“He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.” Deuteronomy 32:10

Where God Speaks

Desert – Life in the house of God is not what the world imagines.  Heaven on earth has very little to do with streets of gold, comfortable couches, jeweled crowns and abundance.  We have been sold a tempting but seducing bill of goods.  We should have listened more carefully to Jesus’ announcement, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  If Jesus lived in the Kingdom of heaven while on earth, then how he experienced life with God should be a very clear picture of what we can expect.  So ask yourself: “What kind of life did Jesus enjoy?”  That’s heaven on earth!  Whatever doesn’t fit the picture you just painted about Jesus probably doesn’t belong in your view either.  Heaven is not about possessions, comfort and ease.  Heaven is about being the in the presence of the Father and completely enjoying Who He is.  If your view of heaven is attached to anything else, then you’re not on the pathway that Jesus traveled.

All of this is clear when we examine one of those beautiful but hidden connections in Hebrew.  The word for “desert” (midbar) comes from the word for “word” (dabar).  Dabar is a word that draws attention to the act of speaking, not to the content of what is spoken.  The expression, “the word of the Lord” focuses on who delivers the message.  The Ten Words (what we call the Ten Commandments) do the same.  Because it is God who speaks, all creation must listen.

But here is the most interesting fact.  God’s activity of speaking is intimately connected to the desert (dabar is connected to midbar).  Did you ever consider that fact that God’s most important speech (the Ten Words) was delivered in the desert?  If you want to hear God, you need to be in a place that is stripped of human sufficiency and self-reliance.  God speaks in the waste places because in waste places human ears can finally be attuned to His voice.  Heaven on earth is not found in opulent surroundings.  It is found in stinky mangers, hostile wastelands, the edges of humanity and the places no one wants to be.

Do you want to hear God?  Maybe your version of heaven on earth is so full of self-sufficiency and self-fulfillment that you no longer live in the desert.  You can’t hear Him because you have moved away from where He speaks.