The Glade 4.0

What is the importance of the desert in the bible? How many spiritual meetings and religious happenings occurred in the desert?

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Mmmmmm pie.

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Desert, not dessert, doofus!

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

This is just a guess, but:
1) There's a lot of desert in the Middle East, and
2) The desert probably means solitude, where you can commune with God easier(no distractions)

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Soooo cake?

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This is more along the lines of what I was thinking of, although, thanks to Hop-wit, I just had a big piece of chocolate cake for breakfast.

I've been sort of in a, well, what they describe I suppose as a desert of faith. Faith crisis, whatever. It's normal during periods of grief, and I've been through it before so this is nothing new. However, when I googled it I saw something that caught my eye that said God has made some great impacts on people in the desert as a geographical location as referred to in the bible with Moses, etc.

Made me start thinking metaphorically and spiritually about the implications of that....about God being able to reach people in amazing ways when they are alone in the desert.

So...just thought I would see if we have any biblical scholars out there who could expound on that or maybe see if anyone else had any thoughts along those lines.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

The cake is a lie.

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The Dude abides.

Um, lots.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Jesus withdrew into the wilderness a couple times to pray. Also consider that it was in the wilderness where He was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights. John the Baptist also ranted from the wilderness.

I always felt that the wilderness was a place to retreat to so as to be free from external distractions and avoiding the "leaven" from others. I'd also consider it a symbolic gesture of faith in that you're showing yourself and God that you want to meet with Him.

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The Dude abides.

Hop-wit? Really?

Fine.

The desert is symbolic. It represents desolation, isolation and spiritual barreness. Think of it as hitting hitting rock-bottom because it represents quieting things, rejecting materialism and worldiness in order to force yourself to deal with your relationship to Him. When you strip out other people, cities and material goods you are left with just a few things: Sand, Sky, Yourself and God and after a while Sand and Sky get pretty damn boring.

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Yes I like Hop-wit, it makes me giggle.

And yeah...the desert thing isn't very glamorous. After Jimmy died a went through a phase but it was just 4 months later when I got pregnant again...two losses later and 6 months out from loss with no hope for babies on the horizon, no hope for a career right now, and not being able to get out of this tiny house....I mean, really, all doors have not just been closed but slammed in my face. Everything I have tried has led me right back to sitting in the living room... Add a crisis of faith to that (which is understandable after losing babies...because babies dying makes absolutely no sense) and you get this whole desert like metaphor.

I really feel, spiritually emotionally and physically like I am in a desert....I can only conclude that God must want me here so now I am trying to figure out why.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Not sure what to say so here is a picture of me:



Well now there are two schools of thought on that, one is he wants you to STFU and listen. The other is a bit more Job-like (Jobe), God helps those who help themselves and He's challenging you to keep perserving in the face of adversity. Perhaps some day this level of perserverance will be required for whatever He has in store for you (I like to think of it as levelling-up in a video game).

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Also, the desert causes dehydration. That helps people see things.

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Hop, there is a third consideration that didn't occur to me until yesterday...the day before yesterday a young interracial couple down the street lost their 4 month old boy to SIDS. I saw the 6 squad cars and the neighbors in the yard in their bathrobes and dogs on leashes, people crying...the whole movie-scene bit when a tragedy strikes. Anyway, I spent some time with them yesterday, talking to them and listening, and crying with them. They don't have a church but they do believe in God...I'm not a "witnessing/testifying/preaching" kind of person at all, nor do I feel comfortable attempting any of that stuff at such a seemingly inappropriate time....but I still felt the need to express to them how important it was to me to turn to God in the immediate aftermath of infant loss and they whole heartedly agreed with me.
My thought is this....God has repeatedly used broken people to carry out his work, right? What if I'm supposed to be in this desert because I'm more well received by other broken people....like I can relate better or something and don't come across with a holier-than-thou/I've got it all figured out in a neat little sunday school nutshell kind of way?

I dunno. Maybe I'm just reaching.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Sounds very reasonable. He does work in mysterious ways.

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For the bible, I think the accessibility of the desert was the reason so much of the spirituality based events happened there. It was a known entity, it was available, it was extremely reasonable as a place to go to be alone.

However, both Abraham and Moses went up on mountains for their most famous stories, Abraham to sacrifice his son and Moses to receive the Commandments. Thus, the desert wasn't the only setting for meeting God.

In Mississippi it might be akin to going into the backwoods or going down to the river. In California mountains and deserts both exist in abundance. In Colorado, everything is in the mountains, but they have some mighty tall ones there. If the bible events were taking place in Texas, they have lots of desert.

I think it was more the geographical location of the people in the Bible that made the desert the most prevalent location for spiritual events.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

In exodus crossing the red sea can be considered typographic for Salvation by faith.

Crossing the Jordan river and entering the promise land is not heaven as some people think. Its trusing God's promises and having victory in your walk with God, but That's another discussion.

In between you have the wilderness. You've been saved from wrath never to return again, but you aren't going forward in God's plan for your life. God is still taking care of you therein but you aren't winning any battles or enjoying the fruits of his promises.

A million or more in a generation were saved at the Red Sea, but only two entered into promised land.

I'm not gonna play God and try explain the purpose for what you and Russ have been though. He allows all things for a reason though.

I went through what I thought was a lot in Texas and I realize now that God was using that to bring me to a place where I could recognize what was in my heart and who I needed there. Of course you apparently made that decision before all of this.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Also I didn't go to school to learn all of this. It's just what I get from being in a church where God's Word is preached and expounded upon.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Had Egypt and Israel been in the Amazon Basin, we'd be having this discussion about the rain forest.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Very true. But the basic idea of the metaphor of "being lost in the wilderness" or whatever, wherever that might be, is the basic principle....the analogies would be different, but the basic concept the same.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

I think its fairly clear that most religions have some sort of revelation-by-isolation involved.

The Australian aboriginal people have Walkabout.
Bhudda supposedly meditated for 49 days to achieve enlightenment.
Jesus went into the desert.
Mohammed was swept off in the Isra and Mi'raj to Jeruselum and then Heaven & Hell.

Enlightenment seems to be a very personal thing across all religions. It is rarely (though certainly not never) something experienced en masse.

You don't refine gold by pampering it.

Heh. Yeah, I've heard that idea expressed before in various ways...forgot about that. Good point.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

I guess if you're not familiar with the state you'd forget about the rolling forested hills, plateaus, deep valleys, mesas and great plains.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko