HAVE YOU EVER HEARD someone say, “I’m going through a dry time right now”? Or, they may say they feel like they’re in a desert. I think we’d all agree that this is a common human feeling. It’s an unpleasant time that no one welcomes. Sometimes those times end well, sometimes not.
Given their geographical location, the original Bible writers and readers were well acquainted with deserts. If we consider the core Biblical lands (roughly modern-day Israel, Palestinian territories, Jordan, southern Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Egypt), approximately 30–40% would be called true deserts, with another 20–30% being semi-arid regions. So, more than 50% of the surrounding land was hot, dry, and unfruitful.
So, God’s use of the term would be very relatable and would need no further explanation. However, there are actually two types of deserts in scripture. Or, better said, there are two uses of the metaphor.
Two Types of Sand on Hand
Two of the most memorable accounts of desert experiences from both the Old and New Testaments are the Israelites wandering in the desert after their exodus from Egypt and Jesus being tempted by the devil in the desert. These are two perfect examples of the two types (or causes) of desert experiences, one the result of rebellion and one the result of obedience.
The wilderness wandering of the Israelites was avoidable. God had promised to be with them as they entered the promised land: “The LORD your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 1:30). But they did not trust him and refused to enter. So, in judgment, he sent them back: “You are to turn back and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.” (1:40), and “your bodies will fall in this wilderness.” (Numbers 14:32).
Now Jesus, on the other hand, was driven into the wilderness because of his obedience to God’s will. Immediately after being baptized by John “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15), the Spirit led him out to the wilderness “to be tempted by the devil”. Here, in the desert, in hunger and thirst, Jesus trusted the words of his Father and resisted the devil, and was ministered to by angels (Matthew 4).
There are, of course, other instances of “desert,” “wilderness,” and “drought” language in both the Old and New Testament. In the Old, we have King David, after his sin with Bathsheba, saying: “When I kept silence [about my sin], my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long . . . For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” (Psalm 32:3-4).
So, when we experience a dry-as-a-desert feeling in our spiritual life, the first thing we should ask (of ourselves or others) is, “Is this ‘desert’ of our own making?” That is, if this ‘desert’ feeling is mostly characterized by a lack of communication with God, then this is a valid question. The Psalmist says, “ . . . if I regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear. I cried out to him for help, and I praised him. If I had been hiding sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened to me.” (Psalm 66:18)
Why a Desert?
Different from physical struggle, battle, etc., this desert experience is an inward thing, and interminable thing, a challenge of the mind and heart. It is when we are stripped of any other support, any other distraction, any other sustenance that we can depend on. It is used of God to concentrate us, to show himself to us, and to set us on a selected path, a path of God’s own choosing.