Receiving an invitation into the desert is one of love. From Scripture, God leads those he loves into the desert, beginning with the Hebrews and the account of Jesus. There is nothing to be feared as it’s divinely orchestrated. Will it be painful? Yes, it can be, but also a transformational wrestling with testing to bring freedom. Testing brings transformational new preparation through obedience. The invitation is one of unconditional covenant love to further intimacy of trust in fertile soil of the soul, of spiritual blessing … in the desert.
God led His children into the desert. He could have chosen a quite shorter path for them to arrive at the land he was giving them, but they weren’t ready. Their hearts were not ready, they grumbled and complained. He was looking for obedience, for their ability to be a community for their own good, to see if he could trust them, for Torah had not yet been given.
Deuteronomy 8:5 describes it like this “Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good”. The Hebrews had been in an environment of worshipping other gods, and God wanted them to trust Him as the only God to worship.
For us as his children, it seems self-discipline and self-examine could prevent some desert experiences. But, the desert is an invitation. It’s a place of God’s leading. It is an invitation for soul transformation. Transformation that then is reflected in motivation, attitude, action, and affections of the heart. God wants all the worship out of a covenental relationship. Following without grumbling and complaining, following with trust and being nourished by God’s words, are the cool quench of thirst in the desert. 
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
In Hebraic concept, this testing was experientially testing, God already knew what was in their hearts, he wanted them to experientially manifest the walking out of obedience by testing, expressing the depth of commitment by obedience. 
Both obedience and intimacy is what is sought in the desert. Whether one allows the desert experience to be a honeymoon (Jeremiah 2:2), with eagerness to follow God through he wilderness, embracing what is needing to be exposed and gently growing from it or rather needing to be humbled by it to rely only on Him, as with the Hebrews, the choice is ours. He loves His own, and we are assured as those he loves, he disciplines. The New Testament Scriptures in Hebrews 12:5-7 , referring back to the encouraging words God spoke reads:
And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said,
“My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?
Both discipline and testing have a purpose. The hardest test seems not to be in the desert, but on returning to the promised land where all is well and needs are met. God invites us to be completely obedient there. A continued invitation to place trust only in Him and not a hint of mirage of self-suffiecincy or strength. Being in the desert can cultivate a sensitivity to what it feels like to be in pain or suffering, I believe that is to be further equipped to cultivate compassionate and be God’s hands extended to others, with some of the greatest lessons learned by some who inflict suffering as a beautiful example of what not to do, as God can allow this as a character molding lesson in the desert too.
Are you in the desert, being led to the desert, reflecting on a desert experience? I have found them all to be a time of heightened sensitivity and understanding that the manna doesn’t seem to satisfy the hunger, but being both nourished and sustained by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. I believe that is the real lesson of the desert as place of invitation out of love, to experience a keen communion that leads to transformation of the heart and soul. May the invitations be an encouragement to us to embrace the desert when they come. They are an honor. They are preparation. They are an invitation for greater intimacy for the One who satisfies the soul.
For reflection:
Read of Jesus being led to the desert in John chapter 4.
What were the temptations he was offered?
How do those translate into temptations today?
What was his response?
What does that speak to you?
Living Full of Grace,
Heather Rogero
