The Value of the Wilderness

​I wish everyone could take a seven-day hiatus into the wilderness.  There are no phones to ring.  Trees do not hold ticking clocks.  The ground may be uncomfortable and the weather may be cold but the air is clean and perspectives change.  Sitting around a campfire for hours, the mind begins to clear.  Beads of stress from a culture of busyness evaporate under stars without competition from neon lights.  The sound of a rushing river soothes the soul.  The cries of a vigilant falcon pierce the air with the anthem of freedom.  

Scents become stronger—reddish flowers atop a carpet of tundra make Nordstrom perfume seem lame and artificial.  Taste comes alive to stomachs famished from hard work eager to receive food slowly without rush in a place free of frenzy.  One can listen here.  Conversation is sane and appealing.  Attire is simple but thoughtful for one must prepare for whatever surprises may come across the horizon.  Here, survival has meaning and life becomes precious again.
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Civilization can advance intellectually, culturally, materially, artistically, and scientifically but without Jesus it always implodes.  Eventually people turn on each other in ways more brutal than any animal could imagine. Civilization is marked by sin.  It is diseased and without cure.  It is cruel killing its unborn for the sake of convenience.
 
Meditation
John 1:11--He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.
 
Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness on a camping trip His Father prepared for Him.  Then He returned to a civilization He allowed to crush Him.  But not before He sang God’s heavenly love song.  Not before He taught in parables too marvelous to understand.  Not before He healed the diseases and cast out demons of countrymen desperate and defeated.  Not before He eluded the traps of plotting religious leaders with godly wisdom.  Not before He calmed the storm and changed water into wine.  Certainly not before He trained a band of followers who would change the world forever because of what they learned from the Son of Man.  
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Go out into the desert and listen to what God has to say.  Then go back into the city and let the love of the One who loves you extend to people desperate to find hope and meaning.  
 
Inspiration
Jesus knew He was here for His Father's purpose and He never allowed the cares of civilization to bother Him.  He did nothing to add to the wealth of the civilization in which He lived, He earned nothing, modern civilization would not have tolerated Him for two minutes.—Oswald Chambers in The Highest Good
 
©1997 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)