.
The water evaporates, the clay dries out and is no longer pliable. The water which sustains life is gone.
I am not sure exactly how this occurs in people, but the cares of this world and all that we are subjected to on a daily basis and our sin, at the very least, cause our vessels to leak & what water doesn't leak out evaporates. So it needs constant replacement. This can be done by drawing near to the Lord & He will draw near to you (James 4:8), by the washing of the water by the Word (Ephesians 5:26), by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5), and being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2) and certainly without spiritual water and spiritual food 'our little trusting spirits' just dry out.
When people are thirsty they drink water and when they are hungry they eat food, but most people don't realize when their spirit is hungry or thirsty. And as a result, many push away the spiritual food & drink because they don't know they need it. Whatever the cause, whatever place we find ourselves in, Jesus is the answer.
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Jesus is the LORD the fountain of living waters (Jeremiah 17:13) and He is the bread of life (John 6:48), He is the light in the darkeness (John 1:5), He lets his sheep go in and out and gives them eternal life (John Chapter 10). Thank you Jesus!
There are probably many scenarios & reasons for how this happens, but in the end only the Lord cleanses us, redeems us, gives us light to see and sustains us in the wilderness. He is the Lord who performeth all things for us (Psalm 57:2) and we can do nothing without him (John 15:5).
May the Lord sustain us, with the Bread of Life & living water the Holy Spirit brings, as we journey with Him in the study of His Word.
Tab for the next subject, "The Garden Of Eden", is located below the "Links" & "E-mail address", at the very bottom of the page.
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