Embrace the desert

James 1:2-4
"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything."

Why does God put his servants into such awful predicaments? Why does he leave them in such lonely places? Because that's where we meet God on his terms. The place where Moses met God wasn't a sparkling Egyptian palace but a dull and desolate wilderness. That's where we find God and that's where we find ourselves.

Why does God drive his people into deserts? He wants to train them as his ministers that they may be well equipped and prepared for all emergencies. What we learn there is not just information or knowledge, skills or techniques. We don't just sharpen our communication skills to gain quick success, sudden fame, flashy prizes. There's far more to learn from the desert.

In the desert those who have trusted only in themsleves and others learn to put their faith in God. The Word of God and the Holy Spirit are the teachers. Yes, the curriculum is devoted to suffering, but that's where the lambs become lions. That's where ordinary people become extraordinary men and women of God.

So we shouldn't flee from the desert. Rather we should run toward its undriendly sands. We shouldn't be afraid of life in the desert; we should embrace it wholeheartedly.

- Joshua Choonmin Kang, Deep Rooted in Christ