Abba's Dearly Beloved

‘I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you‘ John 14:18 (NIV)

The unexpected discovery in a remote valley in the featureless deserts of Egypt of the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamen, in 1922 by a team led by Howard Carter and his sponsor Lord Carnarvon, is easily the most famous archaeological discovery of the twentieth century. Since then, the incredible panoply of rich and diverse artefacts alongside the pharaoh himself have awed audiences around the world who have flocked to museums and exhibition spaces to catch a glimpse of the pharaoh with his treasures. Ultimately such a rich find catapulted Carter to the pinnacle of his career for several years, Carter and his team searched in vain for the elusive tomb with little in the way of finds to show for it. Lord Carnarvon his sponsor was even ready to cut off his funding, however, after a heartfelt plea from Carter to his patron, Carnarvon agreed to funding for one last season. It was in this final season that Carter with Carnarvon present would discover tomb with the pharaoh’s famous funerary mask and the treasury chamber full of the pharaoh’s precious personal possessions that had eluded grave robbers for 3000 years.

Places and seasons of our life that we walk through can feel like traveling in a dry and hostile desert where every step is an effort in sun-scorched heat of our trial or pain and we believe we walk alone in such a place. We can feel a sense of frustration, despair and confusion at our situation or circumstances and as David did pour out our lament to God asking him why we are here and where he is in all of this. Sound familiar?

You may have been passed over for promotion or made redundant in your job, suffered a set-back in your health, been persecuted or belittled for your love for Jesus or felt misunderstood and alone in struggles no one seems to understand. Whatever it might be that you are facing today, know that you are not forgotten and your struggle or pain are not belittled in his sight. Such a journey you have had to walk through is indeed heart-breaking, however it is in precisely these times and seasons where we feel profoundly broken and shattered by life and seen wandering in the wilderness that we find hidden and rich treasures in our journey and relationship with God much as the wealth of a pharaoh was found unexpectedly in the desolate sands of Egypt almost a century ago.

The desert is the most effective place for the erosion of pride and self-sufficiency in us as we find the painful end of ourselves and reliance on other things or people and perhaps witness the collapse of the illusion of being in control.

The wonderful news is that there is a beautiful exchange if we allow Jesus to enter the desert with us and meet us where we are. If we do we find that our empty hands are filled with the priceless jewel of intimacy with Jesus we can rarely find outside this place and the sweet treasures of his compassion, kindness and faithful love as he meets us at our point of need where we are just as he met the Samarian woman at the well (John 4:1-42). The wilderness is indeed a place for discovering the tenderness of God as we learn to lean on the only one who promises never to leave our side (Hebrews 13:5) and discover he never has.

In Hosea we find God with compassionate grace desiring to restore his unfaithful people of Israel who had forsaken their covenant relationship with him and been openly worshipping Baal, the pagan Canaanite God of fertility. However, notice the place where God seeks to restore and draw his people near again:

Hosea 2:14 ‘Therefore, I am now going to allure her [the people of Israel]; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.’

As with the people of Israel, God wants us to rediscover his tender love for us and our desire and first love for him. Falling into the loving embrace of Jesus because we have nowhere else and no one else to turn to is indeed a discovery of the precious gold that is our God himself, the one who first loved us unveiled in all his fulness, the compassion he crowns you with, his pure goodness, the unparalleled joy found in his presence and his perfect love (Psalm 16:11; 86:5 and 103:4; 1 John 4:18).

The beauty of accepting his invitation to draw near and allowing ourselves to lean on him fully in suffering and trial is that when we eventually emerge from this scorching desert, we as with the Shulamite bride in Song of Songs, find ourselves “coming up from her desert leaning on [our] beloved (Song of Songs 8:5 TPT)”.

Prayer: Dear Father God, thank you for your ever-present love and intimacy to be found in your open arms in every season of my life. You know more than anyone the trials I have walked and am walking through. Please forgive me when I have doubted your presence or whether you care what I am going through. Thank you that you have never left my side during the difficult desert seasons of my life and your compassion never fails. I want to lay before you all my circumstances and any situation I’m struggling with and any pain or sense of hopelessness in my heart right now. I ask that your tender love and intimate faithful affection would refresh me with joy, hope and bring the still waters of your peace to me once again. I want to go deeper with you and so let me feel your open arms holding me today and find the comfort and security I need and the reminder that I belong in my Heavenly Father’s arms! In Jesus name, Amen.