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Take Paul for instance. He was in Arabia and Damascus, (Gal. 1:13-24) desert places, for three years.  He did not confer with the men who walked with Jesus on this earth.  He did not have the Scriptures as we know them today. He did have an intimate knowledge of  the Jewish Old Testament Torah. He was literally taught by the Holy Spirit, led I am sure, through prayer and meditation.

Moses did not even have the completed Jewish scrolls.( Joshua 14:10)  He too, only had the manifested Holy Spirit in the form of burning bushes, storms and crabby people. Elijah depended on the kindness of an old woman and ravens and then under the shade of a juniper tree, where God’s comforting Holy Spirit assured him that he could go on.

(I Kings 17, 19)

I have just realized recently, that I have been passing through one of God’s desert experiences for the past 5 or 6 years or so. Reflecting on this experience, I can say that I have learned both positive and negative things. 

I have learned how to live and how I shouldn’t live.  I have learned what to trust and what not to trust.  I have learned that everything is NOT what it seems on the outside.

A verse I was raised on was I Peter 2:9, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light". This verse was taught to us to counter questions asked of us about how we were dressed, what we looked like, or our lifestyle.

I have been listening to the Holy Spirit and what He is telling me about that verse now is that I cannot JUST be peculiar on the OUTSIDE.  That my peculiarity must come in the form of treating others differently than the world does. I must reach out to the unloving and unloved and show them the personality of Jesus.

If I had not had this desert experience, I would not have come to this conclusion.  I would continue to think that it means I must look odd or only associate with certain people in order to be holy. My experience has opened new doors to me, that without this experience, I would not have been able to see.

It is God’s desire for us to live separated, holy lives, but NOT to the exclusion of all else, (Lev.20:7). Just read Christ’s life in any of the gospels. Christ lived and walked in this world among sinners.  He ate with publicans.  He talked to women he should not have even looked at.  He welcomed questions from unbecoming individuals. He had compassion on those less fortunate than many others. 

I am sure the blind man of Bartamas or the man laying on his couch near the pool of Bethesda did not smell very good, nor were they the type of people Jesus would associate with on a regular basis.  But He was peculiar enough, in even that day and time, to reach out and touch them and change their lives forever.

I have learned in my desert experience that the only thing to be trusted is God’s Holy Word. Anything else is only the opinion of man, and that makes that opinion fallible, just like man himself.

SO, if I allow the desert experience that God, in his infinite love, has prepared for me, I will learn DIRECTLY from that source of truth, without anyone else’s opinion thrown in. And that in turn, makes me a peculiar people. One who is led by the Holy Spirit, who learns the TRUTH of God’s great plan FOR HERSELF.

So I have learned not to fight the desert experiences of my life.  I am sure this will not be the last one, but by the grace of God, I intend to not have any more self inflicted desert experiences.  I would much rather experience God’s desert, with all the leading and teaching that the Holy Spirit can give me, than one of my own choosing any day.

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