Communion in the Wilderness

I have read it over and over again. I think I feel drawn to it because I find comfort there.

"He led you through that vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its fiery serpents and scorpions" (Deuteronomy 8:15). Perhaps it seems like a strange verse to draw comfort from, so I'll explain. For the last several months I have felt like I've been in some sort of a wilderness. But there is a difference in finding myself somewhere just by chance and being led someplace on purpose. In the barren places of life I learn who I am but I also learn who God is.

Why? What is the purpose of a wilderness? "Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands" (Deuteronomy 8:2). God's children were humbled when He let them go hungry and then fed them with manna. They were humbled again when He led them to a place where there was no water and then brought them water from a hard rock.

When all is well in my world I find it easy to daydream about who I am; but when I am led into the wilderness I also am humbled and find that my heart is tested. When I was in school I never enjoyed tests, but the purpose of the test in school was to reveal what had been learned. The purpose of the test in the wilderness is to reveal what we really believe. In this vast and dreadful wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and its thirsty ground because there is no water, do we really trust the God who led us there?

When I have been humbled, can I be satisfied with Jesus, the living bread that came down from heaven? When the desires of my heart have been exposed, can I find my thirst quenched by accepting the invitation of Jesus to come to Him and drink? In the wilderness, when I have been humbled and tested, I seek communion with the God who is leading me through this experience. In this communion I taste and see that God is good.