Current Address - Desert of Detachment

Gary Thomas in Authentic Faith speaks about the desert of detachment. In those three words I have been able to identify the address where my soul is living.

The desert of detachment is where we will learn this ancient virtue that allows us to see, name and let go of the idols that hold our hearts hostage and keep us from letting God fill every place. These idols keep the blinds shut preventing the Light from the dark places that need healing, and keeping the doors of the soul closed to the gentle wind of the Spirit, Ruach.

Thomas says If I refuse to suffer and refuse to face the discomfort of change, I will experience ever more sever consequences as the idol increases its hold on my heart. I will be forever a stranger to experiential holiness. If I don’t practice the virtue the ancients called detachment, I will not live as a man (woman) in the grace of Jesus Christ.

The prefix “DE” means to remove
The prefix “RE” means again – to again put together.

The Desert of Detachment:
- becomes a place of re-attaching to be made whole
- becomes a place of re-deeming to be made new
- becomes a place of re-claiming by the One to whom I really belong
- becomes a place of re-viving to life, passionate glorious living.

My current soul address is the destination of facing my greatest fears. Looking them in the eye means taking the journey to Moriah where each dream and fear is placed, willingly; upon an altar and watching the flames consume them. This journey is so deep and at this point is not one I can share here on this space. My divided heart must be embroidered together again while I live in the desert. My fear of being alone, emptied of my dreams, is being replaced with solace in this raw arid desert of detachment.

Detachment must, in Yahweh’s desert, also have re-attachment. Here is a place of learning so rich, so earthy and so full of the rawness while at the same time so solitarian and isolated. They say once you experience life in the desert, you will see life with new eyes. Is that why Yeshua has brought me to the desert? Out here at this address illusions are broken, torn away with the power of the wind (Ruach). Everything but the basics is stripped away and change is constant. Nights in the desert can be cold and wild, carrying away anything not firmly secured down; blowing away the illusion my idols have held, removing what is not essential.

Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude – one instrument, one long flowing melody that speaks of the rain, wind, fire, sun and light. Out here where I am living the music seems to be like the Raindrop Prelude. One instrument, one flowing melody, and one Voice. There is only one kind of music out here in the desert – the haunting relentless call of Yeshua. Haunting because this Voice calls to the deepest places and refuses to turn away even though I wrestle with letting my Desert Lover in. I come close, then back away, turn away, and then turn to look again. My heart has been so afraid to let Yeshua love me completely. He is so determined to be my Lover that Abba has moved my soul to this address – the desert of detachment. I read Hosea 2 over and over, yearning for this Lover, yet wrestling with love that in his name has wounded over and over. The dance of love here in the desert of detachment is the place of reattachment of the heart and soul, undivided and fully alive, basking in the gaze of the Lover. A dance I long for, want to flirt with and invite in. Firstly I must allow this Lover to embroider my heart together again.

Thomas says God will often walk us through paths that deliberately confront our attachments…standing like road blocks in our relationship with him.
At that point we are vulnerable to the worships of idols (my own dreams). This is why God seems relentlessly bent on walking us through our worst fears.

The desert of detachment. The empty place of removing – removing what? Fear, despair, illusion, defenses against pain, abundance, excess, idols. The desert of re-attachment opens the heart to simplicity. The soul is not distracted by all kinds of beauty but it finds the beauty of one thing, one delicate flower. The heart keeps seeking and searching until it finds. Yeshua whispers until the heart will listen to this simple melody. Out here the orchestra has been removed and a single instrument plays – the heart.

And now, here’s what I’m going to do; I’m going to start all over again. I’m taking her back out into the wilderness where we had our first date, and I’ll court her. I’ll give her bouquets of roses. I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope. She’ll respond like she did as a young girl, those days when she was fresh out of Egypt.
Hosea 2:14,15