The Mountain of God … is in the desert?

What comes to mind when you hear about the mountain of God? A grand, towering mountain covered in lush greenery, teeming with wildlife, streams, and goodness? 

Perhaps it’s a snow covered peak, where the crisp mountain air fills your lungs and the call of the wild nature beckons you to make your ascent?

Maybe it’s an image of fire and lightning along with a thick cloud of swirling smoke creating an arresting display of power and majesty.

With these images in mind, we come upon a passage in the beginning of Exodus during this week’s torah portion, Shemot (Hebrew for “Names”). Moses has taken on a career change after fleeing from Egypt years ago: he’s now a shepherd, tending the sheep of his father in-law, Jethro. 

After making the trek through the wilderness, Moses finds himself on the mountain of God in a place called “Horeb.” This is the beginning of the famous story of the burning bush where God’s voice is heard and experienced in a miraculous way.

Now Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. So he led the flock to the farthest end of the wilderness, coming to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Then the angel of Adonai appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. So he looked and saw the bush burning with fire, yet it was not consumed.

—Exodus 3:1–2

The name “Horeb” where the mountain of God was and on diving in, discovered that it’s from the Hebrew word חרב (chôrêb), which is translated as desert. Horeb is also another name for Mount Sinai from which God gave the law to Moses and the Israelites.

It struck me that my expectations of the mountain of God are very different that reality.

The mountain of God is in...the desert?

I expected Him to show up in the promised land. A mountain of grandeur, reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. A cool breeze flowing through the idyllic countryside, a calm stream gently flowing, providing nourishment for deer and other wildlife. 

Instead, it’s on the dry, desert side of the mountain that God chooses to reveal an expression of His presence. 

Have you ever been in a dry, desert season of life? A place where life isn’t going the way you had planned. A place where your dreams are dying a slow death. A place where God feels silent.

If so, you’re in good company. 

Moses was born into a tumultuous season, where the leader of Egypt had forgotten about Joseph and the divine providence from this Hebrew God who had single handedly saved the nation from sure death by starvation as a famine ravaged the land. 

The new leader grew nervous of the rapidly multiplying Israel nation and sent out a decree for the midwives to kill all of the new baby boys. Moses escapes due to quick thinking on the part of His mother, and grows up in Pharaoh’s palace as an Egyptian.

One day, as the slavery and working conditions are getting worse, he sees an Egyptian beating one of his fellow men. Thinking no one was nearby, he kills the Egyptian and buries the body in the sand. The next day, while trying to smooth over a fight between his people, they sarcastically ask if he plans to kill them like he killed the Egyptian. 

The secret is out, and Moses flees to the desert, afraid for his life.

We don’t have to look close to see ourselves in this story. God works miraculously in our lives, delivering us from a difficult season. A broken marriage, A failed business venture, hard economic times. We feel like we’re riding a wave of His goodness, until the bottom falls out from under us, plunging us into confusion and doubt. We forget his deliverance and our trust starts to falter.

It’s usually here we find ourselves in the wilderness season where everything has dried up.

As I read this story of Moses, I think I need to change my perspective. Perhaps you do too.

To recognize that it’s in the desert God’s presence can be found. He’s not absent, missing, or on vacation. He’s there, on the side of the mountain, in the unlikeliest of places: In the dry, dead, burning bushes of life. But we have to make the journey to the other side.

This is an invitation to you to take a fresh look at your wilderness season. To ask God what he’s wanting to teach you in the desert. To be honest and vulnerable about where you are. To ask Him to reveal Himself in a new and fresh way. To help you let go of the illusion of control over your life and to renew your trust in the only God worth following.

I believe that it’s in the desert we are closest to the Lord. When we come to the end of ourselves and let go of our plans that aren’t really turning out the way we expected. We have an opportunity to open our hands in surrender to the King of the Universe that no matter what the situation looks like, we will seek His face and follow His voice.

As you find yourself on the mountain of God, may you have eyes to see what our Father is doing in the desert seasons. May you find His presence in the unlikeliest of places. And may you allow Him to do the work that make us whole, complete, and lacking no good thing.

Shalom.