The Promised Land

The land of Israel is made up of different topographical areas. Even though it is a small country it has an ocean, sea, lakes, snow capped mountains, farmland, and deserts.

Actually more than half of the whole country, 60%, is made up of desert.

Think about that… the Promised Land is made up of a great deal of dry, sand, rocks, no water, hot, barren. This is a description of the Promised Land.

In my trip to Israel, I was taken to the desert and had lessons sitting on the “rocks” all over the ground, it was not sand. It was uncomfortable sitting.

I learned that the desert and “the dry place” were two separate areas. The areas referred to as “dry places” were what we normally would think of as a desert. Rocks, sand, dunes, barren, unreal hot in the day, cold at night. No vegetation to speak of, a land lacking of life.

The desert I was exploring had little plants, little flowers, animal tracks, birds. It also had channels or trenches that when it rained the water would flash flood down, these were called Wadis. Wadis are very dangerous because it might be raining on the other side of the hill and the flash flood would surge down your side with no warning. Yes the desert did get some rain, not much but enough that some vegetation grew.

I do not think desert when I picture my version of my Promised Land, it looks more like a cabin on a lake, definitely not much snow, but I can see it up, far, far away on the mountains. The lake is azure blue, the majestic mountains are on one side, the glorious blue sky is on the other. It never gets too hot or too cold there, it is a perfect climate.

So why is there desert in the real location of the Bibles Promised Land?

It appears that my version and Gods version are slightly different.

When we find ourselves in a dry, arid place in life, a desert place, whether physically or it could be a dry emotional or tough season, we think we must get out of it. We focus on all that it is not comfortable and we struggle and fight to relieve our suffering at being in a desert. The desert consumes our thoughts and emotions looking for a solution to escape.

I can tell you sitting on those fist sized and smaller rocks was uncomfortable! I would have rather had a chair. You tended to squirm around trying to find a more comfortable location. The lesson was to have us sit there for about an hour and discover some uncomfortableness, while at the same time looking around and noticing the glimmers of life.

It took quite a while to take my focus off my aching posterior and make my eyes see any beauty. I finally started to notice the little plants and flowers all scattered around me. Once I focused on the beauty my mind forgot the rocks, I had retrained my mind.

Perhaps that is the lesson of the desert, of our desert experiences, we can focus on ourselves and our discomfort or we can take the time to retrain our thoughts by looking around at what is actually around us.

Why would God put a desert in our Promised Land?

Life will not always roll out smoothly and comfortably, there will be some hot spots, some lumpy and uncomfortable spots along the way. A desert season is deemed to be bad and yet we can learn so much from the hard toil of the desert. How the traces of water bring life to desolate places. How life can endure even under harsh conditions.

The desert is dry and we thirst for water in the desert, something to quench our thirst. The land thirsts for water as well.

The sporadic and not frequent wadis, bring life to a climate that is deemed harsh, contrasting with the “dry places” where life does not prevail, no moisture.

Our souls thirst for refreshment, we can have desert, dry seasons for our souls.

Perhaps the desert is Gods way of helping us find what we really “need” for life, rather than those things we think we “need” for our comfort. Life and comfort are two entirely separate things.

Without the desert, we would not see the blessings of water, animals, plants, shelter, or even gardens. The very things we see as a need for our comfort do not teach us life’s value, it is in the lack of them, say in a desert that we learn the value of life.