Fear Of The Desert

The church is chocked full of men and women who are convinced that the Christian life is a matter of brilliant insights, inspired intuitions, fervent resolve, and sacrificial acts of sanctity. They want results. And anything that does not delight their reason and engage their minds is only fodder. When these cannot chart out a path for themselves and everyone else, they turn back to activities where they can be certain that they are in charge and can measure that they are getting somewhere. Writing books, praying prayers, performing good works, teaching, counselling, preaching. But these are all escapes...antidotes to the potential of actually becoming lost in God. They may even argue that these are a more valid substitute for the encounter with I AM. The prospect of entering a wilderness that is able to purify them from their false hopes and illusory compulsions is so terrifying to most people of faith that they refuse to enter it. They cannot trust the encounter with God that springs out of denying their false self. They fear to be found in real desolation where their own minds starve for lack of food or water and there is no shelter in which their imagination may hide.