Column by Bro. Terry Ivy
“I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places.” (Psalm 102:6) Owls do not belong in the desert or waste places. They need trees or barns to roost in. They are made for high places. In our wildest imagination, we would never picture owls walking across the sands of a desert with no place to land above the ground.
Likewise, man is created for fellowship. The Lord made us for integration and engagement with the hearts of others, sharing and receiving insights about life and purpose from those around us. An unfriendly life is a boring life, wasted on selfishness and introverted idolatry. We are not called to live as hermits. As believers, that is as strange as an owl walking through the sands of a hot desert.
There is a flip side to this. Have you ever felt alone ‘in a crowd?’ While the joyful crowd was busy bumping their gums with meaningless dialogue about their empty passions in life, you felt all alone, pondering the real meaning of life. We don’t have to be alone in order to be alone. We can be in a crowd and still be in a desert!
Today, we have so much more than what our parents and grandparents had. But then again, we seem to have so much less. We have faster cars but slower minds. We have bigger houses but less of a home. We have fewer children but more confusion. We have higher education but lower morals. We have larger neighborhoods but fewer neighbors. We have more bibles but fewer readers. We have what we want but not what we need. We are in a crowded desert!
It doesn’t have to be that way. The Lord will set the “solitary in families.” (Psa. 68:6) Friends whose hearts are set on the real prize in life will understand and delight in the passion of living a life larger than ourselves. Their fellowship will not be reduced to endless conversations about another nightclub, another new house, another new car, another new job, or another another! We begin to learn the joy of fellowship and the purpose of life when we learn that life is not about us.
The ‘rat race’ of trying to have meaning without God, purpose without prayer, and fellowship without true friends will end when we find fellowship with Christ. Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and a Master who teaches us how to serve others. He created the owl and the desert, but not for one another. There are a lot of people in the desert of life—feeling alone in a crowd. It doesn’t have to be that way. We can have great friends, great fellowship, and walk in the eternal joys of communion with the Lord. Through faith, it is time to live God’s way. Time to find the joy of salvation. When we surrender to Christ, we get to… Leave the Desert!
