It is on the backside of the desert that we come to the mountain of God – on the backside of self, ambition, and worldly pursuits is where we really meet God.
When Moses first took upon himself to deliver the Hebrews from slavery, he attempted to do it his own way (Exodus 2:12) and actually murdered a man. But when God has HIS way in Moses’ life, He sent him to the backside of the desert.
Moses had some lessons to learn.
What a demotion it must have been for Moses. He started out in the courts of Pharaoh, but now is in Midian, on the backside of a desert herding another man's sheep – not even his own, but his father's in-law. He carried in his hand a shepherd’s rod, a fit symbol of humiliation. And God demanded that EVEN THIS be THROWN TO THE GROUND (Exodus 4:3). But when Moses took it up again it was called the “ROD OF GOD” (4:20).
Oh, the works of transformation God can bring about in our lives if we will let Him lead us to desert places.
If God has brought you to the backside of a desert, and you are being reduced down to a shepherds rod, cast even that at Jesus’ feet. God will restore it back to you in His power. With that you will be able to "endure, having seen Him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27).