Desert; a Place of Hiding

Look up and see His grandeur

Be still and know I am God
Desert; a place of hiding
Looking at the story of Moses in Exodus, I realized that a desert is a place of chastening to those that the Lord loves. It is also a place of encountering grace underserved and Gods amazing glory. Moses, experienced the grace, was chastened until in the book of Numbers, the Lord Himself declares that Moses is the most humble man ever!
And scrutinizing Abraham, a desert is a place of cementing friendship with God. God himself calls Abraham His friend.
Before I lose you there, Elijah is our focus today. The reason he is hidden in the desert is to be protected from the wrath of Jezebel. An infuriated wicked woman who will not rest until every stone is turned upside down in a witch hunt for Elijah’s head.
One man Albert Osborn said
“Before speaking publicly about God, we ought to be sure that God’s Word is in our very bones burning for expression. For surely, thousands of our words will not equal a few of God’s Words’’
Elijah goes through thickets up to a brook and between the rock masses and scrawny of the brook is his hiding place. That was God’s choice for his hiding. The prophets in those days I presume put on a unique rob and sandals like akala…I want you to see the picture of Elijah; it’s a wilderness, in some rocky caves with tiny rocks like we learn in geography stalactites and stalagmites dangling from the top and floor of the cave. His beards are probably long, and his cloak somehow camouflaging with color of the rocks and cave. Blankly staring at what will be his abode for a long while.
There is a silence that enshrouds this place. He looks around with keenness, the screaming silence enveloping the cave. A silence that is only disturbed by occasional vacuous noises, melody from the ravens, a hissing snake at a distance, the chortle of the brook as it drops the liquid that quenches his throat from the scorch heat. The stillness, the Voice of God, his sequential heartbeat as he silently breathes the cold air into his nostrils, maybe a personal reflection…I don’t know.
I wonder what Elijah feels now or what his reflections look like. Is he thinking about Ahab, Jezebels cruelty, the people? Does he feel alone, forgotten and shunted off? I wonder if he cried out sometimes like David imploring the Lord asking “How long O Lord?”
Or does he enjoy the moment and find therapy in the silence? Is he able to tell of God’s marvelous acts by just analyzing the brook, as the ravens bring him food?
Or maybe as one writer once said, do the lofty rocks speak of God’s greatness and his littleness or of God’s grandeur?
Do the rocks also testify of God’s protective nature to shield us from our Jezebels or in his case the glaring scorch summer sun?
Does Elijah learn to embrace and read God’s natural book? do the skies vastness at night fill him with awe and wonder…would he have easily sang along the lyrics of God of wonders beyond the galaxy, From such a sight?
I have much wonderment…
From the inky blackness with myriad of stars, moon light so clear…not vying for attention from the kanjos streetlights; What about the brook, does he ever wonder as the single drops of water fall and hits the rock surface softly from the brook?
The melody from the flowing stream; does it leave him refreshed and have mystic impact in his inner man? Did he relish these moments, God’s providence of clean unpolluted water in the heart of a desert?
Well, even when ravens fly past his head and rest in a rock in his face with his dinner, does this sooth his soul amidst the adventure in the desert?
Does he get lost in the awesomeness of God?
The Bible tells that he was a man with nature just like ours… and this makes me wonder how he found the experience of being hidden in the desert.
In hiddenness silence like this is where we can think clearly and appreciate fully all things and hear distinctly. And I realized, stillness if I would compare it with a school, is that school where would be listeners to God must attend for a long time if they would learn the art.
Elijah waited for the Lord for a long time. There was a gushing wind, but the Lord was not in it, there was an earthquake, the Lord wasn’t in it, but then he chose to be still and in deep silence…He heard the Lord.
Do you have a hiding desert?