Turning Points in the Wilderness

By Shi Zheng

It frequently happens that overseas Chinese Christians, whether earlier on from Hong Kong or Taiwan or more recently from Mainland China, have surmounted the tough challenges of studies, career, life and service in the church only to find themselves, free of economic pressures, washed up in the comfort zone of the middle-class. Gradually they begin to lose their fighting spirit and their sensitivity and self-awareness. Their spiritual progress comes to a halt and service for the Lord loses its urgency. Finally they settle down to the endless pursuit of material wellbeing.

The pressures of our environment are indeed frightening. In many cases, we don't want to compromise, but everything around us makes us this way. For example, we successfully complete our schooling and begin our career, only to discover that we are soon stuck at a particular point and unable to advance further in a white-dominated society. Then we develop a sense of alienation as we realize that the contribution we are making is basically to a foreign country. Or another example. We marry and raise children, we purchase cars and own houses. And we lead a decent life. But we actually live under the weight of a heavy mortgage, and spend all our time mowing lawns, fixing cars, picking up and dropping off kids and doing all sorts of household chores. And there is nothing we can do to improve on this lifestyle. One more example. We do our part serving in Bible study groups or churches over many years. But now our service seems to have become more like a fulfilling of obligations than a spiritual exercise. Then there are all the endless disputes to deal with and we begin to lose interest. We can't just walk away but we really don't have the motivation to keep going. As time passes, we begin to have a feeling of helplessness. We feel as if we have been caught in some huge net. The more we struggle the more tightly entangled we get. After all, few people can rise above their environment and fewer still can create their own environment.... If we were even able to adapt to our environment, we would be doing well

So must we spend the rest of our lives in this state of helplessness? Not at all! We can learn a lesson from Moses. In Exodus chapter 3 we read that Moses had spent forty years as a shepherd in the wilderness before he reached Mount Sinai. Formerly a prince, he was now just a shepherd. Formerly a well-read scholar in the palace, he now had to care for a flock of sheep out in the wilderness. True, a shepherd's life was stable, simple and carefree. Yet the forty years was more than enough time to erase all ambition and aggresiveness from Moses' character. In the eyes of others, he was no more than an old shepherd in the wilderness, ready to retire any time.

This was when the miracle of the burning bush occured. This miracle burst in from above like a great axe shattering all the dullness that surrounded Moses. He was revived and, under the hand of God Almighty, he went on to accomplish amazing things. Obviously, he couldn't possibly have turned himself around just like that. He was merely responding to the Lord's call. In Exodus chapter 3 verses 4 - 6 we read that the Lord called his name before He introduced Himself to him.. So the Lord had not forgotten him at all! The Lord always sees the difficult situations of His people and He always hears their cries. He is looking for people to carry out His plan of salvation. Why did He wait until that particular moment to call Moses? Because the forty years living in the wilderness, dull as they might appear to many of us, was a period of preparation and training. The Lord wanted Moses to be aware that he could not achieve anything by his own knowledge, training or zeal. But the Lord wanted to use him in a big way once he had become so aware of his own weaknesses and limitation that he would rely on the Lord and obey Him. When he obeyed the Lord's calling and when the Lord began to use him, not only did his forty years of life as a shepherd begin to reveal its true significance, but everything he had learned in the palace forty years before also came in handy as he wrote down the Scriptures and the Law and when he had to deal with all kinds of management issues.

Through Moses' experience we see that a dull environment or a long waiting period do not necssarily separate us from His calling. As long as we continue to love the Lord and are willing to serve Him, we will sooner or later realize that He has good purposes in placing us in different situations at different times. Moses' life tells us that the Lord will train those He chooses, send those He trains, and take care of those He sends. If we think we are stuck in some dull wilderness, why not raise our eyes and fix them on our faithful Lord? Why not deal proactively with this training opportunity and pay attention to the burning bushes He has designed for us? If we keep on looking back to the experiences of past days and forward to what the Lord is planning for us, we will have refreshed minds, a surprising joy and happiness in serving the Lord. And we will also go through the turning points which are leading into a more abundant life.