He found him in a desert land, in the howling waste of the wilderness; he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye. Moses singing about God's protection of Israel. Found in the howling waste.
I was found in the howling waste. I was thirty-two years old, homeless, addicted to methamphetamine, living in my car. The howling waste - that was my condition. Chaotic, dangerous, destructive.
And God found me there. Not when I was respectable, not when I had my life together, not when I'd cleaned myself up enough to be worth finding. In the howling waste. That's where God found me.
And what Moses says about God's care - shielding, guarding, protection - that's exactly what I experienced. Not in isolation, but through people. A pastor who let me sleep in the church office. A counselor who believed I could get clean. A community that held me.
I've been sober four years now. And every single day I remember that I was found in the howling waste. That I'm guarded as the apple of God's eye. Not because I deserve it. But because that's the kind of God He is.
When people say God can't reach them, they're in too deep, the gospel doesn't apply to them - I remember that verse. God doesn't wait for the desert to stop howling. He comes into the howling waste and He finds you there.
No comments yet. Be the first.