The Backside of the Desert

Reading Through the Bible in 2010 (Exodus 2-4))

"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God." Ex.3:1

It's been said that each of God's true servants must learn the meaning of the backside of the desert.

The desert is such a cruel place. Think of the dangers! Shifting sands, unbearable heat, a dearth of water - how did Moses carry enough drinking water each day anyway? He must have learned to watch every step that his feet (in their toeless sandals) took, because of the ever present snakes and scorpions. What was this compared to the polished tiles of the palace of Pharaoh? Yet, "he kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law the priest of Midian." As he led his dependent sheep, did he sense in any way that he was being prepared for the greatest leadership challenges that any man would ever have to face?

"The backside of the desert." Lots of spiritual analogies here, but let me give one family illustration because "backside training" comes in many forms.

My great great grandmother, her name was Betsy, made a quilt.

The quilt is a beautiful basket of flowers embroidered on top of an off-white background. The design of her creation is lovely but what amazes me the most about her creation is this background. It is composed of thousands of little white stitches that make up a pattern of their own. Yet, the pattern is so subtle that all you notice at first is the awesome flower design. As I look at the quilt, I think about the steadfastness that it took to stick at making all those little stitches - day after day, month after month. Did she spend many hours alone working on the quilt? I'm sure she did. Were there friends who came alongside to help her stitch? Did they have special times together talking and sewing? Probably. But, yet, everyday she had to face that same background. Up into the spare bedroom to spend lots and lots of hours repetitively sewing little white stitches. How many times did she think, "Why was I ever led to start this tedious quilt?"

One day great great Grandma Betsy finished her background. Then, only then, was it time to emboider the striking flower pattern that everyone would see.

One hundred and twenty-five years later, when I found Grandma's quilt, it was tossed aside in a box in my mother's basement. I pulled it out and it became my companion in many places. Mary and I used it for many years in the biblical seminar "Heritage Home." It became a physical example to thousands of women of how our spiritual influences are passed down through many generations. It hung in our living rooms in Atlanta and Arkansas and Alabama. My son, Ted - five generations later - made a beautiful frame for it and the quilt now hangs in our lakehouse. People all over the country have commented on the beauty of the flowers and how well preserved the quilt is. But I have noticed that they always say the same thing, "Look at that amazingly detailed background!"

How quickly the Bible skips over forty years of Moses' life in the backside of the desert. Like his ancestor Jacob, he faced years and years of drought and cold and sleepless nights watching out for a flock that belonged to someone else. But God was going to entrust him with a much more important flock when his backside training was complete. The leadership and care of God's own people would be given to Moses. It would be embroidered on this desert background. Forty years went by - forty years of "being steadfast and immoveable" before he was ready to lead his little flock to Horeb, the mountain of God. Forty years before God would suddenly appear and call him from a burning bush that "did not burn." Forty years before God said, "I am sending YOU!"


Do you sometimes feel like your life is set is an insignificant background? Do you ever think, "How many diapers do I change? How many times do I wipe these counters? How many days do I take the children to school? How many times do I get the oil changed?" Do you feel like God should be embroidering the real pattern in your life and not doing so much background work? Be faithful and trust Him, like Moses, like Grandma Betsy. One day He will say, "Now, therefore, go. You have learned the meaning of the backside of the desert."