The Wilderness: Part 2

Several years ago, a wise friend looked me in the eyes and began a conversation by asking, "so...what season are you in right now?"  I had not seen her in awhile, but her question was profound and cut me right to the heart.  She had no idea that I was deeply, deeply struggling.   "Like golden apples set in silver is a word spoken at the right time."  Proverbs 25:11

Yesterday we began looking at wilderness seasons.  I so wish I could sit across from you at Starbucks, look you in the eyes, and ask you this same question:  "what season are you in?"  Do you find yourself feeling dry and thirsty today?

In those wilderness seasons of my life, I’ve often questioned if the real issue is a lack of faith on my part.  It is easy to believe that my time in the desert is an spiritual indicator of the condition of my relationship with the Lord.  Those hissing, spitting words of the enemy condemn me for not having a daily quiet time...not getting up early enough to pray or read my Bible...not being spiritual enough...not seeking Him enough.  How quickly we assign blame to ourselves!  How quickly we forget the grace that we have been given!    "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!"  Romans 8:1

Before you begin to beat yourself up, remember this, dearly beloved:  God frequently and intentionally sends his best people into the wilderness.  This truth is written all over scripture!  So, clearly He must not have something against those whom He sends into the wilderness.  He has a purpose for it.  He must think there is something good to come from it.   

Today, we will take a few minutes to look at some of God's saints who spent time in the wilderness by His design, and the good came from it.

ABRAHAM (Genesis 12):  God told Abraham to go, but did not tell him where.  God himself was Abraham’s tour guide on his journey through the desert, telling him where to go next and teaching him how to build altars of worship. Through this wilderness season of Abraham’s life, God promised to make him a great nation, and ultimately the whole world would be blessed through him.  God’s goal in this season of one man’s life was to establish the nation of Israel through which Jesus would be brought into the world.   This season wasn’t just about Abraham, but it was the foundation for God’s worldwide blessing that would endure for eternity.  Our wilderness season might be not so much about the “now”, but part of God’s bigger plan for the future.  Furthermore, often we focus on what Abraham was going towards, but let’s not forget what Abraham left behind.  Part of God’s purpose for Abraham’s time in the wilderness was to get him out of the practice of idol worship, and into the practice of worshipping God.

HAGAR (Genesis 21):  Does anyone remember who Hagar is?    She was Abraham’s wife’s maidservant, whom Sarah gave to Abraham so they could have a child in an attempt to circumnavigate God’s promises.  Once she became pregnant, Sarah became bitterly jealous of Hagar and mistreated her.  Her son Ishmael was born, and the problems got worse.  Eventually, Sarah wanted to get rid of her, so Abraham sent Hagar and her son into the wilderness.  Once their resources dried up, Ishmael became weak and was on the verge of death.  In a mother’s love, Hagar placed him under a bush so she wouldn’t have to watch him die and she sat down and wept loudly.  The situation looked bleak.  No one cared about them, they had no place to go, and they had no resources.  Hagar was totally alone.  But in verse 17, it tells us that God heard their cries for help and saw the boy under the bush.  There in the desert God made a well of water appear, and from it Hagar and Ishmael drank and were saved.  God showed Hagar in the wilderness that He cares about people who are unloved and unwanted.   

MOSES:  Moses spent a good bit of time in the wilderness.   After he fled Egypt, he spent 40 years as a sheep herder.  He was a professional wanderer, chasing the dumb sheep. Talk about humbling! He went from royalty in Egypt to the lowest of the low in Nowhereville.  But still, God used this season of his life to prepare him for his next wilderness experience, when he would lead the stubborn Israelites out of slavery and towards the Promised Land.  Through this wandering in the desert, God showed Himself through miracle after miracle, providing for the people and teaching them to trust Him--more on that in a little bit!

DAVID:  As a little shepherd boy, here again we see a man managing the herds and God preparing him for something far greater.  God allowed David the chance to defend his flocks from the lion and then the bear.  These battles may have been scary at the time, but gave David the confidence in God that he would need to one day come against the giant.  God gave David experience after experience to prepare him to one day be king and defend the people.

ELIJAH:  In 1^st Kings, it tells us about of couple of times when Elijah spent time in the wilderness.  Elijah’s wilderness seasons were caused by the sins of another.   First, Ahab was a wicked king and God sent the prophet Elijah to deliver a warning:  “And you can be sure that there won’t be any dew or rain on the whole land. There won’t be any during the next few years. It won’t come until I say so.”  To preserve his life in this time of drought and famine, God sent Elijah into the wilderness and sat him next to a spring of water.  Here God provided for Elijah miraculously through the ravens that brought him food.  Even still, the water in the spring eventually dried up, and Elijah had to move on.  God sent him to the home of a widow, who was in a wilderness season of her own.  The drought was severe, and so she had just a little flour and a little oil left, enough to make one last loaf of bread.  She knew that after that loaf was eaten, there would be no more food for her and her son and they would surely die--yet still she shared it with Elijah.   She passed God’s test and because of it, the jar of flour stayed full and the jug of oil never ran dry.  Sometime later, after God brought the rain again, King Ahab’s horrible wife Jezebel threatened Elijah and again he fled into the wilderness, where he finally got to the end of his rope.  He was tired of the suffering and just ready to die.  He sat down under a bush and fell asleep.  The touch of an angel awoke him, and there by his head, he found a loaf of hot, fresh bread and a jug of water.  This food gave him new strength for the next journey ahead of him.

And if these don't examples give you enough hope, consider this:  God even sent His own Son, JESUS into the wilderness!  The 40 days that he spent in the desert gives us an example of how to deal with the temptations of lust of the flesh, pride and power.  During this season, just as in the experiences of Hagar and Elijah, Jesus was ministered to by angels, and used scripture to combat every attempt of the enemy to tempt him into sinning.  

One of the benefits of studying scripture is that we get to learn the end of the story.  For the people we read about above, in the middle of their wandering, their desperation was real.  Their need was real.  Their struggle was real.  But eventually, they made it to the other side and were able to look back and see what God had done for them--even if they couldn't see Him clearly in the desert through their sand-blinded eyes.    The same is true for you!  Right now, you may only feel desperation.  Need.  Struggle.  But one day, at the end of your story, if you are purposeful in being aware of God's work in your life, you'll see all that He intended for your good through this time in the desert.

So, why does God choose to send people into the wilderness?   It seems counter-intuitive.  Why can't we always live life in the land flowing with milk and honey?  Deuteronomy 8 gives an explanation.  Read it and let it sink in:  

Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.  He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these 40 years. Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.  So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him.  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams of water, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills; a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;  a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper.  When you eat and are full, you will praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His command—the ordinances and statutes—I am giving you today.  When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in,  and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases, be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.  He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint-like rock for you. He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper. 

Deuteronomy 8 is clear that God allows men’s resources to dry up so that they will look to Him for their supply.   Through the wilderness, God intends to humble us, test us, teach us, reveal Himself to us, and prepare us for the next season.  Though the going may be rough, you can absolutely stand on this promise in verse 16:  "so that in the end He might cause you to prosper."  It is for YOUR GOOD, even though it may not make sense in the midst of it.  

The passage above is speaking specifically about some of the most infamous wanderers, THE ISRAELITES.  God knew that the prosperity of the promised land would be so dangerous to their souls that they would need some time in their wilderness to teach them about their weaknesses and their total dependence on God.  They grumbled and slandered God many times in their hunger and weariness.  How in the world could this be good for them?   However, God purposed this season of wilderness testing so that the people would become intensely, deeply, and lastingly aware of their total dependence on God.  God gave them experiences in the wilderness which would make it impossible for them to one day say, “my power, my might, or my hand has gotten me this wealth.”  God knew that the blessings He intended in the promised land would be FAR GREATER than anything the Israelites could ever manufacture on their own.  

The wilderness is never easy, but it is for our good if we will allow God to teach us through it. The wilderness is never easy, but it is essential if our desired destination is the Promised Land.

So, be encouraged today.  You may be walking through the valley of the shadow of death, but God is with you.  He prepares a table for you and invites you to sit down and rest.  

Tomorrow, we will take a closer look at this wonderful, beautiful table--the table of the Lord.  

“It is better to be in a season of drought but in the presence of God 

than to have plenty but feel absent from Him.” 

Chronological Bible Discipleship