The Backside of the Desert

 

I

n the distance the first tendrils of sunlight appeared on the horizon.  In a few moments it would be dawn with sunlight splashing over the landscape as it had for thousands of dawns before this one.  Not far away, the bleating of sheep and goats signaled that the night was indeed ending as man and beast eagerly awaited the arrival of the morning sun.

He had been lying there for over an hour, waking from a fitful sleep.  His tent was open and he stared at the vanishing stars fighting against the breaking of the dawn with all the fury and determination of someone battling for his life. The sound of the animals and the ever-brightening sky meant he needed to start his day.  It would be a busy one as it always was when he moved the flock from one area to another.  He was tired from lack of restful sleep but tonight he knew his rest would be sweet and deep.

The flock gathered around him, eager to begin the long journey.  Although they didn’t know where they were going, anticipation filled the air.  The tents were struck, camels were loaded, and all the animals were gathered into one place.  Finally, after one last check around the campsite, man and beasts set out for the pastures found at the foot of the mountains on the backside of the desert.

The journey took most of the morning and by early afternoon they had reached their destination.  Once camp was established, it was time to visit the pastures and feed the flock.  The shepherd was finally relieved, having arrived at the base of the mountain and its pastures in record time.  He joyfully led his flock to the grasslands to graze.  That’s when he saw something he would never forget, something that shouldn’t be, something no one had ever seen, and something that would change his life forever!  What he saw defied all logic and yet it was real—a bush on fire that did not burn up!

Yes, our shepherd is Moses, the man who would stand before Pharaoh, the man who would deliver the children of Israel from slavery, the man who would use his staff to perform miraculous signs, and the man who would be known as the lawgiver.  But all of these things were in the future.  Moses’s past still haunted him.  He had fled Egypt because he had murdered an Egyptian.  He had come to the wilderness of Midian, married a woman named, Sephora, and had become a shepherd for his father-in-law’s flocks.  But from this day forward, nothing would be the same.

Let us take a closer look at Moses’s not-so-usual-day-at-the-office.  Exodus 3:1 gives us the following account, “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.”  Notice that Moses is in the wilderness.  It was a remote place where he had very little contact with others.  As if this weren’t enough, the passage tells us that Moses led the flock to the backside of the desert. Now I ask you, how much more remote can you get?  Exactly where is the backside of a desert anyway?  Wherever it is, it had to be one of the loneliest and most challenging places Moses knew.

Yet it is in this very setting that God performs one of His greatest calls to ministry.  Although the story of Moses and the burning bush is well-known, we need to understand exactly what took place at Horeb, the mountain of God, on the backside of the desert.  

In the conversation between God and Moses, Moses learns he is to return to Egypt.  God has chosen him to walk into Egypt and break the good news to Pharaoh that the Hebrew slaves are free and will be leaving right away!  Lucky Moses!  But it is not so much the message God gives Moses as the manner in which it is given.  Notice in verse 12 that God tells Moses he will return to this very mountain to serve God.  Notice also that Moses is leading a flock of sheep, caring for them and tending to their needs.  For the past forty years he has covered this ground, learning everything about its contours, its dangers, and its safe havens.  The time has now come for God to take all that knowledge, all that training, and all that skill, and put it to use for his divine purposes.

But in order for him to make that point clear to Moses, God leads him to the backside of the desert.  This encounter with God forever changes the life of Moses and forever alters the future of mankind.  Where once he led sheep, he will now lead people.  Where once he fed animals, he will provide for God’s own.  Where once he traveled alone, he will now lead a multitude.  Everything Moses did for his father-in-law, he will now do for God on a scale never before imagined.

Are you wondering in the wilderness today?  Do you feel you have covered the same ground countless times and performed the same tasks over and over so that they now are just part of the routine?  Take heart from Moses.  Who knows how many times he had been to the backside of the desert?  Who knows how many times he had seen that bush in previous years?  Who knows how often he had gazed at the summit of Mount Horeb, wondering what views could be seen from its heights?  Then one day God called Moses to the far end of the desert to be his own.  Are you ready to visit the backside of the desert today?