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| Hikers to St. Antony's Cave |
Christ was
tempted by Satan when he was physically weakened from fasting and at a time
when He had gone out to be alone in the desert in preparation for His public
ministry. This should not surprise us in
the least. The loneliness and hardship
of the desert is a great revealer about the true state of our souls and our
enemy knows we are very vulnerable on that point. Fallen human nature would rather hide from
God or flee from His presence than own up to failure. This translates into our relationships as
well. Have you ever noticed how easy it
is to be angry towards somebody who has criticized you rather than to actually
examine yourself and consider that they may be right? The lesson we can learn from those who went
out to the desert is what they called a vow of stability. A great many of them lived alone in caves or
simple shelters (naturally cool and easy to find) but naturally formed into
communities for mutual protection, safety, and spiritual encouragement. What they did is promised God and each other
that they would not run when life got hard, they would not move away when they
got bored (an affliction we all seem to think is fatal), and they would not
flee if they were criticized. In
essence, they were willing to face the truth about what they would quite
naturally do and put themselves in a position of not turning back. We are all prone to running away when life
gets hard. If we don’t do it physically,
we do it a thousand other ways for we are all masters of escape. But the Lord does His best work when we stay
put, stand firm, and stick together. In
our next installment we’ll consider the discipline of silent thought and silent
prayer as was practiced in the desert.
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