The Desert Experience

Have you had times when you feel parched spiritually, emotionally, and eventually, physically? If this has happened to you, do you find remedy talking to friends and family? Many do not. Perhaps the Lord is leading you away from bondage and into a new life. Does this seem absurd? When you have hindsight . . . looking back on your journey after you come out of the desert . . . you will find that God had His purposes in it.


Jesus met a woman who was going through a desert experience. She was a Samaritan who had come to draw water from a well (Jn 4:7-42). The Samaritan woman, having no real friendships, came to draw water around noon when there were few other people at the well. The Samaritan woman also had no real committed husband in her life. Love was off and on, having had five husbands, and presently living in an unmarried union. This lovelessness was her desert experience, and meeting Jesus at the well was God’s divine appointment for her. The woman’s wounds were deep, her life was barren, and she needed a way to water her life and make it fruitful.

What keeps our inner well full enough to water a fruitful life? The answer is in Jesus’ words “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn 4:13) Earthly water will satisfy temporarily, but Eternal life fills us to overflowing with a Life that never runs out. Eternal life is not for later; it begins when we drink from the Holy Spirit.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (vs 23-24). What begins for believers at our point of salvation fills us continually as we worship God in Spirit and in truth.

For some, worship is a Sunday morning event. For others, worship is a life style. God enters into each one of our lives to deepen us so that our well will not run dry. Only our Lord, who loves us deeply, can take us through dry desert places and turn the deep ruts into pools of refreshing (see Ps 84:5-7). When friendships and fellowship are stripped away . . . when there is no one who sincerely listens to our heart . . . it is then that we come into the true freedom of God’s strengthening love. And we will have a deep well full of water to give to others on their journey.

There are many in the body of Christ who need nourishment. They suffer from meaningless responses and pat answers. When you meet one today, dip into the well within you. There is an unlimited supply of fresh water to give. And as we journey with Him, whether in abundance or in a desert land, may we ever seek after His love. Amen.