sometimes that’s the only place we can start to say, “I think I need something
real to eat. I think I need some water. Another plastic bag is just not going to
cut it this time.” And then who is there to lead us to the rock in the wilderness
that miraculously spouts water? The Right Guy in the bad times.
The Bible is chock full of stories about surviving the wilderness. Moses
strikes a rock and water appears. He throws a stick in a stagnant pool and it
becomes drinkable. Manna falls from heaven for 40 years of wandering around
in the Sinai Peninsula until the Israelites are willing to say, “We’re ready to try
out something different.”
Joseph stores up seven years of grain to keep Egypt and the surrounding
peoples, including his father and brothers, alive in the seven-year famine.
Ravens feed Elijah in the wilderness. Both Elijah and Elisha are fed by miracles
in the homes of widows during times of famine. Jesus Himself goes into the
wilderness and fasts for 40 days, wrestling with the dev il. These stories occur
over and over because this is the story of each of us discovering that it has
gotten bad enough to know nothing short of a miracle is going to make a
difference, and then when we are ready for a miracle, the Miracle Man is right
there.
Those miracles, as I said, seldom look like miracles. They can look like
the person in the cubicle next to ours asking if we want to go out for a cup of
coffee. They can look like a neighbor telling us she will watch the kids because
we look a little frazzled. It can look like the baby still kissing our cheek and
wrapping her arms around our neck even after a screaming fit – ours, not the
baby’s.
It can look like the inside of a psychiatric ward or a prison cell for some
people. It might look like an AA meeting. It can look like walking into an
adult literacy class. It can look like buying a pair of walking shoes and deciding
to start taking care of your body. It can look like buying the homeless guy a
sandwich or showing up at a peace rally or adopting a shelter dog. It almost
certainly will involve other plastic-bag-eating toxic people wandering around
in the wilderness, because God knows that helping each other is one of the best
ways to get us out of garbage diet mentality.
He loves us enough, thinks well enough of us, and trusts us enough to help
these others of His precious creations. We may look askance at ourselves and
others and think, “This is the rescue posse You sent? This is who is supposed
to lead us out of the desert?” And God smiles, spreads out His arms and says.
“Yes! Isn’t it fabulous?” Because truly, really, that’s how God views us.
Yes, He sees the vomit and diarrhea, but He knows that underneath
all of that is one of the people He planned for since time began, whom He
waited for with eager anticipation, whom He lit a star in heaven for when He
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