Title:
Wilderness
Time
Date:
Texts:
Exodus
10.12-15
Luke
4.1-2
Series:
When
Faith
Is
Hard:
Never-Ending
Plagues
Dr.
William
M.
Smutz
It
all
started
quite
unexpectedly,
and
for
a
long
time
I
didn’t
see
or
understand
the
connections
–
but
I
certainly
did
feel
the
effects!
Sometime
in
late
January
of
my
junior
year
in
college,
the
accelerator
cable
on
my
car
broke,
which
meant
the
car
wasn’t
going
anywhere
until
the
cable
was
replaced.
Usually,
replacing
a
cable
on
a
car
is
not
such
a
big
deal,
but
when
the
car
in
question
is
a
1965
Rambler
station
wagon,
finding
almost
any
part
takes
an
act
of
God!
A
week
or
ten
days
later,
I
was
playing
in
an
intramural
basketball
game
and
made
a
sudden
stop,
but
my
knee
kept
going.
Before
I
knew
it,
the
knee
was
several
times
its
normal
size,
and
I
was
getting
around
–
though
not
very
well
–
on
crutches!
Four
or
five
days
later
was
Valentine’s
day.
I
had
made
plans
to
take
the
young
lady
I
was
very
much
in
‘like’
with
out
to
dinner….Of
course,
she
had
to
drive,
because
my
car
was
broken,
and
I
was
still
on
crutches…..During
dinner
was
when
she
chose
to
announce
that
she
was
breaking
up
with
me!
As
you
might
imagine,
it
was
a
very
quiet
ride
back
to
campus.
While
each
of
these
three
events
was
frustrating
or
inconvenient,
or
a
bit
emotional;
they
weren’t,
by
themselves,
overwhelming.
If
they
had
happened
with
some
greater
chronological
distance
in
between
them,
they
would
have
been
no
big
deal
at
all.
But
coming
as
they
did,
in
rapid
succession;
like
the
plagues
of
locusts
and
frogs
and
flies
came
upon
piling
on
top
of
me
like
one
pounding
ocean
wave
after
another
–
the
impact
was
significant.
I
wouldn’t
describe
what
I
experienced
in
the
wake
of
this
series
of
events
as
depression…..But
neither
was
I
in
a
very
good
place.
For
the
next
several
months,
it
seemed
like
I
was
just
wandering
through
life.
I
was
functioning
and
personable;
had
my
best
semester
ever,
grade-wise;
the
car
got
fixed;
the
knee
got
better….
But
still
it
was
as
if
something
was
missing.
I
couldn’t
name
it,
or
describe
it;
something
just
wasn’t
right.
I’d
watch
TV
rather
than
hang
out
with
friends.
I
quit
going
to
church.
I
think
my
parents
worried
about
me
because
I
didn’t
call
home
much.
It
took
four
or
five
months
for
this
sense
of
malaise
to
pass….And
this
period
of
strangeness
went
away
not
because
of
anything
I
did
intentionally,
but
because
life
just
moved
on,
and
I
went
with
it.
It
wasn’t
until
several
years
later,
when
the
leader
of
a
workshop
I
was
attending
described
“wilderness
time”,
that
I
finally
knew
–
and
had
a
name
–
for
what
I
had
been
through!
Wilderness
time,
he
said,
is
when
a
series
of
unconnected
but
tough
things
happen
to
you;
leading
to
a
time
that
feels
purposeless
–
like
you
are
just
wandering
around.
The
workshop
leader
went
on
to
say
that
as
hard
as
wilderness
time
can
be
on
a
person
emotionally,
physically,
spiritually;
it
can
also
be
a
life-giving
and
life-changing
time,
if
one
is
willing
to
trust
God,
and
if
one
is
willing
to
work
at
it!
The
wilderness
has
a
central
place
in
God
provided
a
pillar
of
cloud
by
day,
and
pillar
of
fire
by
night,
that
directed
This
same
reality
is
in
play
in
our
Gospel
lesson…..Where
Jesus’
forty
days
in
the
wilderness
following
his
baptism,
symbolizes
the
forty
years
of
support…..wandering
away
from
the
purposes
we
thought
we
had
in
life…..
Wilderness
time
can
be
frightening
and
disorienting;
setting
us
on
the
path
of
deeper
despair….But
wilderness
time
can
also
be
when
we
come
to
realize
once
again
or
for
the
very
first
time,
just
how
much
God
loves
us,
how
much
God
cares
for
us,
how
much
we
are
invited
to
rely
on
God.
The
Old
Testament
prophet,
Hosea,
really
takes
the
people
of
Hosea
literally
gives
the
people
of
It’s
a
scary
thing,
a
hard
thing,
for
us
to
rely
on
someone
else.
We’ve
been
taught
since
we
were
little,
to
be
independent,
to
be
self-reliant,
to
pull
ourselves
up
by
our
own
bootstraps….So
the
idea
of
relying
on
God
when
times
are
good,
and
especially
when
we
feel
we’re
out
in
the
wilderness,
can
be
frightening.
And
yet,
as
those
called,
invited
and
expected,
to
model
their
lives
on
the
life
of
Jesus…..Who
willingly
went
out
into
the
wilderness;
knowing
that
was
the
only
place
where
he
could
forge
a
bond,
a
relationship
with
God,
that
would
sustain
him
through
even
the
toughest
times….As
those
who
try
to
follow
in
Jesus’
steps,
we
are
invited
to
take
wilderness
time
seriously.
This
doesn’t
mean
we
have
to
seek
it
out;
for
in
my
experience,
wilderness
time
will
find
us
and
claim
us
all
sooner
or
later….But
when
it
does
come;
when
we
find
ourselves
out
in
a
spiritual
or
emotional
or
relational
wilderness,
we
are
invited
to
see
it
as
a
time
when
we
are
closer
to
God;
a
time
when
we
can
let
go
of
the
rigid
control
we
try
to
maintain
all
around
us,
and
let
God
be
God.
That’s
the
gift
of
wilderness
time,
I
think….A
gift
available
to
us
today
and
tomorrow,
and
any
time
life
gangs
up
on
us,
and
conspires
against
us;
any
time
a
few
unrelated
occurrences
spin
us
out
and
set
us
wandering.
Are
you
in
wilderness
time
today?
If
so,
let
God
be
your
companion
there.
Do
you
know
someone
who
seems
to
be
out
in
the
wilderness?
By
your
quiet
presence
along
side
them,
be
a
reminder
to
them
of
what
Jesus
learned
during
his
forty
days
of
wilderness
time……That
God
is
waiting
there….waiting
for
them,
waiting
for
you
and
me,
waiting
to
make
us
whole
again,
waiting
to
love
us
back
to
life.
Amen!!!