The purpose of being in the wilderness is to learn more about God and to build stronger faith and a deeper relationship with God. God is a loving God and He never wants to harm His children. God has His timeline for each individual to transform them to become noble as He created us to be. If we have this understanding, we will accept the challenges and Let God do the “refining” work on us. Baha’u’llah uses the metaphor of the alchemist’s quest to turn copper into gold to describe the transformation of the human soul as we turn towards God.
“…the real elixir will, in one instant, cause the substance of copper to attain the state of gold, and will traverse the seventy-year stages in a single moment. Could this gold be called copper? Could it be claimed that it hath not attained the state of gold, whilst the touch-stone is at hand to assay it and distinguish it from copper?
Likewise, these souls, through the potency of the Divine Elixir, traverse, in the twinkling of an eye, the world of dust and advance into the realm of holiness; and with one step cover the earth of limitations and reach the domain of the Placeless.” –Baha’u’llah
Think again about the story of Israel in the Bible, God showed them His existence and power, but Israel failed to learn about Him, trust Him, or even try to have a relationship with Him. Each time they were in difficulty they only asked Moses to ask God for the solution, complaining instead of asking humbly for the help.
and the children of Israel said unto them: ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’ (Exodus 16:3)
Through this action they increased the distance between themselves and God. This is something we need to remind ourselves of, to not fall into the same mistake. We must learn to be obedient and submissive . When our soul (our will) , through the influence of the Divine Elixir (Word of God), lets the Spirit (God’s will) become the host of man’s temple (our body), then the alchemy process is complete and the wilderness will become Canaan. We will gain inner peace in the process as our faith becomes stronger and we learn to trust, rely on, and cling to God.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. （John 3:15 ）
O SON OF LIGHT! Forget all save Me and commune with My spirit. This is of the essence of My command, therefore turn unto it. (Hidden words 16, Baha’u’llah )
In our life, God is like a gardener that takes care of plants. He is a good gardener and knows each of His plants very well. He knows when is the time for watering, trimming, removing weeds for each individual to make the plant grow well and be able to produce fruit. He trims the branches when needed. He might straighten the plant when the plant is leaning. It also might be the necessary to pull the small tree out and replant it because of a root problem. He tries to make the tree grow healthy and be able to produce fruits. God takes care of our spirit like He take care of a tree or a garden. Our life, our spiritual tree, will be renewed and refreshed every time the “Gardener” does some work on a us.
Plants grow better when we take care of them with our love. The same is true for our spirit, when it grows healthier is because we have God’s love. When we love someone we have more strength to face the challenges. Let Gods love become our strength to face the challenges and transform ourselves from self pity, self protection, disgrace, dominance and control to become full of love and forgiveness, subservient and obedient to God’s will..
O SON OF SPIRIT! My claim on thee is great, it cannot be forgotten. My grace to thee is plenteous, it cannot be veiled. My love has made in thee its home, it cannot be concealed. My light is manifest to thee, it cannot be obscured. (Hidden words 20, Baha’u’llah)
O SON OF SPIRIT! Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created. (Hidden words 22, Baha’u’llah )
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Valley of Unity 