To endure pain, heat, shock, all of the desert hardships, all of the agonies of life–to endure.”
–Zane Grey

“It was no place for a fellow who didn’t have a lot of sand in his craw and a boundless store of hope in his heart.”
–Ernest Haycox

Have you ever traveled in the wilderness?  Even in the security of one’s care the terribleness can be seen and felt.  It may come from oppressive heat, the ruggedness of the topography, or the vastness of the solitude.  Leave the car and begin to travel on foot, and the former thoughts deepen and can almost overwhelm.  Gaze into the vast canyons and gorges, stare into the heat waves as they float above the desert floor, behold the awesome grandeur of the majestic peaks as they push through the clouds.  The dreadful solitude of nature looms over you as you move about in it.
The wilderness may suggest danger, it may also beckon you to come to it.  Moses is requesting that the Israelites enter so they can offer sacrifices to God.  There is more truth here than meets the eye.  The wilderness demands attentiveness and sacrifice, diligence and solitariness, endurance and fulfillment.  To enter the wasteland of the wilderness may be to die to self so that you may live unto God.  Maybe that is the illusion that Paul leaves in Romans 12:1-2, to become, now, a living sacrifice.
I have pondered over and over why they had to go to the wilderness to meet with God and offer His sacrifice there.  Could they not have done this in the safety of Egypt?  Maybe it was because they could not properly meet with God in that location.  Possibly the atmosphere “of the world” would be a great hindrance to them; that part of worship required them to come apart and be separate.  That thought alone should make us wonder why we now use the tools of the world in our worship.
One more thought for today.  It is important to remember that their leader was a man of the wilderness.  Moses knew life there.  He knew what it was to meet God in the wasteland, the desert, the rocky crags of the mountains.  Could it possibly be that to really come to know God a person must face the same perils as Moses, a wanderer of the wasteland?

“They will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us.  So now, please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'”
 –Exodus 3:18 (NASB)

Possibly some of the greatest problems in the church, no matter the age, but especially now is that of compromise and complacency.  These are dangerous to the work of the gospel and to the life and soul of the individual.  The “who cares” attitudes, the concept of entitlement – so why put forth the effort? – are the traits of a fool.  There is or will be a time coming when folk will have to take a definite stand.  In “Trail Ride” journal I happened to come across the following.  Ponder it for a while.

“I am part of the ‘Fellowship of the Unashamed.’  The dye [sic] has been cast.  The decision has been made.  I have stepped over the line.  I won’t look back, let up, slow down, or back away.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.  I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.  I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.  I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, live by prayer, and labor with power.
My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.  I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed.  I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, spoken up for the cause of Christ.  I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.  I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me.  And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.  My banner is clear.  I am part of the ‘Fellowship of the Unashamed.'”

Now that is pretty good.  When I first read it I thought of those daring and courageous men at the Alamo.  Once they crossed “the line” they never looked back.  They realized that when they took the step across the line, the die was cast and it was victory or death.  In their case the sacrificed was demanded, but they left a legacy called Texas.
If you notice there is a major move on to discredit or disregard those heroes who would not waver or back down.  Their thinking is that we need a generation of cream puffs, a generation of politically correct people who have no guts to stand for a cause worth dying for much less one worth living for.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
–2 Timothy 4:7 (HCSB)