The ministry of the wilderness is not the easiest ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but it can be the most productive, as far as eternal realities are concerned. In those wilderness places the Holy Spirit often accelerates our spiritual growth and fruit bearing. If a plant has feelings I’m sure that being pruned doesn’t feel very good, but again, the result of pruning is that a fruit bearing plant becomes a plant that bears much fruit. The fruit that God is after is lovesickness, and Christlikeness. Listen to what Hosea 2:14-15 says, “Therefore, behold, I will alert her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak upon her heart. Then I will give her vineyards from there in the valley of Achor as a door of hope and she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.” In the wilderness we become desperate to hear his voice, and as he speaks upon our hearts there, intimacy is not only cultivated, but it is accelerated, as we learn more deeply to lean on our Beloved. The Vineyard of our heart comes alive under the symphony of his voice, and his intense presence, and Holy character comes forth in abundance in the valley of Achor. Paul and Silas praised God in song in the dark and lonely prison at Philippi, and it is in the dark wilderness places that our hearts learn to sing, and offer sacrifices of praise. Hope comes alive in the wilderness, for it is there that you discover he is really all you ever really needed or really ever wanted.
