INTO THE WILDERNESS

BY STEVE DUNN

“At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.” – Mark 1:13-14


Following the very high profile baptism of Jesus by John, the text says that the Spirit “at once” sent Jesus into the wilderness.  From a place among the crowds, with a ready platform to begin his public ministry; Jesus is sent into the lonely isolation of the wilderness.

To the modern mind with its posses, press secretaries and promoters; it seems to be squandering a big moment and its motivation. As always, in human terms, God seems to operate counter-intuitively in His approach.

So why the wilderness?

Between the center of Judaea and the Dead Sea lies one of the most terrible deserts in the world. It is a limestone desert; it looks warped and twisted; it shimmers in the haze of the heat; the rock is hot and blistering and sounds hollow to the feet as if there was some vast furnace underneath; it moves out to the Dead Sea and then descends in dreadful and unscalable precipices down to the shore. In the Old Testament it is sometimes called Jeshimmon, which means The Devastation. (From Gracepoint Devotions)

It was a place of solitude and desolation.  It was a perfect place to hear the voice of God.
Jesus had spent 30 years in Nazareth, among its citizens, his family; very probably carrying out the trade of his earthly father, Joseph. No doubt busy with the business of life–squeezing in his time with God, hearing many voices seeking to shape him and influence him.  We know from the Gospel of Luke and from this chapter in Mark that Jesus was a student of the Old Testament, filling his mind with the thoughts of His Heavenly Father.

The wilderness becomes a place of “sorting out.”  It is a place of reflecting, focusing.
It is also a place of dependence.  No food, no human companionship, no self-reliance.
It is a place of resolution.  Of asking nagging questions.  Of being clear about the answers.
And as we see, it is a place of testing. Forty appears in the Bible as a number tied to testing.  Think of the children of Israel wandering in the desert before they are finally prepared to enter the Promised Land.  Jesus “passes” the test and emerges from it to take on the work that He has been sent to do.


Too often we are too proud to be of use to the Lord.  Humble obedience is not in our menu of choices.
Too often we are too independent to be of use to the Lord.  Self-reliance takes us completely away from the arena where God provides.
Too often we are too busy to be of use to the Lord.  We do not take the time to take measure of our lives and its values.
Too often we are too connected to be of use to the Lord.  Solitude is the place where God’s voice is heard most clearly.

Perhaps we all need some time in the wilderness to restore our effectiveness for the Lord.

This post originally appeared in one of my classroom teaching blogs NEW TESTAMENT EXPLORER 2.0  on September 10, 2013

© 2015 by Stephen L Dunn

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BE STILL

BY STEVE DUNN

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”- Psalm 46.10

I suffer from what is called restless legs syndrome, known by some as "crazy legs."  That latter is true in many ways as your legs are so restless and uncomfortable--that it sort of drives you crazy.  More than once I have said. "If I didn't want to be a cripple, I'd cut these things off."

The condition loves to strike me when Dianne and I are sitting down for a nice meal in nice restaurant.  More than once I have to stand to watch a movie.  Or to stand to counsel a parishioner. I have walked around at the back of movie theaters, and walked out of shows that were too long for my restless legs to endure. I have stood during counseling sessions--when I was the counselor.

And if I have an attack of restless legs while driving, I simply have to park the car or put whole realms of autos at risk as my restless legs like to jerk or make me shut our eyes.

There is a restless in the human psyche that is like restless legs.  I watches everything.  It always seeks more than it has.  It wants to be busy and have people notice.  It quickly over-schedules through overcommitment,  It doesn't no how to say "no." It takes responsibility beyond the limits of its human capability.

And it is a restlessness that often overlooks God.

God rarely stands on a rooftop to announce himself, nor uses a bullhorn to get people to toe the line.

He chooses to whisper and make us pay attention to what he is to doing and how he wants to involve us. 

And if we are too busy and too noisy, we miss His voice and His presence.

HOLY BOREDOM

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;     I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46.10

“Holy Boredom”

By Stephen L. Dunn

Recently Dianne and I were blessed with the gift of four days at a rustic cabin in the mountains of Fulton County PA.  We were celebrating our 40^th Anniversary with some special time together.  It was also a chance to escape a house that was almost neck deep in boxes as we were in the midst of packing up our house of eleven years to move.  (Did you ever notice how much you collect and then forget you ever owned until you have to move it to a new location?)

Our hosts, Dennis and Jean, graciously introduced to its comfortable amenities—which included being at the end of a lane in an area where the very few neighbors are very friendly, but things are quiet enough that you are likely to see deer standing in the field right outside your front door or hear a car on a road over two miles away.  It had a microwave and dishwasher so no one needed to spend much time in the kitchen.  Comfortable furniture inside where it was air conditioned.  Windows strategically placed to see the beauties of nature in every direction.  A front porch simply to rock and relax.

It also had no television or internet.  The nearest place with Wiifi was a McDonalds eleven miles away.  If you are a communications junkie, you were isolated beyond your wildest imagination. If you were hooked on ESPN or Rizolli and Iles, you were simply out of luck.

And that also made it incredibly quiet.

It was a place where media junkie or someone who always required the background noise of a TV to function—it was a place to be bored out of your skull.  There were times that even the nothing I was doing got old and I would seek something new to do from a selection that leaned towards stasis.

Most contemporary Americans find silence unnerving and boredom tends to be the unforgiveable sin from the day we are born.  We fill our days with many things to do, too many things usually to be done sanely if accomplished at all.  We find meaning in activity and worship accumulation as a measure of accomplishment—which is the measure of our self-worth.

It is interesting then that we hear these words from our Creator, “Be still and know that I am God.”  God rarely shouts or engages a publication relations firm.  He chooses silence at times to deliver His most compelling messages.  He tends to wait until we are ready to listen.

Busyness is the enemy of the soul because we rarely stop to hear God at all.

Perhaps a little holy boredom is God’s way of getting our attention.  That is, if we don’t rush to escape that boredom.

It’s a lesson that I, as a not-so-recovering workaholic, am trying to learn.

© 2012 BY STEPHEN L DUNN

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SABBATH

by Steve Dunn

"Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed." - Exodus 23:12

This Monday I awoke at the usual time around 4:30 am.  But this was an unusual Monday.  For the first time in nearly eleven years, the term "pastor" referred to my profession but not my position. The day before had been my final day as the Lead Pastor for a magnificent group of people living on mission with Jesus, the Church of God of Landisville.  I now have entered a period of transition because I do not know where God wants me to be next in ministry.  Because I have to eat and pay my bills, I have resumes in; but churches tend to move slowly in their decision-making, especially in the summer; and seminaries hired their faculties much earlier in the summer.

So this week I have attended to getting ready to sell a home. (In my denomination it is considered both inappropriate and unethical to take on a pastorate within easy driving distance from your previous one.) I am also cleaning out 11 years worth of files both in cabinets and on the computer before turning them over to my successor to spare him the irrelevant and to declutter my own home and life.  This means I have had "work" to do each day - including housework, shopping, etc. (my wife, on the other hand, still continues working this summer.)  I have, however, started each day with coffee and breakfast, USA today, my email correspondence, and my devotions at Panera's (pretty much how I tended to start my days when I was employed as a pastor).  I've added walking around 5:30 to beat the heat and to shed some pounds.

 

This morning as I drove to Panera's I had an epiphany.  I was thinking about my agenda for the day and then found myself moving ahead in my mind to Friday and Saturday.  And then it struck me.  I was planning to work every day.  I no longer had formal pastoral work to do (including wrapping up a sermon or counseling or shuffling papers) but I was still working on life and all of its responsibilities.  Work is not simply defined by a job, but by the efforts that go into providing a living for your family, maintaining what you possess, carrying out your family business, the errands and shopping that goes with restocking your cupboards, etc.

The command to rest is "for all your work."  That means no work. Instead, a time of rest, refreshing, and renewing your relationship with the Lord--Who sustains you all seven days of your week and Who ultimately provides for your needs.

Since Friday has been my sabbath for 11 years, I am keeping Friday as my sabbath--even if I am not yet again gainfully employed.

(C) 2012 by Stephen L. Dunn 

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GOALS

Reading: Exodus 20:8

I am a list-maker.  If it's important, I try putting it on some kind of list.  It goes there so I can remember it, so I can plan for it ... and so I can cross it off when I complete it.

For some people those lists simply focus on "Dumb Stuff I Gotta Do".  For others they are goal statements for the day.  A list then defines the target that you are trying to hit for that day,  For many of us, a list enables us to prioritize so that day's end we can rest comfortably in the knowledge that our efforts have born fruit,

Without goals we often live unreflective lives devoid of accountability and bereft of productivity.  We simply get what we get - and that is rarely worth getting, especially when we see the things we missed as we squandered away our lives without a plan,

Healthy people, however, know that sometimes the goal is to do nothing,  When we intentionally do nothing at defined times, we get the rest and reflection needed to keep our lives on mission with Jesus.

Such times are called Sabbath.  Have you made a sabbath a goal for you lately?  A new year is a perfect time to add this goal to the rhythm of your life.

(C) 2012 by Stephen L Dunn

TESTING

Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:5-7

I have spent a whole lot of my 60 years going to school.  12 years for elementary through high school. Four years of college. Three years of seminary. Another almost 7 working on my Doctor of Ministry.  That doesn't even count continuing education.

In the formal educational process students are constantly being evaluated. What are your learning? Is it right things about the truly important things? How much have you learned?  Have you really learned so it has become a part of you?

Generally that evaluation took the form of either tests or papers.  I'll let you on a little secret. When given the choice, I always chose papers.  Even when I was working from a tightly prescribed set of questions, I found that papers (although longer to complete than a test to take) were better learning experiences and better measures of whether I understood something.  Tests often were merely proof of the current state of my memory.  And the pressure for tests we generally unpleasant.

To this day when I teach I lean towards papers rather than tests for my students.

People don't like tests, but tests are a necessary part of life - and ironically, of our spiritual life. Paul writes to the Corinthians:

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed."

Lent is a time of self-testing. Of examining our lives up against the call and the Cross of Jesus Christ.  When we accepted his gift of salvation, we also committed to living the transformed life he makes possible.

Living in faith is the bottom line of new life in Christ. Take some time and examine yourself.  Can people see Jesus in me?

           

DO YOU GET IT?

 Proverbs 21:12 - "Ears to hear and eyes to see--both are gifts from God." NLT

I am really not a good joke teller. The same sense of drama and timing that serve me well as a preacher seem to detach themselves when I try to tell a joke.  I can get to telling the lead in too quickly and leave out a key detail . When I arrive at the punch line, it's not funny because I left something out earlier in the build-up.  Plus, the things that I find funny are sometimes irrelevant to the people around me.  Or unfamiliar with the the subject and so I have to explain so much before the punchline that the comedic moment has drifted away into an irrelevancy of its own.

Sometimes my jokes fall flat because the people hearing them simply have no sense of  humor or they're not listening carefully or they're simply too slow to get any joke.

It is frustrating to communicate to people who just don't get it.

It is even more frustrating to miss something because we just don't see it?

It is a gift of God in all communications when one has eyes to see and ears to hear.

FORWARD PROGRESS

Reading: Philippians 3.12-16

The New Year has begun.

Did you spend any time reflecting on the past year and assessing your goals for the year to come?

Did you make any resolutions?

How many have you already broken?

I had a friend who intentionally avoided that exercise.  He said, "Every time I do it, it's just deja vu all over again. I always seem to be making the same resolutions with the same old outcomes."

I had another friend who went to the other extreme. His resolutions were revolutions.  If he ever kept them, his life would be radically altered.  The problem is that his intentions were to give intentionality merely lip service. He rarely had a game plan or a strategy. Nothing really changed.

Paul, sitting in an unlikely place - prison, made a resolution. It's recorded in Philippians 3.12-14.

^"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

But he also had a strategy.  It went something like this:

A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF THE PRESENT

A REMEMBERING OF OUR PURPOSE

A RELEASING OF THE PAST

A REFUSAL TO RETREAT

A RESOLVE TO PRESS ON

Forward progress leading to obtaining the prize. A great outcome of a worthy New Year's Resolution for any Christ follower. Is that what you are planning for in 2011?

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn. All rights reserved.

This devotional is a summary of a message I will preach at the Church of God of Landisville on Sunday, January 9, 2011.