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Withdrawing to the Desert

If you know me personally, you probably know about my deep love for the desert. After all, anyone crazy enough to spend the summer in Arizona kind of needs to love it. After I dove deeper into God's book, though, I realized that the desert has far more beauty than the fond memories I have attached to it.

Jesus knew about this beauty too.

"But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the eremos and pray." -Luke 5:15-16

The word eremos (ἔρημος) is a Greek word often translated as the wilderness, a solitary place, or a desert. For example, whenever Jesus went into the desert to be tempted by the devil, the word used there is eremos. It's widely assumed that Jesus went into the desert because it would make temptation even harder to resist. That the challenge would be far more difficult. Maybe He went into the desert, though, because that's where He could be alone with His Father, who was the giver of all of Jesus's strength and peace. Maybe it wasn't that the desert was an obstacle, but rather a vessel, a telephone wire that seemed to connect Him to God during that hardship. Perhaps it was there that God's presence seemed stronger, and closer.

We commonly associate the desert with a hot climate and some cactus, but by basic definition it's actually just deserted, solitary, lonely land. To most of us this doesn't sound very appealing. To Jesus, though, it was a place He loved. He couldn't wait to go to that lonely desert and spend time with God. He sought peace there in hardships.

"When Jesus heard [that John the Baptist had been beheaded], He withdrew by boat privately to eremos.” -Matthew 14:13

There was a point in His ministry when Jesus had no time for Himself. But, He made time.

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to eremos, where He prayed.” -Mark 1:35

Jesus's perspective on the desert began to drastically change mine. He went to the places most people wouldn't go because He knew He couldn't live life without resting-truly resting-in the arms of the Father. I believe that whenever Jesus left that early morning in Mark 1 (verse mentioned above) and walked past His sleeping disciples, He didn't feel like He was leaving home. He felt like He was returning to it. Sometimes we need to go to the desert, and learn to depend less on our own feeble strength and instead grab hold of His strong hand. Withdrawing to the eremos is an important practice, rather it comes in the form of a literal desert or just a "lonely place". Just get away from it all, because it's there we can better experience His presence. Something about being farther from your earthly home and all its comforts seems to get you a lot closer to your Heavenly one.



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