AJ Michalka - Desert Song

The Desert, The Fire, The Battle, The Harvest.

Over the past year, I have experienced all of these places.  I have been in the desert, where everything in me feels dried up and dead.  I have been in the fire, where I am so weak, that I can barely hold my head up.  I have been in the battle where I was fighting a losing battle. And I have been in the harvest where I can see that God's hand was directly guiding me.  

It seems my devotionals over the past week have talked about living in the desert.  I'm reading, Extravagant Grace, by Barbara Duguid.  (If you haven't read it, it is a "must read".)  She talks of the Israelites as they leave Pharoah's control and begin to trek to the Promised Land.  She speaks of this trek as a "wilderness of conflict in which the sinfulness of our hearts is repeatedly and loving exposed by God.  One of my favorite quotes thus far is, 

Wilderness experiences are times of genuine need, sorry, suffering and pain that tempt us to complain against God and turn away from him.  When difficulties overwhelm u s, we find it hard to remember what God has done for us in the past and trust him with the present and future.

 Looking on the other side of this past year, I see it... God brought me to the end of myself and all I knew to be good so that I would learn my need for total dependence on me.  I learned that its not about how good I am or how much good I do... its all about him.

Another book I am reading is Heart of the Matter, which is published by CCEF.  Today's thoughts center around desert experiences.  It says, 

The desert in the Bible is a place of Death.  There's no water, no food.  It's hot.  There are dangerous predators and poisonous snakes.  It is a place where your faith is tested.  Yet, It is also the place where faith flourishes... As you deepen your trust in God, your desert will become the place where you find God's living water of hope, mercy and blessing.  God's living water is in his presence.  "he says, "I am with you." ... His presence means that even in the darkest of circumstances you can be unafraid.  He is with you.  Because God is with you, you will be fruitful, even in the midst of suffering. 

I don't want to be like the Israelites who trusted God and praised him for rescuing them from slavery and providing for their needs, only to complain in the next chapter about something else.  I want my desert experience to always remind me of God's faithfulness and when I think back on the past, I want to say with my whole heart,

Right now, at 10:08 I would declare that I am living in the harvest, favor and providence are flowing from above as I continue to experience God's grace and unfailing love.  But as the song says, 

I know I'm filled to be emptied again,

this seed I have I've received I will sow.