"Behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her" (Hos 2:4).It is with dreams of a land flowing with milk and honey that we begin following the Lord, but suddenly we find ourselves in a dry, barren land. The Israelites eagerly crossed the Red Sea, only to step into a vast expanse of wasteland. After we enter into a covenant with the Lord at water baptism, we begin a wilderness-journey.
"She shall sing there, as in the days of her youth" (Hos 2:15). If you look at the wonderful protection from the extreme heat and cold in the form of a pillar of cloud and fire, and at the unfailing supply of manna and water, if you observe that the Lord is keepin your feet from swelling, your shoes from getting worn out, and your clothes from getting threadbare, and that He has commanded the scorpions and serpents not to bite... you cannot but sing. We sing, yes, sing in the wilderness - not a dirge or a requiem, but a hymn! We sing with gusto - like a maid 'in the days of her youth'. It rests with us therefore, to turn our wilderness into a place of mirth rather than one of dearth.
A deep and intimate relationship develops between the Lord and us as we thus journey through the wilderness; we decide He is all we want. "Whom have I in heaven but Thee; there is none upon the earth that I desire beside Thee," we sing as we near the shores of the Promised Land leaning upon our Beloved.
"The sweetest music surely flows
From those who feel life's pain
Yet tune their hearts to God's great love
And in that love remain."
- TPM Morning Manna
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