I am having a difficult time reconciling the concept of desolation as a tool in God’s hands and the promise of Jesus that we will never thirst. On the one hand, experience and the word of people who testify in words and in love that they are disciples of Jesus Christ speak of desolation as a valuable, and perhaps necessary, experience. On the other hand, the testimony of this same Jesus.
Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourself (Mark 12:31) and to love one another the way He loved us (John 13:34). How did He love us? More than Himself.
We value most those things we have lacked. Of the promises in Isaiah 65, one is dearest to my heart: “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
A lot of priorities are easy to set and hard to keep. Putting Jesus ahead of family is challenging to contemplate, excruciating to execute, and rewarding in retrospect.
It is easy for us to dismiss idolatry as a sin for “primitive” cultures, but idols are not just ugly statues. An idol is anything that takes the place in our life that God has reserved for Himself.
