Part THREE of a seven part series on a word study of "Midbar"
Midbar: a desert, wasteland, barren wilderness, desolate land that supports very little life. Also used to described an open country suitable for grazing and as a mouth/instrument of speech.
*God pursues His people in the wilderness.
Isolation and intentional solidarity: one of the many reasons I tend to crave time within nature. I love the opportunity to get away from the noise, from people, from email and social media, among other things. There have been many times within my life where I have wanted to escape from everyday life, from the fast-paced society that we live in, yet something ends up popping up that prevents me from completely doing so. Whether it be a "ping" on my phone, a thought about the work week, or something I forgot to do, it is difficult to completely disengage from society and find escape into nature. I guess that is the price of a society as connected and fast-paced as the one we are currently in - it never stops.
Ultimately, using the inability to disengage from society today as a metaphor for God's pursuit of His people in the wilderness hugely underestimates the power of His pursuit, but it works, so I'll run with it. Realistically, God's pursuit of His people isn't just a quick thought or a "ping" as I described above, but instead it is an all-out pursuit, with love and compassion for His people as a motive. His pursuit is sacrificial, originating in love and compassion for His children. He doesn't leave His children in the wilderness, but He is a Father in pursuit of His children.
One of my favorite stories in the bible is housed within Genesis 16 in the story of Hagar. Hagar was taken as Abraham’s wife after Sarah was unable to have children, and Hagar conceived a child. Sarah treated her harshly, leading to Hagar fleeing to the wilderness. God doesn't leave Hagar there, but instead He hears her cry, sends His angel to her (He doesn't just leave her there), and provides her hope within a difficult season. He promises her that great joy will come - a son who she will name "Ishmael", which literally means "God hears" (Genesis 16:11). I could imagine that, after everything happened with Sarah, Hagar was likely feeling alone in the wilderness, unloved by her master, and likely not valued or cared for. Her response to God who loves her, values her, and cares for her, is so beautiful in Genesis 16:13-14 - So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing, for she said, “Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.”
It is not only Hagar’s story, but many times in His word, that God shows us He pursues His people in the wilderness. Deuteronomy 32:10 tells us this, when God was pursuing Israel: “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” In Exodus 19, God speaks to Moses and reminds him, not only of what He has already done, but what He has promised him and what He continues to DO as they are in the wilderness. God’s voice is heard by the people in the wilderness in the bible over and over again and it is always with a purpose, guiding them, leading them, and reminding them of His presence.
It always amazes me that, out of everything going on in this world, God has the care, compassion, and quite frankly the time, to pursue me. Yet I can be confident that God, our perfect Father, does this for me. I know this because God's pursuit of His people didn't end in the Old Testament, but instead it was brought to life through the gospel message, leading to Him humbling Himself, putting on a human body, and walking this earth as Jesus Christ. Jesus came and He lived a perfect life, yet He was arrested, beaten, flogged, and nailed to the cross to die a painful death He did not deserve out of love for people who may not love Him back. Just when everyone who witnessed Jesus' crucifixion thought that it was done and Jesus was dead, God had another plan. God's plan led to Jesus walking, fully alive, out of the tomb His dead body was laid to rest in, and the ultimate victory has been won. He proclaimed victory over sin and death. Those who put their faith and trust in Him are no longer slaves to sin, but instead they are free to walk in victory over Christ until He takes them home into eternity with Him. All of this was made possible because, while we were sinners, God pursued us.
Beautiful.
I pray it never gets old.
Personally, I can look back to my life before I knew Christ, and I know I was walking in the wilderness. I didn't even realize it at the time, but God didn't leave me there. He moved, not because I deserved it, but because He loved me fully and completely. He pursued my heart and He moved in a way that led to me ultimately giving my life to follow Him. Yet, even after we come to believe, He doesn't stop His pursuit of our hearts. We are living in a broken world, and He doesn't call us to an easy walk. We will still encounter seasons where we feel like we are in the wilderness. There will be times when we doubt, when we are frustrated, when we don't seem to understand what is going on, among many other difficult times. Yet, God does not leave us within our wilderness seasons. He is faithful.
God is present and in pursuit of His people within the wilderness.
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Scripture References
Genesis 16:7-14
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her." The angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude." And the angel of the Lord said to her,
"Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all kinsmen."
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for she said, "Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me." Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
Deuteronomy 32:10
"He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
He encircled him, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
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