Thriving in Desert Places

Not much rain falls in the southern desert of Palestine. The steep rock cliffs sprout a few twigs of grass when the rains fall in November. Bits of green last until the hot days of April, but it rarely rains between April and November. However, at the oasis of Ein Gedi, trees grow and crops flourish. Two streams flow through the hot desert canyons year-round. Perhaps it was the trees of Ein Gedi that the psalmist had in mind when he wrote about a truly happy and prosperous person in Psalm 1. The person who really thrives in life is compared to a tree planted by streams of water. The psalmist points to the source of this person’s well-being: His delight is in the good and right ways of God. In fact, he is engaged with God day and night. His great desire is to figure out how he can implement God’s ways in the nitty-gritty of his own life. He knows it cannot be done instantly so he meditates on it day and night. For the Psalmist, God is not a killjoy destroying his happiness. He is not a judgmental grandfather, seemingly eager to condemn us for our faults. He is not the perfectionistic teacher who demands an absolute flawless paper or performance. Rather, God is the source of life and energy in the desert. He is the One who bandages our bruised and bleeding hearts. He brings us cups of cool water in days of heat and stress. He provides us with a hidden source of power that makes it possible for us to thrive when hot winds blow and storm clouds thunder. There is no magic to this. The Psalmist suggests that woe will come to those who follow the crowd, mock at what is good and right, and go to bars and clubs in a time of a novel coronavirus. But the Psalm also promises that anyone who takes God’s ways seriously will prosper, even in viral times, even if one catches Covid-19 unwittingly. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offers us specific ways to deal with crisis times. He encourages us to focus on what goes on in our heart. As our mind, will, and emotions gradually come into conformity with God’s good, loving, and selfless ways of service, our outward life will be transformed and we will realize that we can genuinely flourish in desert places.

-Dr. Edward Allen