#19 Strength, Security and Serenity for YOU in 2002! VII (06/04/02)

By Robert H. Schuller

"It's a wilderness out there," a young man said to me this week as he sat before me in my office here at the Cathedral. He was trying to describe to me how tough it was being a Christian in today's kind of world. He said, "It's a wilderness out there, so wild and tough." His handsome face showed a wearisome expression.

And I said, "John, you better go back and read your Bible. Read the Old Testament again, because the heroes in the Bible were people who lived in the wilderness."

He looked at me in surprise. "Oh, yes, they did." I continued, and he asked, "Like who?"

I said, "Start with Abraham ... and then Isaac, Jacob and Moses."

"No," he said, "Moses was raised in a palace."

I said, "But he ended up having to go to the wilderness. Remember the burning bush? And then there was David, a young boy, he knew the wilderness. Did he ever! And it was probably in the wilderness where he wrote Psalm 91."

"Those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty . . . "

Was he sitting in the opening of one of the caves in the rocky hills? Did that remind him of living in the quiet, solemn presence of God?

". . . .He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him I will trust."

Wow! Did he write those words after he had slain the lion? Read 1 Samuel 17:34-35. He did an amazing thing. David was a hero. Yes, he killed a lion. He lived in the wilderness and that's where the lions roamed. And David tells how he saw the lion with a lamb in its mouth and the lamb was bleating, still alive, and David grabbed the beard of the lion and pulled his jaws open and the lamb was set free."

Would you dare to do that? David was a hero. Today he would have won the gold if there had been an Olympics for courage. Absolutely. And can you imagine what he could have earned if he'd endorsed Nike shoes like our celebrity athletes do today? Wow!

It's A Wilderness in the Pursuit of Peace

Yes, it's a wilderness out there. It's a wilderness in the pursuit of peace. People proclaim that they are for peace ... peace ... peace ... but they kill each other. In the pursuit of peace look at what people advocate under the name of peace. Christians, Jews, Muslims all say they are people of peace, but all have blood on their hands in their history. It's a wilderness trying to find peace.

It's a Wilderness out there in the World of Religion.

People from all kinds of religions listen to us via TV from around the world. They join us for morning worship and they have all kinds of beliefs, all kinds of superstitions. This week a friend of mine who was raised in the historic Christian faith, told me that he now is into astrology. As he spoke, I heard about all kinds of weird beliefs and fortune telling with its superstitions. He has put the critical part of his brain aside and just believes in this kind of superstition. As a result, today he is paranoid with all kinds of the worst fears. In the world of religion, take your choice. It surely is a wilderness out there.

It's a Wilderness out there in Today's Culture

In music - the differences that people choose. And it surely is a wilderness out there in our relationships. There is a wilderness of morality, sexual and other. In the business world it's a dangerous wilderness where some of you are coerced into finding a way around the law without committing a crime. Yes, it is a dangerous wilderness with its own kind of lions, bears and snakes. And the world of politics surely is a wilderness.

I submit that a wilderness is where anything goes if you can get by with it ... because a wilderness has no boundaries, no fences, no borders or limits. You do what you like. And we need to learn how to live there without getting lost. It's dangerous, wild, often wicked.

And for some the wilderness is a wasteland when it comes to their life's careers and pursuits and goals. I know many of you are living in a wilderness because you just don't have any set focus in life, no dreams, no goals, no passionate purpose, no challenging choices. What are you living for? What is the purpose of life? It's a wilderness out there. Oh, then read the words of the men of God who lived in the wilderness ... Abraham, Isaac, David and Jesus who spent 40 days in the wilderness to confront Satan.

Dare to Live in the Wilderness

I invite you to live in the wilderness because the truth is we all have to learn lessons that we probably will never learn until we go into the wilderness. We have to dare to go where no one has ever gone before. We have to dare to go where there is no sure path. We just need a guide who we can trust. That's what David had.

Read again the words from the Psalm of the morning, Psalm 91:

"Those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the almighty . . . ."

Wow. That's how David lived and survived in the wilderness.

The Wilderness Offers Alone Time

You know the wilderness is not all bad. In fact, we all need what probably only the wilderness can offer. And that's a sense of being alone, facing the future, the mystery, all alone, not knowing when we'll die, how it will happen, what our private future is. That's a wilderness, where we are alone, without the wife we love, or the husband who is our security. We are alone. No, you and I don't ever need to be alone. God is there and what we all need is God and that's why God has set up living in such a way that we all have to go through our own wilderness because we each need what only a wilderness can offer.

The Wilderness Offers Challenging Choices

There are the challenging choices that are private and personal that I make ... not my wife, not my mother, not my father, not my son and not my daughters. I make them. And you also have choices that you alone make. Today, I ask if you have made that choice to be a believer in God. David did that. Make that choice to privately pray, in your own way and in your own place, just you and God. Then you can understand what David is writing.

"Those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, my fortress, my God. In Him I will trust."

Yes ...I challenge you to come and live in the wilderness. Many of you don't dare. You'd rather be in the crowded clubs in our cities. You don't want to be alone and face your life with all of its challenges and choices, but it is in the wilderness that personal growth happens.

Dare to stand up ... stand out ... and say, "Here am I, Lord, use me. I am a believer!" Then the wilderness will not be a wasteland, it will not be wild and wicked, but you can turn your wilderness into green pastures and flowing waters and it can be beautiful.

The truth is that we can't escape the wilderness. It is all around us in one way or another, probably at work, probably in study or probably in your private moral life. I don't know. But don't get lost. You can get lost so easily. You need a North Star. Growing up, every child learned to look up at the night sky for the Big Dipper and draw a straight line from the stars that formed the bottom of a cup through the edge of the cup. And they pointed you to the North Star so you could always get your bearing and know where you were. Even in a desert or at sea, the North Star would give you your sense of the right direction. Today computers will tell you exactly where you are. But up until the high-tech age of this century the dependence was still on the North Star.

And I say those living in your wilderness ... whether in politics, business, religion, culture, morality, or sports ... whatever your wilderness is ... no computer or high-tech can help you in the wilderness of your soul. You need a North Star. For me, the Bible is the Big Dipper. It points to the North Star and that is Jesus Christ, our Guide. Follow Him and you can't go wrong.

No Wilderness In Your Soul ?!?

This past weekend I had a few days of rest and my wife and I said, "Let's call it a vacation." There were no appointments, so we just went out and did things we seldom take time for. So we went to a movie, "A Walk to Remember." Everybody should go see it. Every young high school student should see it. It's all about high school kids and about one girl who is mocked and scorned. They called her the Virgin Mary and scorned her for it. But as the movie ends, they give her flowers. Even the high school boys cry as they sit in the movie with their girl friends. It is so wonderful without being maudlin or sentimental or unbelievable. It rings true. It is the story of one girl who stood up for what she believed against everybody else in the school and she ended up receiving flowers from all of them. It is a very beautiful story.

It's a wilderness out there and you choose how you're going to live in it. You make the choice to be an oasis in the wilderness. Turn your wilderness into a blooming flower garden. Today I dare you to make a decision ... just believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Ask Him to be your Guide and then you'll experience strength, security and serenity in the wilderness of life ... because there will be no wilderness in your soul, only unbelievable spiritual strength ... security, you'll never be afraid ... and serenity that only Jesus Christ can give.

"Those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, my fortress, my God. In Him I will trust." (Psalm 91:1)

Amen.