God: The Power Source of Everything

Theme 29: Desert Places and Electronic Monkeys
Read: Mark 1:40-45
Reflection: When Jesus withdrew to those desert places around Galilee because the cleansed leper had “blazed abroad the matter” (Mark:45) about the news of his cleansing by Jesus, even though Jesus had specifically told him not to say anything, the crowds of people who had come to see Jesus made it impossible for Him to be alone. So, he left to be alone in the desert with His Father God. In fact, desert places are necessary for all of us to renew ourselves spiritually so that we, too, can put the chaos of the world around us into perspective. It seems simple, at first—removing ourselves physically from others to nurture the Holy Spirit within ourselves. However, the clamor of today’s outside world often follows us to our desert places so that the clamor continues, even though we have physically removed ourselves. Cell phones clang, satellite dishes serve up television commercials, and various other electronic devices clutter the landscape of our mind as we attempt to find solitude. Being off the grid has almost become a myth, for we often cannot escape to desert places in the globalized chatter of electronic communication.
Like mosquitos at dusk, the electronic hum swirls around us, and it seems that people no longer respect the dignity of quiet solitude. Our solitude has become their desert place, too, and they have brought their amplified music. God likes music too, and there are many references in both the Old and New Testaments about the musical accompaniment for celebrations and travel, and let’s not forget about the trumpets at Jericho. Yet, music and noise, in general, had a particular place in the world back then. Noisy celebrations were confined to the parameters of those revelers whose voices rose no further than other ears of people who could appreciate its loudness. Now, however, your noise is my noise in an amplified world, and no such dignity is afforded anyone who seeks the quiet of a desert place.
When was the last time you found total quiet without the howling dogs of the restless world nipping at your heels? It’s rare to find a physical space without sound. Right now, in my kitchen where I think that I’m alone, the refrigerator hums, the air-conditioner crackles, and the voices of people outside spoil the silence with intrusive regularity. “I hear it so much that I don’t hear it anymore” is not the answer to finding the peace of a desert place. It is similar to the statement that “The place is so crowded that nobody goes there anymore.” If nobody goes there, then how can the place be crowded? And if the solitude is broken by intrusive noise, how can a place be quiet? Some people, of course, don’t want or need quiet; they couldn’t recognize quiet on a sunny day at noon. They can’t recognize it because they cannot see the inherent value of removing oneself from the screech of the world to become one individual person again. When alone in their own thoughts and without the chatter of electronic monkeys, they may find that being alone with yourself is more difficult than most people think, and removing oneself like Jesus to a desert place to be alone with God can be very scary. If you think about it, what do you say to the Creator of the Universe, especially if he’s been waiting at your desert place to talk to you for your entire life? Do you say, I’m sorry about missing the point to my whole existence? How about, you plead the Fifth and ignorance and just say, “I didn’t know.” Whatever you say, God will hear it because He hears everything, even the beating of your heart. I guess that’s the point. Finding a desert place where God awaits to talk to you is a heart issue; you simply have not opened your heart to hear His voice through the Holy Spirit to seek solitude within yourself and to refresh yourself in His Word. Your own desert place is the peace and solitude that you will find inside yourself when you seek God. He is in you, and the outside clamor can be escaped by finding that desert place within yourself where He awaits.
Discussion Questions
1. Where do you go to escape the clamor of the world to be alone?
2. Do you know any Christians who have found the peace of the desert place within themselves?
3. Can prayer and the peaceful pursuit of being alone with God at the same time every day be a desert place?
4. What do you discuss with God when you’re in your desert place?