“while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” Luke 3:2 NKJV

It was business as usual for religion. Greetings in the market place. Reserved seats in the synagogue. Recognition at the ministerial luncheons. Job security in tact. A good day to be high priest.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...a locust eating prophet is about to surface from the wilderness.

What could possibly go wrong?

What Goes Around...

There seems to be a pattern throughout Scripture, whenever things become comfortable in the spiritual arena, God comes along and shakes things up. Often with controversial methods that require a “choosing of sides.”

When God moves, frequently it will be debated as to whether or not it really is God. From manifestations, to messages, to the men (or women) He uses. It puts a lot of pressure on those to whom the people look for guidance and direction. Right or wrong, they have an office or a position to uphold. Times change, the circumstances do not.

Over and over again, when the time comes for a monumental shift spiritually, God looks for the most unlikely candidates to fulfill His purpose. He deliberately offends the minds of the religious standards of acceptance. He chooses those with the least likely voice of authority (exousia) that He might add His power (dunamis) to it.

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;” 1 Cor. 1:27 NKJV

In 1st Samuel, God prophetically denounces the priesthood of Eli with the voice of a child. Moses, who complained of his weakness of speech, becomes the voice of judgment to one nation, and the voice of deliverance to another. Gideon argued his family was the least in Manasseh, and he was the youngest in his father’s house. Still, with a minority, he overcomes a majority.

The Longer The Preparation - The Greater The Purpose

Seemingly from out of nowhere God will raise up a voice, to speak, demonstrate, and reveal the purpose of God to a new generation. What may appear to be an overnight sign and wonder, usually is the culmination of years of preparation in God’s secret service. Those who have endured the wilderness of adversity, and the caves of obscurity, are more often than not, the same ones that will shake a nation for the Glory of God.

It is in those lonely places we learn to hear the voice of the Lord. The wilderness is a deserted place. It is a place of separation from the things of life, to the things of LIFE!

Don’t expect to be bombarded with invitations to speak at the latest conference when you’re in the wilderness. Don’t anticipate your phone to ring with request to speak at your best friends church when you find yourself in the desert. Don’t expect to be surrounded with the most popular and prosperous people of the day when your refuge is the cave of Adullam. (Surrounded yes, but with those who are in distress, in debt, and discontented. {1 Samuel 22:1-2} David must have loved waking up every morning with that crowd.)

It was in this type setting God chose to raise a voice that would shake the nation.

“as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight” Luke 3:4

However, it is verse 3 that tells us the “word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.” It was in the desert place John attuned his ears and his heart to the voice of God. It is when we become isolated, the fine tuning work of the Holy Spirit can be accomplished. It is when every other voice that has clamored for our attention has been silenced, that the voice of the Lord comes through with the greatest clarity. It isn’t that He hasn’t been speaking, rather that we have been hard of hearing.

Led By Example

Don’t assume the wilderness is from the enemy. On the contrary, it is God who will move us into seclusion to gain our attention, our trust, our faith. When we embrace the wilderness of isolation it is then God can entrust us with the power to accomplish His purpose. The hardest test for most of us is simply to recognize it is the hand of God moving us toward our greatest destiny.

Are we greater than our Master? Will the Father expect less from us than our Teacher and Example?

Jesus Himself, though full of the Spirit, was “led by the Spirit in the wilderness.” (Luke 4:1) After His wilderness experience He returned “in the power of the Spirit.” (vs 14) It was then He began His earthly ministry, after His desert experience.

Whether it is forty days, or forty years, only God knows the exact time required to prepare us for the power to accomplish His purpose. John’s emergence from the wilderness reeks havoc on the religious system of the day. The Anointing of an Elijah shakes a nation, creates a political upheaval, and prepares the way for the Messiah. It ended up “costing him” his head. There is a “price” for the Anointing. It is called enduring the preparation.

Blow The Trumpet In Zion

Somewhere “Annas” and “Caiaphas” are alive and well today. Comfortable and content, wrapped securely in their sacred robes of religion. No fear, no worry. No one’s ‘rocking the boat’ today. The calendar’s packed. The press is happy. The pews are occupied. The coffer’s are full.

Somewhere there’s a wilderness turning into an oasis. Somewhere there’s a cave emptying it’s occupants for war. There is a new “Desert Storm” on the horizon.

What could possibly go wrong?