Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
When you go through deep waters and great trouble,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown!
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel,
Your Savior!
(Isaiah 43:1-3)
There are times when we can be in our own home, our own car, or even sitting in a pew in a church and feel as if we are in a dark wilderness where nothing makes sense and no path out can be seen. In the dark land of failure and aloneness even those who are Christ’s struggle, but not in the same way as those who have no Savior. The Christian wrestles with sin; then with himself; and then with God. We anguish over sin; we agonize over the depth of depravity in our own heart; we mature as the Word of God and the Holy Spirit slices away at everything in our life that does not conform to the likeness of Christ Jesus.
It was in the wilderness that our Lord was tempted by Satan; it was in the wilderness that our Lord defeated Satan with Scripture. God does not put us in the dark to kill us. If he allows you to wander around with a sense of aloneness, perhaps it is to drive you to Him. It may be the maturing of a wilderness struggle that refines us as fire refines gold. Others watch us; and observe our reactions. Let them see us cling to Christ like a trusting child clings to the leg of a loving father.
If you are without Christ in your life, you live in a constant wilderness; and every path you take will lead only to wrath and judgment; any light that you see is only an illusion. There is only one path out of the wilderness; only one Light of the World; Jesus Christ, the Friend of sinners.
“If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God,
It will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead.”
–C.S. Lewis