As I started to work on this blog I was distracted by the distressing sound coming from the television. Sometimes it’s hard to find a balance between being informed and being overwhelmed. In the past months the landscape of American life has changed dramatically, and with the rioting in cities and ransacking of businesses over the past week, I feel like I’m living in a time that I can no longer recognize. Emotions of fear, frustration and anger are said to be fueling the fire of protestors, but in the process they are infecting the rest of the nation with similar feelings.

How did we get here? Pandemic. Economic uncertainty. Lawlessness. What’s next?

This is a “desert” of enormous proportions, and right now there doesn’t look like any clear way out.

Last posting I wrote, When the confusion and conflict and discomfort and darkness and frustrations and fears hit; when you find yourself in a desert without end, what are you going to do? Go looking for something new? Dig deeper into your own resources? Call Myth Busters?  No! You use what you already have because if God was enough before the desert, He will be enough in the desert.

But that was Chapter 15 and we are in Chapter 16 now of The Bridge from OneDayBow.  Tim has moved beyond fear to faith. So why do I bring it up? One, because I needed to be reminded. Two, because lifting the shield of faith did not end the battle.

Chapter 16 begins:

How long he circled those roads, Tim couldn’t say for sure.

Was it days, or months, or years he struggled to endure?

The scenery didn’t change much for Tim right away, so Tim had to change. Faith had to be real and consistent and enduring. And though the desert continued on, though it wasn’t easy, it served a purpose. And by the strength of the Nooma inside him, and the supernatural leading of the Son, Tim’s path eventually left the desert as he climbed the final hill.

But, stop a minute. I so want to breathe a sigh of relief that it’s over and just rejoice in it being DONE! Because isn’t that how you feel when the struggle is over? Yes!!! But, please don’t miss the words that Tim heard inside him:

All things work together for the good of those who love the King, His Son, and Nooma – and you’ll see that above.

And with that, Tim hears the cheers of those who had gone before him, who had been praying for him and expecting him to make it through. That’s what he hears, but what does he see? A view of the desert that wasn’t possible when it was boots on the ground. (Walking through it, that is.) He sees that the opposition that seemed to beat against him was actually directing him to the right path that led out of the desert!

How is that possible? All things work together for the good of those who love the King, His Son and Nooma… All things?! And in that moment Tim began to comprehend something that he may have only learned by walking the desert path by faith. What that is, we will talk about next time.

(For us as Christians walking through this difficult time, it is something we vitally need to keep in mind. I’ll give you a big hint: read the last paragraph on page 66, and then open your Bible and read Romans 8:28-39!)