The desert had crucified him and had left him to die or survive, according to his spirit and his strength.”
–Zane Grey (Wanderer of the Wasteland)
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.”
–Exodus 3:1 (NKJV)
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You may have wandered into this wasteland that you have found yourself in. The Spirit may have led you as He did the Lord Himself and as He did Moses. You may have taken it on a dare, a lark of adventure, excitement, but now… You are not accustomed to the wilderness, you are not familiar with it or its ways. You have not honed your weapons and you have not trained with them properly and now you find yourself in a fix, a world of hurt. You may have bragged that you could handle anything for a day, a week, but now you are experiencing something that is completely foreign to you, out of your comfort zone for sure, and out of your abilities.
This is the situation in which Moses found himself. First of all, we need to know that whatever we do in life can be used to develop our character (for good or bad) to add to our knowledge. Sometimes we are thrust into situations, jobs, and other experiences that we do not like, but they are there to help us along the way, even if we do not know how, or how to enjoy the experience. Moses understood, while as a prince of Egypt, that something was wrong deep inside his being. He was part of the court of Pharaoh and a member of the royal family. Was it that his spirit was lost, wandering about in some wasteland that he knew nothing about? There was turmoil in his soul and it would not rest. Circumstances then intervened (or was it the Holy Spirit?). He committed a murder which forced him to retreat into the wilderness. Trying to escape his deed, he fled. Actually, not knowing, it was the calling that was deep in his soul that forced him there, and it would take the next forty years to surface. Forty years of not knowing, and we often complain of a day or a season of our wandering.
He had to learn the ways of the wilderness; he had to come to the place where he was no stranger to its ways. He had used it as a means of escape from his past. For years he learned of the wilderness while at the same time hiding his past in the robes of a shepherd. He worked, moving the flock for which he was caring from place to place all the time learning and developing. One day he found himself in the western portion of the wilderness. It was there, while working doing his common duty that he noticed a strange phenomenon on the mountain of God. What drew him to that place? What has drawn you to the place that you now find yourself?
It is very interesting that while simply doing his duties that come with the day’s work that he finds himself in this particular wilderness area. He fled there once when escaping Egypt; and now, working as a shepherd, he finds himself there again. It doesn’t necessarily make a difference why you entered the wilderness but that you develop; you do what is expected of you and you pay attention. You become alert so that God can speak to you.
Moses had left prosperity. He had left the city, the glamour and bright lights, and his wealth and fame. He had left his previous life and now he was simply a worker and a member of the family of Jethro. He was learning many lessons, one of which stands out in importance–a person often has to leave the hustle and bustle of the city to find God. We find ourselves simply too busy in a noise-polluted environment where we cannot hear the quiet voice that speaks softly to the ear of our soul. Oh, it may not be a city such as New York or Chicago, it may be humdrum USA, but you are busy, stressed, running hither and thither so that you cannot hear, or care not to.
God was waiting for Moses in the wilderness. It is not that God is not in the city, in the hectic daily routine, or in the flux of the crowds, but that He wants us in the wilderness. Why? Because in the wilderness all of the fluff and bravado is stripped away. It is you and the wasteland. It is you and perhaps the bleating of sheep, or the grunt of the camel, or the rattle of the snake. It is there that God can touch you and get your attention after the cares of this world have been crucified.