The Wilderness… Lenten Reflections…

Back in the early 1990’s (Nov 90 – Mar 94), I was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.  It was my first Active duty assignment with the Air Force.  Moving from a small yoked parish in Northern Minnesota (two churches, combined membership of maybe 120) to this installation was mind blowing!  I went from having three serious counseling cases in three years to having perhaps as many as 40 in one week.  During that time, our nation went to war.  And we are still at war today.  The lives of military members and the life of this chaplain changed drastically when the phrases deployment and expeditionary cycle came into our lexicon.

In 1993, I was able to attend a concert that Michael Card, a Christian musician, put on in Wichita Falls.  It was a transformative moment for me.  The setting was very simple.  His piano was at the center of the stage and he didn’t have a back-up band.  It was just Michael Card, his piano, and the audience.  He would stop to talk in between his songs.  He talked about the development/writing of the particular song and what the message was that he hoped would come from it.

I was experiencing significant spiritual burn-out by that point thanks to too many death notifications, having to identify the body of my colleague who had been murdered, and lots of high stress counseling cases.  And, with the work-load and hours, personal spiritual development and refreshment had taken a back burner.  My spirit was parched.  Spiritually, I was running on empty.  So when Michael Card began to talk about his next song, “In the Wilderness”, he hit a chord deep within my spirit.

When you are tired and weary… When your prayers seem empty and your scripture study is dry… Don’t give up!  Keep on Praying!  Keep on Reading!  Keep on Walking with the Lord!  Everybody has wilderness experiences in their lives… He said, “I have had them in mine…”  And then he sat down and began playing the song.  Here are the lyrics:

In the wilderness
In the wilderness
He calls His sons and daughters
To the wilderness

But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness

In the wilderness we wander
In the wilderness we weep
In the wasteland of our wanting
Where the darkness seems so deep

We search for the beginning
For an exodus to hold
We find that those who follow Him
Must often walk alone

In the wilderness
In the wilderness
He calls His sons and daughters
To the wilderness

But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness

In the wilderness we’re wondering
For a way to understand
In the wilderness there’s not a way
For the ways become a man

And the man’s become the exodus
The way to holy ground
Wandering in the wilderness
Is the best way to be found

In the wilderness
In the wilderness
He calls His sons and daughters
In the wilderness

But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness

Groaning and growing
Amidst the desert days
The windy winter wilderness
Can blow the self away

In the wilderness
In the wilderness
He calls His sons and daughters
To the wilderness

But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness

And that’s the painful promise
Of the wilderness

Lyrics by Michael Card

Michael Card helped me to find my way to the well of the Lord’s refreshment that evening.  And his words and the song have stayed with me all these years as I have traversed the world and ministered in a wide variety of settings.  In the Wilderness, God gives grace sufficient to survive any test.

When Jesus went to the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan after 40 days and nights of fasting and praying, God gave Christ sufficient grace to survive that test.  As Jesus drew closer to Jerusalem and the Cross, God gave him grace sufficient for the test.  And on the cross, God’s grace was sufficient.

Lent is a time of self-reflection in the church year.  It is a time to go inward and take inventory of your spiritual life and journey.  While these are things we are called to do each and every day, Lent is a special season set aside to do just that.  I have walked with a lot of people through the years through their own personal wildernesses.  And I have walked through many wildernesses of my own.

The picture above is of a place on the Western edge of Ireland called The Burren (Gaelic Boireann, meaning “great rock”).  It is a desolate looking place and especially harsh when the wind is blowing off of the North Atlantic. At first glance, all you see are jagged rocks that are completely barren.  However, as Denise and I got out of the car and began to walk over the rocks, it was amazing!  The rocks that looked so harsh, jagged, and barren were actually holding life.  There were plants flowering and growing out of the cracks in the rock where dirt and seed had lodged.  Even in the “wilderness” hope was alive in the form of those rugged and beautiful flowers!

Dear reader, are you walking through the wilderness?  Are you tired?  Are you feeling like life is empty?  You are in the wilderness.  But you are NOT alone!  Take it from a Padre who has plenty of wilderness experience, you are not alone.  In the words of Michael Card, keep praying… keep reading Scripture… keep walking… For the Lord walks with you.  May God bless and keep you as you walk through the wilderness with grace sufficient for any test.