Mahktesh Ramon, Israel.
We’ve seen a lot of desert this week. The Mahktesh Ramon has been compared to the Grand Canyon but the similarities are few. Mahktesh Ramon is a huge crater that continues to be formed by erosion. It is vast. It is deep. It is dry. It is barren. It was used by God in judgment on the Israelites for not obeying Him as they were instructed.
This desert is depressing. While “wandering” during a period of forty years in the wilderness region of Israel, everyone older than twenty years died, except Joshua and Caleb. With modest calculations and each day being equal, this judgment amounts to more than one-hundred burials every day. That is difficult to fathom. Participating in just two funeral services once in the same week was numbing. I can’t imagine far more on a daily basis. Each morning those who awoke would wonder who among family and friends would die that day. The graves scattered all over the wilderness region were a continual reminder of their faithlessness and God’s severity.
The Israelites saw and experienced God’s redemption from slavery in Egypt. The wilderness wandering was not God’s original plan for Israel after they were set-free from bondage. He had a land ready for their possession. But as a redeemed people they rebelled against God and were severely disciplined.
By comparison, those who believe on Jesus Christ have received redemption from Him that forgives sin and restores each one in a right relationship with the Father. Yet, for the Christian, is the desert, like the wilderness wanderings experienced by Israel, supposed to be normal?
The desert is often demanding.
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