Truth be known, I’m guessing not very many want to go and hang out in the desert places of life. We’d probably all prefer Easy Street to Rocky Road. But sometimes, the Lord allows a detour to come along that takes us down the back roads into what seems like a wilderness. Not a place that was ever on our GPS . . . in fact, a place where our GPS fails us . . . clueless on how to navigate the path before us. But it is a place known fully to our God . . . a trip he allows to be taken . . . a time of “being in a foreign land” that He determines will be used for our good.

“For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you My promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me. When you seek Me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the LORD . . . ” (Jeremiah 29:10-14a ESV)

Routed by Nebuchadnezzar? . . . unthinkable! Jerusalem razed by a hoard of locusts from a foreign land? . . . how terrible! Taken away and made a captive in Babylon? . . . you gotta be kidding me! A place where I’d find God . . . really?!? Yeah . . . really.

I’m reading Jeremiah this morning and the Lord says in essence, “Don’t fight it. Go to Babylon. It’s there, in that wilderness experience, that you’ll find Me. It’s there, in that place where you don’t know the language, that you’ll hear My voice. It’s there, in that place where everything is foreign that you’ll develop an intense longing for home and for the One who sets your table.” Yeah, there’s something about going to a place where you’ve lost control . . . where you’re stripped of your power to be the “captain of your own ship” . . . where self-reliance isn’t working so well . . . something about that place that can draw your heart back to Him who has made plans for you . . . to Him who wants to give you a future and a hope.

It was thirst that primed the pump, so to speak, of the Samaritan woman in John 4. Because of the salt on her tongue, the dust on her lips, and the ache in her shoulders, she was all ears when this young Rabbi engaged her in conversation and offered her living water (John 4:1-14). The concept of perpetual refreshment captivated her . . . the thought of no longer having to break her back carrying those heavy buckets was kind of appealing . . . sign me up! . . . show me the well! . . . “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” (John 4:15).

Isn’t it true . . . sometimes you need to hang out in Babylon in order to long for Jerusalem. Sometimes you need to be captive to things you have no control over in order to re-focus on Him who is Sovereign over all. Sometimes you need to be parched in order to desire living water.

And so, after reading in Jeremiah and John this morning, I was ready for these words from James . . . (Jeremiah, John, and James . . . sounds like a folk trio . . . but I digress) . . .

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. . . . You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:7-8 ESV)

In the desert? Hang tough. Feeling like you need a 4-wheel drive in order to make it down Rocky Road? Be patient. No apparent way out of the wilderness? Establish your hearts . . . set your feet . . . hold on to your Anchor . . . for the coming of the Lord is at hand. He will use the situation to draw your hearts back to Himself . . . He will deliver according to His timing and His purposes . . . He will satisfy the thirst with living water . . . He will show Himself mighty . . . He will lead you home . . . and then, you will know the plans He has for you . . . the future . . . the hope.

For now, be patient . . . establish your hearts . . . by His grace . . . for His glory.