Today’s Lenten reflection was written by Adam Marsh, an LLM training through the Licensed Ministry Training programme.
“John lived in the wilderness,
He was a sight to see.
He dressed himself in camel skins,
And ate locusts for his tea.” (Rhyming Bible p78)
So begins the Rhyming Bible’s telling of John the Baptist, and despite my best efforts, my daughter still prefers The Gruffalo, although “Jonah and the Big Fish” comes in a close second.
When I was asked to write a Lent reflection on wilderness, the above passage came straight to mind, possibly as I had only been reading it the night before, but it got me thinking. What do we mean when we hear the word wilderness?
For most of us I bet that we picture an empty vastness, be it the desert, the empty steppes of central Asia or the highlands of Scotland, somewhere desolate yet with a certain poetic beauty to it. But there is another wilderness, one that happens when we lose our relationship with Jesus. We may have lost the time in our busy lives. It is an easy thing to do, to get lost in the wilderness. You think that you know the way and that you have your route laid out in front of you. It starts to go wrong on a Monday, the alarm doesn’t go on time so you’re running late and think, “I’ll do my morning prayers later”. Then the evening comes and you’re so tired that you skip your devotional studies, and as the week progresses all the times that you would have spent with God is filled in with other things, and before you know it you’ve strayed into a spiritual wilderness.
This type of wilderness reminds me of when I first learnt to drive; my favourite place to go would be to Calshot beach; I loved nothing more than standing on the beach with the wind blowing into my face and the waves rushing before my eyes. I didn’t know God then, but when I stood there on the windswept foreshore I knew that there was something I was missing out on; I was lost in a spiritual wilderness. Thankfully I have come to know God’s love, and now I still love to visit Calshot, but now I take my daughter with me, and together, as we skip stones into the sea I can marvel at the wonders of His creation and share these special moments with my daughter.
“Be a shepherd to your people, Lord, the people you have chosen. Although they live apart in the wilderness, there is fertile land around them. Let them go and feed in the rich pastures”. (Micah 7:14 GNT)
I know that the rich pastures are God’s love for us. This then is the wonder of our Triune God, that no matter how far we stray or how lost we get in the wilderness, God will always welcome us back with open arms. Amen.
