Forty years had passed since God stretched his arm over Egypt. Israel stood on the edge of the Jordan with their backs to the wilderness, about to trade manna for milk and honey. But before they did, Moses pressed the lesson of the manna down into their hearts:
He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)
Bread is another one of earth’s simple pleasures, a kindness from God meant to “strengthen man’s heart” (Psalm 104:15). But when Israel was in the wilderness, the giver of bread took away bread so that Israel might know where life comes from. Life — true, deep, abundant life — does not come from bread, or from any of God’s other gifts. Life comes from the words of the living God — words better than gold, sweeter than honey, more nourishing than Canaan’s best wheat (Psalm 19:10).
If Israel was ever going to stand in the promised land, with their hands full of bread, and say, “I know how to abound,” they would first need to walk through the wilderness, with God’s word in their hearts, and say, “I know how to be brought low” (Philippians 4:12). They would need to learn how to look around at a wasteland of sand, and sing for joy to the one who gives and takes away.
Exposed in the Desert
So it is with us. Often, God teaches us how to handle his gifts rightly by first withholding them. He does so for at least two reasons.
First, the wilderness exposes what’s inside these chests of ours like little else does. For all the beauty of the promised land’s hills and forests, they offer dozens of hideouts for our idols. It is frighteningly easy to give lip service to God while our hearts are lost in his gifts — and to trick even ourselves in the process. We can sing, “Hallelujah! All I have is Christ!” with both hands lifted, while the tendrils of our heart slowly wrap themselves around a marriage, a friendship, or a career — scarcely recognizable, almost incurable.
Not so in the wilderness, where our idols can only sit on sand beneath a barren sky. What comes out of you when you are in the rubble of a broken friendship, or a prolonged season of singleness, or a job that feels utterly hollow? Some of us, like Israel, find ourselves “painting pictures of Egypt,” as Sara Groves puts it: we idealize our former life and pine for its comforts, forgetting how godless it was (Numbers 11:4–6). Others of us run to sexual sin or some other pleasure in an attempt to ease the pain (Numbers 25:1). Many of us grumble against the God who takes away (Exodus 15:24).
Our seasons of lack do not create the cancer that comes out of us; they expose what was already there, but hidden by abundance (Deuteronomy 8:2). In God’s kindness, he puts our idols in plain view so that we might see them, hate them, and give them a desert grave.
Fellowship of the Desperate
Second, the wilderness can cultivate in us that quality so beneficial to living faith: desperation. Left to ourselves in uninterrupted comfort, many of us wander. Sleep gradually swallows up our mornings, leaving little time for Scripture and prayer. We live as if sin no longer crouches at the door and Satan has ceased to prowl. We become careless with that one part of us we cannot afford to lose: our soul.
But the desperate, finding themselves in some wasteland of life, do not have the luxury of indifference. They stir themselves to seek God. They come to their Bibles like David: “Consider me and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” (Psalm 13:3). They find that they can scarcely go through an hour (much less a day) without lifting up their hearts to the only one who can help. Eventually, they become part of that great fellowship of the poor in spirit, who know not just in theory but in blood-earnest reality that God is near to the brokenhearted, that he hears the cries of the afflicted, and that, compared to a godless promised land, a God-filled wilderness is a heaven.
If we learn to live by God’s word in the wilderness, then we will find ourselves more ready to use his gifts for what they really are: servants of our joy in God, not substitutes for him. Those chastened by the wilderness will enjoy God’s gifts, not abuse them; delight in them, not put their hope in them; bless God for them, not forget him in them.
And even if God never gives the gift we want most, and the wilderness becomes a lifetime, we will not grumble our way to eternity. We will instead strive to become a monument in the wilderness, chiseled with the words that are better than abundance: “The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life” (Psalm 63:3).
How Not to Waste the Wilderness
If you find yourself in some dry and barren land, cut off from life’s milk and honey, do not waste this season. Give grief, sorrow, and tears their place. But do not murmur beneath the hand of the Lord. “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness.” All the paths — even the ones that take us through the desert (Psalm 25:10). Steadfast love has brought you here, and he will never leave you nor forsake you.
If you are in Christ, God has not brought you into this desert to starve you. He has brought you here to teach you that man does not live by bread alone. Your life, your hope, and your joy are not hidden away in some elusive land of plenty, but in the Christ who died and rose again to save you for himself — the one who is your life, your pleasure, your milk and honey, your all.
GOD LEADS HIS SON INTO THE WILDERNESS
Before Jesus began His public ministry, John baptized Him in the Jordan River. As He came up out of the water, the voice of God spoke audibly from heaven saying, "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). Simultaneously, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, empowering Him for service. You might assume that Jesus would immediately go into public ministry, but this was not the case. "Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Luke 4:1).
Jesus embraced this barren setting as a positive rather than a negative experience for Him. We need to look closely at the truth of His example, and consider whether we too will allow God to use our time spent in the wilderness as a means of knowing Him in a greater measure.
JESUS CONTINUALLY RETURNS TO THE WILDERNESS
"Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying,'Thou art Christ the Son of God.' And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place" (Luke 4:40-42).
Jesus voluntarily returned again and again to the wilderness after healing the multitudes and bringing deliverance to the oppressed.
"But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed" (Luke 5:15-16).
When Jesus' fame spread abroad, He again headed for the sanctity of the wilderness. He understood the need to establish God as His sole source of strength. This would continually give God all the glory and honor.
Many of us do not want to embrace what Jesus is clearly showing us-that the wilderness is not to be avoided, but rather should be accepted and understood. As a believer, ask yourself the question: Why did Jesus keep going back to such a harsh and uninviting place? Could it be that God was revealing something of His strength there? Was Jesus receiving a hidden treasure from God which the natural mind could not comprehend?
I believe God wants to bring you to a place where you begin to understand why you go through hard times. In the Bible, there are many examples that illustrate what God can accomplish in the wilderness.
GOD LEADS HIS PEOPLE INTO THE WILDERNESS
When Israel was held captive in Egypt, God said to Moses, "…you must go straight to the king of Egypt and tell him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.'" (Exodus 3:18, NLT). Three days into the bone-dry countryside was far enough for them to be out of reach from everything which bound them or offered creature comforts. Little did they know that it would become a place of incredible worship and provision for them. Here they would witness God's might as He fought for them and gave them a great deliverance.
Pharaoh, who represents natural man, only saw a weak, beggarly people trapped in the desert, confused and directionless. He instructed his commanders to gather together the chariots and the weapons and go after them. "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in" (Exodus 14:3, NLT). Pharaoh wrongly interpreted what God was doing with His chosen people. He could not see God in the wilderness. In the end he and his immense host of horsemen were defeated in the Red Sea-and the Israelites triumphed!
If you look only with your natural vision, the wilderness can seem an unlikely place to find God. And if you choose to avoid the wilderness, you will never know the supernatural pathways revealed there.
GOD DEALS WITH SIN IN THE WILDERNESS
In the wilderness God gave His people the assurance their sins were forgiven. In the Old Testament on the Day of Atonement, the priest killed a goat as a sin offering and sprinkled its blood upon the Ark of the Covenant. The priest took a second goat, called the scapegoat, placed his hands upon its head and confessed the sins of the Israelites. A strong man was then selected to take the scapegoat, which now bore the sins of the people, and release it into a desolate area (Leviticus 16:15-22). In this desert place God dealt with the sins of the people. In the same way, God uses your wilderness experience to go after hidden or unacknowledged sins. In His mercy, He takes you there not to harm you, but to deliver you.
GOD REVEALS HIS PROVISION IN THE WILDERNESS
In the wilderness, God displayed His awesome power to provide for His people. "And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat" (Exodus 16:15). Manna appeared in a place with no delis, grocery stores, fast-food joints or restaurants. The people had to depend on God for their daily sustenance.
If ever you needed to lay hold of the truth that God provides for your every need, it is now! The Lord has promised to care for you, so allow Him to take you to a place where your only resource is Him. Remember, Jesus fed the multitudes on a hillside in a desolate area-and He will do the same for you.
GOD TRAINS DAVID FOR BATTLE IN THE WILDERNESS
David, the youngest son of Jesse, was given the task of tending the family's sheep. While David watched the flocks grazing in the wilderness, God taught him to trust Him. When the sheep were attacked by a bear and a lion, God enabled David to deliver the lambs out of the mouths of the beasts.
Later, when David visited his brothers on the battlefield, he could not understand why they were letting an evil giant named Goliath belittle the armies of the living God. His brothers prided themselves on being men of stature with all the right training and experience, while David was looked down upon as a common herder. His brothers accused him of weakness, because he was not formally trained in the art of warfare as they were (1 Samuel 17:28). In essence, his older brother said, "You don't have the armor we possess and you have not had the training we completed. All you have been doing is caring for animals in the wilderness." They could not comprehend that God was in the wilderness with David. They could not understand that in the wilderness, David found his strength and confidence in God.
David picked up five stones and, with God as his source of strength, confronted and killed Goliath as his brothers looked on. To their amazement, they saw God use a common herder to defeat an enemy which had terrorized the entire army of Israel. You may not understand it now, but what God is teaching you in the wilderness will enable you to bring down your giants in the future.
GOD RAISES MIGHTY WARRIORS IN THE WILDERNESS
King Saul's jealousy drove David into the wilderness, but there God raised up a small army of discarded men who were in debt, in distress, and discontented. Under David's leadership, God made these men into mighty warriors and what could have been a wasted time of frustration in his young life turned into triumph. God used David's time in the wilderness to produce steel in the lives of men who otherwise would have been powerless.
As you read this message, try to grasp the full significance of every difficulty God allows in your life. Through them He will shape you into a mighty man or woman who knows how to trust Him in the dark days ahead. You are being made into a warrior for His kingdom. Your struggles are not wasted with God. In time, you will look back and know that without the wilderness experiences in your life, you could never have accomplished what He designed for you.
GOD USES THE WILDERNESS TO WIN BACK THE BACKSLIDER
In Hosea we see the pattern of how God deals with people when they have strayed from the truth and from His purposes.
"For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal" (Hosea 2:5-8).
The wife refered to in this passage of Scripture was diverted from her true source of provision and sought help elsewhere. Instead of seeking God, she had focused all her attention on this world-and that is Baal worship. God wants you to trust Him alone for all your needs and not seek answers in the powers and institutions of this day and age. There will be no lasting peace or joy if you trust in those systems and not in the Lord your God.
GOD USES THE WILDERNESS TO BREAK STRONGHOLDS
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali" (Hosea 2:14-16).
God is saying, "I am going to bring my bride into the wilderness and speak to her there. I will take her far away from the clamor and noise of the things which distracted her. There in the wilderness I will talk to her tenderly and give her vineyards in the Valley of Achor."
The Valley of Achor was where Achan, a covetous man, was judged soon after Israel entered into Canaan. After the victory of Jericho, Achan was so overcome by the love of gold, silver, brass and clothing that he stole these things and hid them under his tent. His greed brought weakness into the entire camp of Israel and God's people were defeated by an insignificant army. Achan and all that pertained to him were removed from the camp and he was put to death.
Achan is a type of captivating sin that can lead you astray from the purposes of God. However, God in His mercy will take you to a wilderness where the strongholds that have captivated your heart are dealt with. In your wilderness, He will say, "These things have gripped you for far too long and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will set you free."
God does not lead you into the wilderness to harm you. He leads you there to completely depend on Him. The dry places will bring you into a deeper intimacy with Him and you will no longer view Him as being far away. You will come to know Him in closeness and confidence. Your relationship will be a different, more intimate one, and you will call Him husband instead of master.
Through the hard times He will strengthen you by removing those areas which produce weakness. His desire is for the power of the Holy Spirit to flow through your life and the life of the church. God does this so His glory can be made known to the world. God knows that in the wilderness you will turn to Him, know His heart, and walk with Him as the bride of Christ.
GOD WILL OPEN THE WORD TO YOU IN THE WILDERNESS
The Bible says, "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea" (Matthew 3:1). In the wilderness John was schooled by the Lord and the Word of God came into his heart. By the time he came out of the desert, he was anointed and empowered by God. Through the powerful preaching of this man, God was able to confront an entire backslidden, religious system, because John had heard the Word of God in the wilderness.
In Psalm 74:14, the Scripture tells us that the spoils of victory (the crushing of the head of Leviathan) will be given as meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. In other words, the meat or food that will sustain you will be the knowledge and revelation that Satan is a defeated foe. His head was crushed when Christ defeated him on Calvary. And the Word of God says that the triumph of that victory will be given to those who have been drawn by God into the wilderness. It is a wisdom which will be revealed to those who do not shun the difficult places but embrace them.
GOD WILL HAVE A BRIDE COMING OUT OF THE WILDERNESS
You and I are about to meet in the wilderness. We are about to meet with Christ there. Very soon the whole church is going into the wilderness; however, the true church will not stay there but will come out in the strength of God. Solomon saw this truth when he wrote, "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?" (Song of Solomon 8:5). It will be a bride made up of people like you and me who have learned to lean on Christ for everything. This will be a testimony to all! There is a bride in this generation who will come out of the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved. Hallelujah!
God longed for His chosen people, the Israelites, to find Him in their wilderness wanderings. It was His endurance test for His beloved ones. When they doubted God’s guidance and protection, He kept them under His cloud by day and fire by night. When they questioned His ability to provide, He gave them manna, the bread of heaven. When they complained that they had no meat as in Egypt, God sent quail in abundance.
God showed compassion and benevolence toward His chosen ones throughout their time of wilderness training. Yet they grumbled that they wanted to return to Egypt, to their former life of servitude to Pharaoh. They questioned the leadership of Moses, the one chosen and anointed by God. They even doubted God’s presence with them, and begged Aaron to build them a golden calf to worship.
What began as an 11-day trek became a 40-year wilderness experience. It was a time marked by questioning, complaining, doubting. This generation of Israelites reaped the consequences of their lack of faith in God. They were denied the privilege of entering the Promised Land. They failed to see the grace of God in the wilderness and return to Him.
“I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.” – Hosea 11:4
Our wilderness times should not cause us to forget who we are and Whose we are. Through Christ, we are God’s chosen ones. He longs for us to return to Him. He wants us to recognize and welcome the grace He offers us in our desert wanderings. As we come to fully comprehend the absolute mercy of our God, we will not be tempted to return to our old lives of sin.
God shepherded His people, Israel. He will be our Shepherd in desert times. He will lead us, guide us, protect us as we look to Him. He will be our Jehovah Jireh, our Provider, as we accept His bountiful provision. He will destroy the golden idols that take the place of Him and become the sovereign ruler of our lives. We dare not miss God’s presence with us in the wilderness!
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt.” – Jeremiah 31:3-4
During our desert journey, our loving Father strips away all that has kept us from Him. All our idols of pride and self-sufficiency, materialism and covetousness, sinful desires and worldly ways. He forever erases our dead ends, our wrong turns, our aimless wanderings. Our past is left behind in the wilderness of His grace. In Him, we are renewed and rebuilt.
God desires to strengthen our faith in these desert times. He longs for us to persevere, trusting Him for direction, protection, provision. He desires that we yield to His sovereign rule in our lives. If we believe God for who He is, we will develop a steadfast, enduring faith in Him in our wilderness trek. It is in following hard after God that our spirit finds its home… for He is our Home.
“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” – Exodus 33:14
We may be wilderness wanderers at times in our lives. The vaster the desert, the deeper our faith will grow if we do not give up. God’s oasis awaits us at our wilderness journey’s end. He draws us with His everlasting love. It is an oasis of rest… of compassion… of hope.
Jesus, our Savior, has walked this path before us… and He walks with us on our wilderness treks. As we stay close to Him, He will see us through. He is our grace in the wilderness.
"'You are not your own--you have been bought with a price. You have been chosen to be espoused to Christ. And I, the Spirit of God, have been sent to reveal to you the truth that will set you free from all other loves. My truth will break every bondage to sin and deal with all unbelief. For you are not of this world; you are headed for a glorious meeting with your espoused and are being readied for His marriage supper. All things are now ready--and I am preparing you! I want to present you spotless, with a passionate love in your heart for Him'... The Spirit is enamoring your hearts to Christ..."
"It is to bring us to Christ as a bride! Everything He does aims in that direction--and although we may forget this, the Holy Spirit never does. Not one of these gifts has any meaning whatsoever if it is separated from the Holy Spirit's eternal purpose. Instead, it becomes only a 'clanging cymbal.' The operation of spiritual gifts have meaning only as they conform us to the likeness of Jesus Christ!"
Eph 4:30 (NIV) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
"Have you ever been to a miracle or healing meeting? Did what you see humble you? Did it show you the 'exceeding sinfulness of sin'? Did it flood your soul with love for Jesus? Did it make you long for His return? If not, then the Holy Spirit was not present--because that is His work! His purpose is to draw the bride nearer to the Bridegroom. And if that didn't happen, then what you saw was of the flesh!
"The Holy Ghost does not come to entertain, to provide signs and wonders and miracles just to thrill us or make us feel good. No, every one of His workings has this divine purpose: 'I'm preparing a bride.'
"The work, ministry and mission of the Holy Spirit is singular: It is to wean us from this world... to create a longing in us for Jesus's soon appearance... to convict us of everything that would blemish us... to turn our eyes away from everything but Jesus... to adorn us with the ornaments of a passionate desire to be with Him as His bride!
"The Holy Spirit must grieve as He beholds pastors and evangelists today turning His ministry into a circus. The Spirit cannot bear the manipulations and fleshly showmanship, all done in His name! I couldn't begin to explain to you some of the recent gimmicks I've heard about that are used to try to create a sense of His presence. How grievous that must be to God's heart.
"If the Holy Spirit is at work in a church, then every song, every word of praise, every note of every instrument are all given unction by the Spirit to exalt Christ. The Spirit is doing what He has been called to do--presenting us to our Bridegroom in all His glory and majesty.
"In every healing, prophecy and manifestation of God's glory in His house, the Holy Spirit is at work, saying to us, 'This is the love of your espoused--this is what He is like. Isn't He wonderful? Isn't He kind, gentle, considerate, merciful? Yet you're seeing only a glimpse of Him to whom I lead you!'"
Eph 1:13-14 (Phi) ...And after you gave your confidence to him you were, so to speak, stamped with the promised Holy Spirit as a pledge of our inheritance, until the day when God completes the redemption of what is his own; and that will again be to the praise of his glory.
"Paul described a people who ...are no longer 'of this world', since they have set their affections on things above, not on the things of this earth. They are not moved by the world's events; rather, they are unshakable. They are no longer lukewarm or halfhearted. Instead, their hearts cry out night and day, 'Come quickly, Lord Jesus...'
"What happened to them? The Holy Ghost gave them a foretaste of the glory of His presence! He came to them, rolled back heaven--and they experienced a supernatural manifestation of His exceeding greatness!
"This is why it is so necessary that God's house be holy--why our hearts and hands must be clean, why we can have nothing in us to hinder the Spirit's work. It is because the Spirit of God delights in pulling back the veil, to give us a foretaste of what is coming!"
Eph 1:18 (KJV) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance...
"Right now the Holy Spirit is opening the eyes of His chosen ones... The Holy Spirit comes to a church that wants Him and is praying... To shepherds who are broken before God... To believers who have no concern other than to see the body of Christ conformed to the image of heaven.
"God is sealing such people right now! You can go to meetings where Jesus is so real that you taste a little bit of heaven in your soul. You come away with such a sense of eternal reality that your problems no longer bother you, the lapsing economy doesn't shake you, and you're especially not afraid of the devil. God puts a holy fire in your soul, and you say, 'This is supernatural. This isn't me--this is God's Spirit working in me!'
"He gives us 'a little heaven' to go to heaven with--a whetting of our appetite. He opens the windows of heaven and lets us look into the glory that will be ours. We get a taste of His holiness, His Peace, His rest, His love--and we are forever spoiled for this earth, because we yearn for the fullness of what we have tasted!"
Ps 34:8 (NIV) ...Taste and see that the Lord is good.1 Pet 2:2 (NIV) Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
The Spirit's Mission Is Not Complete Until...
Rom 8:26 (NIV) ...The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
2 Cor 5:2,4-5 (NIV) Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling... For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened... to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
"You can yearn after Jesus so much that you sit in His presence and nothing comes out but a deep groaning--something that cannot be uttered. It says, 'Jesus, you're the only happiness there is in this world. I've tasted and seen that You're good--and I want all of You.'
"This is the deep, inner cry of someone who hungers for holiness and is anguished over his iniquities. Yet he admits, 'I don't know how to pray, I don't know what to pray for, or as I should.' His heart's cry is: 'Holy Spirit, come! You know the mind of God. You know how to pray according to the will of the Father. Walk with me--take control!'
"This is the mark of one who is walking in the Spirit: He has an insatiable appetite for Jesus. Yet it's not just because he's sick of all the garbage he sees in the world--all the filth, crime, drugs and unemployment. No, rather, it's something very positive. Like Paul, he's just anxious to depart and be with the Lord!
"This person is being moved upon by the Spirit to go after Christ with such passion and emotion that He is overwhelmed. His heart so longs for Christ, no words can express his hunger and love. It is a marvelous, powerful experience--yet it is also painful, because he cannot yet come into the fullness that awaits him!"
"Sadly, Few Today have this Passionate Groaning After Christ... Dear saint, what has happened in your life since you got saved? Are you just going through the motions? Are you lukewarm? Are you afraid to get 'on fire' for the Lord because you'll be considered a fanatic?
"Ask the Holy Ghost to so reveal Christ to your heart that you'll be totally weaned from this world. Can you say right now you're ready to go be with Him, that you want Him more than your very life? You may say that often--but do you mean it when you sing, 'He's more than life to me?' Are you more passionately in love with Jesus now than when you first met Him?
"Right now, the Holy Spirit is poking at the dying embers of your love. It is because He is desirous of setting your heart on fire. Are you allowing the Spirit of God to convict you of sin and unbelief? If so, rejoice! He wants you to be cleansed from every spot or wrinkle on that day when you meet your Bridegroom!
"So yield to His leading. Let Him do His work in you completely--and you truly will know what it means to walk in the Spirit!"
I want you to think for a moment about being in the center of God’s will. What does that mean? What would it look like? Would it be a time of happiness and fulfillment? Is there ever a time that the center of God’s will might be a place of discouragement and difficulty? What about the children of Israel? God called Moses to bring them out of Egypt and into the center of His will. The center of His will for them would eventually be Canaan, but for a time, the center of God’s will was a great and terrible wilderness.
Has God’s will for you included a period of time in the wilderness? Time in the wilderness means facing wilderness struggles, and wilderness hardships, and wilderness questions. It can be a place of problems, and at the same time, a place of purpose. The wilderness is a puzzle from our perspective, but from God’s perspective, it is His perfect plan for our lives.
If you are at a wilderness place in your life, you may find it to be more puzzle than purpose. You might be overwhelmed and confused. You might find yourself questioning God’s wisdom—or maybe even your own. Did you get to that place by God’s guidance, or did you get there by misreading of God’s guidance?
We have said enough about wilderness questions. What can we know for sure about the purpose of the wilderness in the lives of God’s people?
The Wilderness is a Place of Separation
God carried them into the wilderness so that they could be apart from the influences of Egypt. The uncertainties of the wilderness create a need for God and a dependence upon God. God lets you do without, so you can come to know Him as your provider. God lets you be lonely, so that you can come to know Him as your friend. God lets you be frightened and worried, so that you can come to know Him as your peace. God lets you be weak, so that you can know His strength.
In the wilderness, God reveals Himself. In the darkness of the wilderness, He is your light. In the confusing maze of the wilderness, you learn to let Him be your guide. In the wilderness, He separates you from the influences of the world, as well as the things and people that you have learned to depend on, so that you will learn to depend on Him. God will be faithful to you in whatever wilderness you are facing, just as He was to the people He led out of Egypt.
The Wilderness is a Place of Preparation.
Looking back on those years in the wilderness, this is what God said to His people as they came to the Promised Land. 5“I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6“You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 29:5-6
What has been your God appointed wilderness? Are you there right now? What do you suppose God is trying to teach you? Are you learning the lessons that God wants you to learn?
When God takes you to the wilderness, He withholds that which you have come to depend on other than Him. Maybe you came to depend on your job to provide. God removes the job for a time, so that you will learn to depend on Him. Maybe you came to depend on your own strength or stamina. Then God brings weakness into your life, so that you will learn that your strength is in Him. You see it as deprivation. God sees it as preparation.
“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. 4“Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5“Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6“Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. Deuteronomy 8:2-6
The Wilderness is a Place of Revelation.
In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and howI bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:2-6
When the center of God’s will is the wilderness, what is God’s purpose? Did you see why God brought them to the wilderness? He brought them into the wilderness to bring them to Himself.Why do you suppose that God brings you to Himself?
I read again today about Jesus calling the disciples. He called unto Him the twelve. And why did He call them? Did He call them to Him to give them an assignment? Yes? But the preparation for that assignment came out of being with Him. He called the twelve to Himself, that they might be with Him and that He might send them forth to preach. Mark 3:14
Part of the preparation for what God wants you to do will grow out of the revelation of Himself that He gives you. For most of us, the only place we can be readied to receive that revelation is in some wilderness, where God separates us from what we have learned to lean on, in order that He can show us that we need to lean on Him alone.
Where are you right now? Do you find yourself in the midst of some God-Appointed wilderness struggling to know God’s will and God’s way? Do you feel alone there? Do you feel abandoned there? I know how you feel. I have been to the wilderness. I have lived in the wilderness. I felt alone. I felt discouraged. But I came to understand that the wilderness was the place of God’s presence.
If you are in the wilderness, you might be angry at God. You may have considered abandoning God. In your discouragement, the wilderness can even become a place of sin. Where is God then? How will God respond to you when you have proved to yourself that you are not worthy of His love.
Sometimes God takes us to the wilderness not only to show us Himself—but to show us ourselves. The truth about who we are and how we trust God surfaces in the wilderness. There, we are proved to be worse sinners than we knew ourselves to be. How does God respond then?
Consider this passage from Nehemiah. “You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them. “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies. “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen. Nehemiah 9:13-21
Why do you suppose God takes you into the wilderness to show you yourself so that you can see what a sinner you are? God takes you to the wilderness and shows you what a sinner you are so that He can show you what a Savior He is! In spite of the rebellion of His people, He remained faithful. He still gave them water for their thirst. He still gave them their daily bread. He still guided them on their journey. He never left them.
God will be faithful to you in whatever wilderness you are facing, just as He was to the people He led out of Egypt. “In the wilderness … you saw how the LORD God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place. Deuteronomy 1:31
Do you suppose God might also be carrying you? I am sure you have asked God some of the same questions that I ask from time to time. “God, am I a castaway? Can you still use me?” “Do you still want me? Do you still love me?”
Wilderness is a place where trials, temptations, difficulties and testing come and we all have our own unique wilderness seasons in our lives. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God was brought to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.
We can say that every child of God has to enter the wilderness at some point in our lives. What is God’s purpose for it and why take us to such a place or season?
We know that God won’t do anything to harm us or do something that’s not in the context of love. Everything He does is for our sake for He alone can see what is best for us.
Studying Matthew chapter 4 verses 1-11, I learned these 7 things the Holy Spirit teaches us when we go through the wilderness season:
1. To strengthen our identity and authority in Christ
The Holy Spirit leads us to the wilderness to strengthen who we are as children of God and to make us realize that we have authority in Christ over every trials and temptations.
Just as the Son of God was tempted by the devil, it isn’t enough for us to simply know who we are but we must put into practice our authority as sons and daughters of God just as Jesus Christ did against the enemy.
2. To empty ourselves from the cravings of the flesh and to strengthen our inner man.
Matthew chapter 4 verse 2 shows us that Jesus went to fast upon entering the wilderness. He fasted from the cravings of the flesh such as food which people depend upon for physical strength.
But wilderness is not a place for the physically strong but must be overcome mentally and spiritually. The Holy Spirit leads us to the wilderness that we may empty ourselves from the cravings of our body and strengthen our spirit’s connection with God and His Word.
3. To let us know that the devil will come to attack our identity in Christ and to test our knowledge and understanding of His Word.
Matthew chapter 4 verse 3 says, “Then the Devil came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God…”
In our present context the enemy comes to ask us in the wilderness “If you are truly a child of God” which is similar strategy he used towards Eve in the Garden of Eden by asking, “Did God really say…?”
We see how the devil works when we begin to empty ourselves to strengthen our commune with God. He comes to make us doubt and attacks who we are in Christ Jesus. But the Holy Spirit is always there to help us and guide us through this season.
4. To feed our spirit with the Word of God instead of feeding our flesh when we are under attack.
Matthew chapter 4 verse 4 says that the devil tempted Jesus to turn the stones into bread if He really is the Son of God in attempt to feed on his flesh but Jesus’ weapon against this scheme is the Scriptures.
In the place of wilderness where trials and difficulties arise, the Word of God is our strength and hope. We must spend more time in His Word all the more when we are experiencing difficulties rather than running towards things that feed on our flesh.
5. The Holy Spirit is always there to reveal the truths of God.
Matthew chapter 4 verses 5-7 says that the enemy brought Jesus to the highest point of the temple and twisted the meaning of the Scriptures by making Jesus jump since the angels would catch him.
In the wilderness season of our lives, if the enemy fails to feed our flesh, he comes to input wrong mindsets by twisting the truth we know but the Holy Spirit is always there to reveal to us the truths of God just as He did in Christ Jesus.
6. To strengthen our devotion, convictions, and worship of God alone
In Matthew 4 verses 8-10 where the devil showed Jesus the glory of the world and its riches, but Jesus Christ rebuked him, the Holy Spirit teaches us that if the enemy can’t penetrate our mindset. He comes to offer us something that will surely make us sin by worshipping, serving or bowing down to an idol instead of God.
When the temptation and trials are strong, we rebuke the devil and his work in Jesus’ name, and all the more worship God, magnify Him and confess that He alone is worthy to be praised.
7. Glory comes when we pass the trials and temptations in the wilderness
Matthew 4 chapter 11 says, “Then the Devil went away, and angels came and cared for Jesus.” The angels came to attend to Jesus’ needs right after such a battle. We know that God is always faithful to reveal to us His glory and it cannot be compared to the things we are going through in life.
It is important that in all seasons of our lives, the Word of God is burning in our hearts, our ears attentive and our feet obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Then we can truly walk in the victory of Christ Jesus every day.
14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
God brings us into the wilderness to speak comfort to us, to our hearts. It is a time of silence to hear God.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
He brings us to the wilderness to bless us and make us fruitful. He draws us to Himself to give us hope and show us an open door to bring us out and into a better thing. And we’ll sing as we remember our deliverance from bondage. Egypt speaks of bondage.
16 And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
Ishi means husband and Baali speaks of false worship. In the wilderness, we are drawn to him as a bride is to her husband and false worship is no more. The wilderness is a place of intimacy where we learn to worship God alone. God will use wilderness times to erase our memory of the things we used to worship. God alone will be esteemed and worshipped.
18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
God brings us into freedom; a covenant of freedom. His victory makes us safe.
19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
In Bible times, betrothal was a covenant commitment that was just as binding and marriage. God will restore us to a covenant relationship with Him. That relationship makes us righteous, where we have right standing with God. In His judgment and justice, He will make all things right. He will bind and unite us with His love and mercies so that we’ll remain faithful to Him.
20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
All of this will lead us to know the Lord. We’ll have a new beginning and we’ll know God in a new and better way. Verses 19-20 refer to the gifts God gives us for being His bride- righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, mercies, and an intimate relationship with Him.
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." Hosea 2:14-15
The prophecies of the Old Testament are often very obscure, and some almost unintelligible. This arises partly from the very nature of the subject, and partly from the highly figurative language in which they are couched. But, what adds to the difficulty, is our ignorance for the most part of the circumstances under which they were delivered, of the times to which they apply, and of the events which they dimly foreshadow.
But taking a broad view of prophetical Scripture, I consider that it admits for the most part of three distinct interpretations—historical, experimental, and unfulfilled; corresponding with the three times—past, present, and future.
1. HISTORICAL (past). Many prophecies of the Old Testament are already fulfilled; such as the sufferings, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; the casting off of Israel; the calling of the Gentiles; the dispersion of the Jews. These prophecies have been fulfilled, their interpretation is strictly historical, and relates altogether to the past.
2. UNFULFILLED (future). But there is a large portion of prophecy which is still unfulfilled; such as the calling of the Jews; the second coming of Christ; and that glorious period still future, when "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
3. EXPERIMENTAL (present). But, besides the interpretation of those prophecies which are past and therefore fulfilled, and those which are future and therefore unfulfilled, there is that which bears more immediately and directly upon the present—experimental interpretation. And indeed, without this, this part of God's word would be to us a dead letter. If it did not bear upon our own experience; if there were not a spiritual interpretation as well as a literal; if prophecy were not descriptive of God's dealings with the soul now, we might as well put our Bible into the drawer. We might almost take a thread and needle, and sew up the prophetical part of God's word; or tear it out of the Bible, if it has no reference to us. To the past we look back with admiration; to the future we look forward in hope; but the present, the spiritual and experimental interpretation of prophecy as bearing upon our own soul, is that which most deeply concerns us. Living under the dispensation of the Spirit, we need a spiritual interpretation.
These three interpretations we find sometimes in the very same chapter. We have an instance in the one before us. (Hos. 2.) In it we find a prophecy already fulfilled; "I will cause all her mirth to cease, her feast-days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts; and I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she has said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them." The present state of Judea stands forth as a literal fulfillment of these words. The new moons, the sabbaths, and solemn feasts of Israel have ceased in the land, and her vines and fig-trees are destroyed. But we have reason to believe that this chapter also contains prophecies which one day will be literally fulfilled; that when the Lord brings back his captive Zion, he will "betroth her unto him forever in righteousness, in judgment, in loving-kindness, and in tender mercy; he will betroth her unto himself in faithfulness, and she shall know the Lord." And, united with these two, we have the spiritual, experimental interpretation shining throughout the whole chapter, as bearing upon the experience of God's children. It is in this latter point of view, that I shall, with God's blessing, now consider the words before us. We may observe in them two leading features.
First; the bringing of Israel into the wilderness.
Secondly; what God does to her when he has brought her there.
I. The bringing of Israel into the wilderness. "Behold," he says, "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness."
A. But what are we to understand by "the WILDERNESS"? I think we may understand by it two things. First, the world; secondly, the human heart. For, we shall find, if the Lord enable, that to a child of God both the world, and the human heart as dissected and laid bare by the Spirit of God, bear marks and characters of "a wilderness."
But what is "a wilderness?" We must comprehend the word literally, before we can understand it spiritually.
1. A "wilderness," then, is, first, a place where no food grows. That is the very character of the Arabian desert. No grain grows there fit for man.
2. But secondly, it is a place where no food can be made to grow. Now, you know, in this country there are commons and heaths that do not bear grain in their present state; but they might be brought under cultivation and made to produce it. But there are wild, waste districts in the Scottish Highlands, which could not by any cultivation be made to grow grain. So with the "wilderness." You might plough, sow, harrow, and roll it, but you would never have a crop. The sun would dry it up; there is no soil in which the plant could grow. It might spring up for a time; but with all our attempts, it would soon utterly wither away.
3. And the third idea to make up a desert, and flowing out of the two former features, is, that it is a place of which the inhabitants are always rovers, without a settled habitation. They have no home, house, nor building, but live in tents; and are continually shifting the spot on which for a time they dwell.
Do not these three ideas very much make up the figure of a "wilderness?" See whether they are not applicable to two things in the experience of a child of God—the world, and his own heart.
1. The WORLD is not "a wilderness" to a worldling. To him it is a beautiful estate, enclosed in a ring fence, with land easily cultivable and soil of the best quality, producing the richest crops, laden with golden harvests. But to a child of God, as I shall show you by and by, (if led into it,) the world is but a "wilderness;" from which no crop grows to feed his soul; from which by no exertions of his own can food be made to grow; and in which he is, and ever must be, a wanderer, not a settled inhabitant.
2. And this, too, with the HUMAN HEART. We shall find, I think, these three ideas of "a wilderness" meeting also in the human heart, as laid bare by the keen dissecting knife of the Spirit to the spiritual eye of a child of God. Out of his heart no food can come, for "in him, that is, in his flesh, dwells no good thing;" there is no food in it for his new nature; nothing of which he can say, 'This is what my soul can feed upon.' And though he may seek to cultivate it, and is bidden and admonished to do so; and though he has tried often to put in the plough, to clean it with the hoe, to rake it with the harrow, to sow good seed, and to water it perhaps with the waterpot, yet, after all his attempts, the harvest is only a heap of sand in the day of desperate sorrow, the soil being absolutely barren, totally uncultivable and unproductive, with all his fairest exertions. He is tossed up and down, in consequence, finding nothing in his heart on which he can set his foot, on which he can build for eternity, or in which he can safely and happily dwell, as a fixed resting-place.
Now, bear these things in wind, and when I come to the "wilderness," as the Spirit of the Lord has promised to bring his people there, you will then see whether you have an experimental knowledge of these two things for yourselves.
B. The Lord says, "Behold, I will ALLURE her." Does this mean the first work of the Spirit upon the soul? I believe not. The first work of the Spirit, we read in Scripture, and we find confirmed by experience, is, to convince of sin, to pierce to the heart, to wound, to make the soul sensible of its state before God, and its utter alienation from him. Therefore, the word "allure," cannot apply to the first work of the Spirit upon the soul. Men may talk of being drawn by love; but what is the religion of those who are thus drawn by love? What depth, what reality, what power, what life, what godliness is there in it? The word "allure" is not applicable, then, to the first beginning of a work. That first work usually commences with conviction, a sight and sense of sin, a cry for mercy, a feeling of wretchedness and ruin, and a despair of salvation in self.
But after the Lord has been pleased thus to pierce, to wound, to convince, and bring down, he often, perhaps usually, drops down some sweetness, blessedness, and consolation into the soul. He gives it to taste a few 'dewdrops of his love', some 'honey-drops from the Rock of Ages'. This I call the "Spring of the soul". You know what a beautiful season spring is; when the leaves are clothing the trees, when the birds are singing upon the branches, when the flowers are springing out of the ground, when the chilly winds of winter are gone, when the balmy breezes blow from the south, when the sun rises high in the sky, and sheds gladness over the face of the renewed earth. Thus the soul has, generally speaking, a Spring; and, as there is but one spring in nature, so for the most part there is but one spring in grace. As regards our natural life, it is only once that we are young; and it is so spiritually; we only once enjoy that sweet season of which Job speaks, "As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle." (Job 29:4.)
During, then, this youth of the soul, this Spring season, this "day of espousals," there is an "alluring" of the heart unto God. Now this we need. And why? Perhaps we are bound up with carnal companions, or by snares we cannot break; hampered by worldly relations, and their persecutions we cannot face; tied down with lusts and sins, and the chain of these we cannot burst; in the world, and unable to come out of it. Notwithstanding all the frights, terrors, alarms, and convictions that the soul may experience, (though these for a time may operate, and that powerfully); yet when their effect has ceased, it slips back into the old spot; it is not fairly or fully brought out. We need something beyond law and terrors to do that; we need something besides thunder and lightning to bring the soul fully unto God.
There is an old fable of the 'Sun' and 'North wind', once having a strife as to which could first make a traveler throw aside his coat. The 'North wind' had the first trial. But though he sent forth his chilling blasts, trying to blow the traveler's coat off, yet the more that powerful cold wind blew, the tighter and closer did the traveler wrap his cloak around him. But when he had blown his worst and last, and was defeated, then the 'Sun' tried what he could do. He burst from the clouds in all his warmth and brightness, and shot his rays with such fervor, that the traveler soon threw aside his cloak, and fled to the woods. I dare say, the fable was meant to illustrate the difference between 'harshness' and 'kindness'; but it seems to bear upon our subject also.
Law terrors, convictions, and alarms—these are like old 'North wind', with his blustering cheeks; they will not bring the great coat off; you wrap the old cloak tighter round you. Something melting is wanted; something warming, cheering, reviving, comforting, and blessing. And when the Sun begins to shine, and a few rays of righteousness, warmth, light, life, and love beam upon the heart, then it does in a moment what law and terrors could not do in a century—it melts off the old garment, brings the soul unto Jesus, and into sweet union and communion with him.
There is felt and seen, then, a beauty, a blessedness, a reality, a sweetness in the things of God, which the tongue cannot describe. By it the heart is drawn unto the Lord Jesus, to the truth as it is in Jesus, to the people of Jesus, and to the service of Jesus. The world, friends, foes, relations are all disregarded; neither frowns nor smiles have any effect. There is such a sweetness then felt in the things of God, such a blessedness and reality, that the soul is "allured" by them out of everything that before held it back from union with a living Head.
Under these blessed feelings, a soul will do anything for Christ; will make any sacrifice, give up anything, bear anything, endure anything for the Lord Jesus. The 'Spring of nature' is beautiful to see; but the 'Spring of grace' is more beautiful to feel. Early days, if not the most profitable, yet are often the best days in our feelings.
Now, by these "allurements," sweetness, and blessedness, the Lord draws the soul into a profession of religion, into perhaps joining a church, taking up the cross, walking with the people of God, putting itself forward, and that in the utmost sincerity, to serve the Lord Jesus. And perhaps, we think, we shall enjoy this all our days. At this season, when we see old professors carnal and worldly-minded, and we feel full of life and zeal; some mourning and sighing, and we singing and dancing; others complaining of their bad hearts, when we scarcely know that we have a bad one; others cast down with temptations, and we not exposed to them; or groaning under trials, and we ignorant of them; we think that they must be deceived. We say, 'That is not religion; the religion we have is a very different thing; there is a sweetness in ours; there is a comfort, a blessedness in it.'
Perhaps we write very hard things against these old professors; think they have been doing something very bad, and have sinned away their comforts; or that it is their own fault they are not so lively, so happy, and so comfortable as we. But we do not know what the Lord is doing by this "alluring," nor what his purposes are; that all this is to bring us "into the wilderness." And when he has got us there fairly and fully, then to show us what the "wilderness" really is.
C. But HOW does this take place? A "wilderness," I endeavored to show represents generally two things—the world and the human heart.
Now, I dare say, when your soul was flourishing, the world in a measure flourished with you too. The Lord, generally speaking, calls his people young—being young, they have not many worldly trials—and therefore, very often natural youth and spiritual youth go hand in hand. There is a buoyancy, then, naturally, and spiritually, and the two are often closely united. But now comes the "wilderness." Now comes the world, as opened up in its real character. Trial often begins with some heavy stroke of a worldly nature. This is sometimes the first stab that the soul gets when it comes into the "wilderness." Perhaps some illness robs us of health for life; or some stroke in providence casts down all our airy Babels—or some disappointment, it may be of a very tender nature, lays all the youthful hopes of the heart prostrate in the dust.
1. Now, up to this time the world was not manifested as a "wilderness" world, nor was our heart altogether divorced from it. And though the Lord was sweet and precious, yet there were worldly things indulged in; worldly society perhaps not fully given up; worldly practices that the heart was not weaned from; worldly connections not fully broken through. John Newton speaks of his enjoying in early days the presence of the Lord sweetly in the woods, and yet spending the rest of the evening in carnal company. Now that seems very strange; yet perhaps you and I might have done something of the same kind. When I was a Fellow of my College at Oxford, soon after I felt the weight of eternal things, I have sat in the Common Room after dinner with the other Fellows, and amid all the drinking of wine, and the hum and buzz of conversation, in which I took no part, have been secretly lifting up my heart to the Lord. But I could not go among them after I got into the wilderness. The reason was, I was not fully brought out; though there was a blessedness felt in the things of God, yet the evils of the world were not clearly manifested; temptation was not powerfully presented; and therefore, the danger of it was not felt nor feared.
But now, the world begins to be opened up in its real character. Once it was your friend; now it has become your enemy—once it smiled upon you; now it frowns—once it did you good; now it slanders you, and does you all the evil it can—once you could enjoy it, but now it palls upon your appetite. Disappointment, vexation, and sorrow embitter all; and you find the world to be what God declares it, "a wilderness." No food grows in it; nothing that your soul can really be satisfied with; "vanity and vexation of spirit," are written upon all. Though you may try to get food out of it, all your attempts are blighted with disappointment; and you in consequence, finding no solid footing, become a wanderer, a pilgrim, and a stranger, tossed up and down in it, and having in it neither heart nor home.
2. But again. The human heart, as opened up to a child of God, is a "wilderness," too. You did not know this formerly; you did not know you had so bad a heart. When the Lord was first "alluring" you into the "wilderness," you could not see that you had no strength, no holiness, no wisdom in yourself; that your heart was a cage of unclean birds; that there was nothing spiritually good in it. In early days, we cannot discern between the Lord's strength and our own; between natural and spiritual feelings; between the zeal of the flesh and the life of the Spirit. Nor do we understand these things until our senses are exercised to discern good and evil. A clear line is not drawn at first in our soul between nature and grace; and therefore, our hearts in early days are not to us a "wilderness."
We think we can cultivate them; why could we not? Cannot we encourage a spirit of prayer? Cannot we read God's word? Cannot we go to hear good men preach? Cannot we arrange certain seasons and hours in which to seek the Lord's face? Cannot we watch against besetting sins? Cannot we keep the door of our lips? Cannot we keep our eyes and hearts fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ? We are told to do these things; to cultivate grace; and we make the attempt. Are we successful? If we are, it is our ignorance that makes us think so. Let us have light to see, life to feel, and spiritual discernment to know what is of God, and what is of man; what grace is, and what the work of the Spirit is; what divine feelings are, and how distinct these are from the work of the flesh; then we shall find that our heart not only does not bear food that we can feed upon to our soul's satisfaction; but cannot be made to bear it. It is a "wilderness," a wide waste, a barren sand, a desert—fiercely blown by the dreadful Sirocco, parched by the sun, dried up and desolate, absolutely sterile and uncultivable.
Now, here in the "wilderness," we get stripped to the very bone; here we lose all our goodness, all our wisdom, all our strength, all our creature holiness, all our rags of fleshly righteousness. It is in the "wilderness" we get stripped—and until we come there, we do not know what stripping is. Then we feel poor creatures, ruined wretches—desolate, forsaken, abandoned, almost without hope or help—in self lost and undone. We look upon the world—all is vanity, vexation, and sorrow. We look within—all is dark, wild, and desolate—nothing but sin, and that continually—unbelief, infidelity, obscenity, filth, and blasphemy—everything hideous, everything vile—nothing but evil without and within. This is stripping work—this is "the wilderness"—this is bringing a man to his senses; this is laying the creature low; this is making him know the depth of the fall; this is plucking up his fleshly religion, tearing out by the roots all his carnal hopes, leaving him naked, empty, and bare. All his creature holiness gone, all his creature zeal withered, all his creature strength turned into weakness, all his creature loveliness into corruption—and he standing before God utterly unable to work one spiritual feeling in his own heart.
Are you here? Have you ever been here? Is God bringing you here? Here we must come to learn what true religion is; here must we come to see the end of all perfection, and to feel that "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." But does the Lord leave his people here? No!
II. Which leads us to our second point. The Lord brings his people there to do them good—to give them blessings; to work grace in their hearts; and to extend to them favor and mercy in a measure and degree hitherto unfelt. But let us look at the catalogue of blessings provided for Israel when she comes into the "wilderness."
A. "I will speak comfortably unto her." It is in the margin, (and so it is in the Hebrew) "to her heart." I shall take the two renderings—first, "to her heart;" secondly, "comfortably."
1. "To her heart." It is in the "wilderness," then, that we learn "heart religion". If you want God to speak to your heart, you must go into the "wilderness" for it. It is often only 'headwork' and 'mere doctrines' until we get there. Into the wilderness of human nature must we go, if God himself is to speak to our heart. And when you begin to feel what a heart you have, you will find the necessity of God speaking to it; for only so far as he speaks, have you any feeling, any life, any power in your religion. And O, when a man begins to find and feel what a "wilderness" heart he has—how anxious, how desirous he is that God would speak to his heart! How this shuts up his religion into a very narrow compass! How it cuts off the flesh of it, and brings him, and his religion too, into a nutshell! How it hacks to pieces all the ornaments that have been hung around it by self and the devil, and brings him to this point, (and a very trying point it is to be brought to)—"I have no religion of self; I cannot work a grain in mine own heart; I am dead, dark, stupid; God must speak to my soul—and if he does not speak, I am utterly destitute. I have no feeling, no life, no faith, no love, no strength, no holiness—I have nothing. I stand," says the soul, "before God without a thread."
"Lord," (the poor man cries under these painful exercises, toiling and struggling in the wilderness), "speak to my soul; drop a word into my heart." And how anxious he is for God to speak! But how many sleepless nights have you passed because God does not speak to your heart? How many times do you roll backwards and forwards upon your bed because you cannot get the Lord to speak a word into your soul? Do you ever go groaning and sighing along the street because the Lord does not speak to you? or, are you gazing with a fool's eye into every picture-shop?
Now, if you are in the "wilderness," you will want the Lord to speak to your soul; and you will feel all your religion to hang upon this—that you have no more true religion than springs out of God's word and work in your heart. And here you will look and wait, long, beg, and pray, 'Lord, in mercy speak to my poor soul.' The Lord has promised to do this; but he will not speak until he brings you to the spot where he has promised to do so. When he has "allured" you along into the wilderness, and got you fastened there, he will now and then drop a word, give a promise, speak with soft melting whispers, make his word sweet and precious; and thus fulfill his promise, 'I will speak to her heart.'
2. "Comfortably." But the word also means "comfortably." Now when the Lord was "alluring" your soul in the way I have described, you did not know much about comfort springing out of the Lord's speaking to your soul. You could hardly tell whence your comfort came. It did not come direct from the mouth of God; the Lord did not mean it at that time to come so. Every sermon seemed at that time blessed; but now perhaps it is only one word out of it. At that time, when you went upon your knees, it seemed as though you had sweet access to the throne of grace; every hymn was full of beauty; and every child of God you could take in your arms, embrace, and feel sweet communion with. And yet, all the time, when you look back, you cannot say this sprung out of any special words or promises that God applied to your soul. There was a general sweetness, but not a particular one. It was more in the truth, in the people of God, in the blessedness of the things of God, in the doctrines of grace, than it was in special promises, or special applications of blood and love.
But when you get into the "wilderness," you cannot do with what did very well in times of old. There are many children of God who love to hear a minister trace out evidences. 'O,' they say, 'this just suits me; I love to hear evidences.' But you get, after a time, beyond evidences. They will do for a babe; they will suit a child; but a man wants meat; a man can pick a bone. And so (I address myself now to those who know the "wilderness") you want something stronger, more solid, more weighty, more real, more effectual; you want testimonies, words, manifestations, a sweet discovery of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is by being stripped in the "wilderness," that we are brought to look and long for the Lord's own special comfort; for we are brought to stand in need of it; and as we cannot get a drop of comfort by cultivating our own graces, we are obliged to beg for a few grains of comfort from the Lord himself.
And what a mercy it is, that he has promised to speak "comfortably;" that when nobody else can speak comfort, when we cannot speak it to our own souls, and cannot get consolation from anything, the Lord can and does, according to his promise, speak "comfortably." He whispers peace, and blesses the soul with some testimony of its saving interest in the precious blood and love of his dear Son. That is the first thing the Lord has promised to do.
B. "I will give her her vineyards from thence." A strange place! We would not go to Bagshot Heath or Woking Common to find "a vineyard;" and I am sure we should not go to the great Sahara desert, or the Arabian desert, to find grapes growing. But we might as well expect clusters of grapes upon Bagshot Heath, as spiritual fruitfulness in the human heart. Here, then, is the wonder. "I will give her her vineyards from thence." What! in the wilderness! when she has been trying to bring something out of her heart to please God and self with, and all her efforts are baffled! What! to give her vineyards there! Why, that is the mystery; that is the beauty; that is the blessedness; that is the sweetness—that the Lord can and does make the barren heart fruitful in the "wilderness."
Now, perhaps you have been toiling, tugging, working very hard to produce some fruit. 'Come,' say you, 'it will not do to go on like this. I must do something; I must pray more, read the word of God more, watch over my heart more, and seek the Lord more. I will do it too; nobody shall hinder me.' So some Monday morning, you begin and set to work, and take the Bible down. 'Yes,' say you, 'I will read two or three chapters this morning; I will go to prayer, and I will try if I cannot do something to be a real Christian.' All very good. But what do you get from it? What power, sweetness, or blessedness can you put into the word of God? What life and feeling can you put into your soul? Well, you have tried it again and again; and when you have cast up the account, it is nil—nothing, a cipher. Zero is the full amount! And you wonder where the fault is, until at last you begin to despair, and feel and say, 'I am a wretch, and ever shall be. God be merciful to such a wretch! Lord, look in tender compassion on such a monster, such a filthy creature that has done nothing, and can do nothing but sin.'
Now when the Lord is pleased to speak a word to the heart, and bless your soul with real comfort, what is the effect? It makes you fruitful. Then you can read the word of God—aye, and with blessedness too; then you can pray, and with sweet satisfaction too; then you can look up, and with eyes of affection too; and then you can be holy, and that by the real sanctifying operations of the Spirit too. This is the way whereby all fruitfulness is produced—not by roller, plough, and harrow; seed basket and hoe; turning up the desert, and casting good grain there—to be like Pharaoh's corn—only blasted by the East wind. But to be in the "wilderness"—to feel a needy, naked wretch, without hope or help in self, and to wait upon the Lord for him to speak a word to the soul, by his own blessed breath breathing into us a fruitfulness that our heart never could produce in itself. Here is genuine spirituality and true holiness—here is real fruitfulness. These are the graces of the Spirit—not the perishing works of the flesh.
What is thus wrought in the soul by the power of God is to the glory of God. "I will give her her vineyards from thence." Now, if you had never known the "wilderness," what a barren heart and desperately wicked nature you have, you would not have wanted fruitfulness to come from God's own mouth into your soul. The starved, withered crop that 'nature' produces would have been reaped and gathered into your garner, and you would have been pleased with the sheaves, though they were but straw and chaff.
As time is running on, I must just hastily skim over the other blessings which God has promised in the "wilderness."
C. "The valley of Achor for a door of hope." Now the "valley of ACHOR" signifies the 'valley of trouble.' It was the valley in which Achan was stoned. And why stoned? Because he had taken the accursed thing—because his eye had been captivated by the Babylonish garment and golden wedge, and he had buried them in the tent. This may throw a light on what "the valley of Achor" is spiritually. Perhaps you have been guilty of Achan's sin—you have been taking the accursed thing—you have been too deeply connected with the world—you have done things that God's displeasure is against. Let conscience speak in your bosom. The consequence has been, that you have gotten into the "valley of Achor!" Trouble, sorrow, and confusion are your lot; and you do not know whether the lot of Achan may not await you there.
Now it is in this "valley of Achor," or sorrow, confusion, and fear, that the "door of HOPE" is opened. And what is "a door of hope?" What is a 'door' literally? Is not "a door" a place of exit and a place for entrance? By "a door" we go out, and by "a door" we come in. So "a door of hope" admits the visits of the Lord to the soul; and "a door of hope" admits the going out of the soul's breathings after God. Thus, every glimpse of mercy, every beam of love, and every ray of comfort; every sweet promise that drops into the soul, every intimation from God, every testimony of interest in Christ; every dewdrop, every honey-drop that falls into a parched wilderness heart—this is opening up "a door of hope."
But why "in the valley of Achor?" That we may cease to hope in self—that a sound and true gospel hope may enter within the veil as an anchor sure and steadfast, and there be no hope but in the precious blood of the Lamb, and in a sweet manifestation of that blood to the conscience. This is "the door of hope" through which the soul looks into the very presence of God—sees Jesus on the throne of grace, the sprinkled mercy-seat, and the great High Priest "able and willing to save to the uttermost."
Through this "door of hope," by which Christ is seen, the soul goes forth in desires, breathings, hungerings, and thirstings after him. And through this "door of hope" descend visits, smiles, tokens, testimonies, mercies, and favors. And thus, there is a "door of hope;" no longer barred, closed, and shut back—but thrown wide open in the bleeding side of an incarnate God! And this is opened "in the valley of Achor," where we deserve to be stoned to death because we have touched the accursed thing—where we deserve nothing but damnation, the eternal vengeance of God, and to be made as Achan a monument of eternal wrath. Yet, in this "valley of Achor," is opened up a blessed "door of hope."
D. "She shall sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when the Lord brought her out of the land of Egypt." Spring again! only a better spring. Youth again! "They shall renew their strength as the eagle." Here is a renewing—of visits almost despaired of—of joys that seemed never to return—of hopes almost extinct—of consolations remembered, but remembered almost with fear, lest they should have been delusive. "She shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came out of the land of Egypt."
But what a place to go and get into, to learn religion. How much more pleasant it would be to the flesh to take our Bible down, get a notebook, have a new pen, put some fresh ink into the ink bottle, and then to draw out our religion from the Bible; to believe all we read, take down all we see, and transplant it into our heart. But that is not the way—that would only stand in the 'letter'. It would not do for eternity, nor for a dying bed. It would exalt the creature, but would depress the Creator. It might do for an hour, but it would not do for the judgment-day. And therefore, we have to learn our religion, if we learn it at all, in a way totally opposite.
Have you learned your religion in the wilderness? If you have, it will stand. There is a reality in it—it bears marks of God's grace and teaching. But if we have not learned it in this way—what reality, what power, what blessedness is there in it? None! We shall have to part with it when we need it most. When we lie upon a death-bed, all our false religion will make to itself wings, and fly away—and when we stretch forth our hands for a little true hope, it is all gone.
Thus, we want something solid, real, spiritual, abiding; something of God and godliness, divine, heavenly, and supernatural; wrought in the soul by the almighty power, and breathed into our heart by the very mouth of God himself. That will stand, and no other will.
If the Lord has led you in his path, you have an evidence in your soul that these things are so; and you will know that this is the way—not because I say, so, nor because the Bible always says it—but because you have felt, experienced, and known these things by divine teaching and by divine testimony!
So why did Israel have to go through the wilderness? There are three answers that are given in Deuteronomy 8:2. First, God’s people have to go through the wilderness to be humbled. God allows us to go through difficulties, hardships, suffering, and loss in this life so that we would be humble. We need humility. Humility is necessary for spiritual success. Jesus opened his teaching with his sermon on the mount by declaring that the blessed people are those who are poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3). But humility does not come through prosperity and victory. Humility comes through hardship and loss. God tells Israel that they needed to be humbled. The wilderness is the place where self-reliance is exchanged for complete dependence on God. When you are in the wilderness you cannot rely on yourself. When you are in the wilderness you see that you do not have the power or the wisdom to take care of yourself. It is in the wilderness that we look for help. It is in the wilderness that we realize that only God can be the help we need.
Second, verse 2 tells us that we need the wilderness so that what is in our hearts will be revealed. Suffering shows who we are. Suffering reveals what is inside of us. Trials put who we are on display. We can fake faith when things are going well. But only when we are put through severe trials are we able to know who we really are. Faith is made real when life is hard.
Third, verse 2 also says that we need the wilderness because it shows if we will keep God’s commands or not. Keeping God’s commands are much more challenging when life is hard. Trials are asking if we will still obey the Lord when life does not go the way we want. Trials are seeing if we will still obey when we are going through painful times. You may remember Job’s wife having a response that essentially asked Job why he would still maintain his faith and integrity toward God. Just curse God and die (Job 2:9). Many stop obeying the Lord when they are suffering. The wilderness is intended to see if we will humble ourselves before the Lord. The wilderness is intended to see what is in our hearts. The wilderness is intended to see if we will obey when life is difficult.
Not An Accident (8:3-4)
Then Moses says something really important for us to consider regarding Israel’s time in the wilderness. Look at Deuteronomy 8:3. “He humbled you by letting you hunger.” Have you ever thought about this? Not only did God lead Israel into the wilderness but also made the wilderness hard for them. God let them hunger in the wilderness. We read about this in the account of Israel going through the wilderness. God let them hunger for a month in the wilderness before providing food. God let them be thirsty in the wilderness for days before providing them water. God brought Israel into those moments. This is what we see in the first two chapters of Job where we see God leading Job into the great life suffering that he would endure. Why did God lead Israel in places where there would be no food? Why did God lead Israel in places where there would be no water? Look at the rest of verse 3. “…that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
God wanted Israel to learn that life is dependent on the word of the Lord. Have you thought about what this is teaching? We have a song that says this and we might have heard this. But what does this mean? Do we not need food to survive? Won’t our flesh die if we do not have food and water? What is God teaching? Please consider that Jesus quoted this statement when he was hungry in the wilderness and Satan was tempting him to sin (Matthew 4:4). What is God wanting Israel to understand?
God wanted them to know that they would live because of the words that came from God’s mouth. Israel’s life was not dependent on their ability to scavenge for food or figure out some way to catch water. Israel’s life was dependent on God’s word. What do I mean? God had told Israel that he would take them out of Egyptian slavery and take them to a land flowing with milk and honey, called the promised land. If God said that this was their outcome, then they knew that they could depend on God to sustain them while in the wilderness. This is what Jesus is saying. God’s word was not that the Christ would come to earth and die of hunger in the wilderness. God was going to be with the Christ and carry out his purposes through him. His life was not hanging in the balance on food but on the word of God. Therefore, Jesus showed his trust in God’s word to provide for him even though he was hungry in the wilderness.
This is what God wanted Israel to learn and what God wants us to learn. Our lives are dependent on God and not on ourselves. Our hope is not in what we do but in what God can do for us. God wanted them to rest their lives on him, not on themselves. God wants us to learn this while we are in the wilderness. You can depend on God. You have every reason to trust him with your life even though life is really hard.
When you look at verse 4 you see that this is God’s point because God says that he proved it to them. Your clothes did not wear out. Your feet did not swell. Your sandals did not wear out. You had manna in the wilderness. The Lord kept his word and cared for his people. God proved himself to Israel. God puts us in the wilderness to prove himself to us. Has God proved it to you? Look back over your life in the wilderness and consider how many times God has been faithful to you. Consider how many times God has helped you in your suffering and pain. Consider how many difficulties have been overcome because God has been with you and helped you.
What You Need In The Wilderness (8:5)
Look at verse 5 because God tells us what he wants us to know through our time in the wilderness. Know that just as a parent disciplines a child, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Now it is important that we do not miss what God is saying. We often think of discipline only in terms of negative punishment. But that is not the only way to understand the word in English, nor in the Hebrew. Discipline is often pictured in the scriptures as training and instruction. In fact, even when we think of discipline as negative punishment, the purpose is for training and instruction. What God is saying to us is that we need the time in the wilderness so that we will be instructed, corrected, and trained in the way of the Lord.
God teaches us in our difficulties. This is an important message for us to consider while in the wilderness. God is teaching us. This is what James and Peter are saying about trials. James says that endurance is being produced in us when we are in trials. Peter says that our faith is being made genuine and purified when we are in trials. God’s point is that he is teaching us, refining us, and training us in righteousness.
What To Do In The Wilderness (8:6-10)
So what are we supposed to do while we are in the wilderness? Look at verse 6. Keep the commandments of the Lord by walking in his ways and fearing him. Why should we obey while in the wilderness? Look at verses 7-10. Walk in his ways and fear him because he will bringing you into that good land that he promised. What is Moses’ point? Moses’ point is that your time in the wilderness is temporary and God is bringing you to all that has been promised. You will not be in the wilderness forever. You are going to the land God has promised. Moses’ answer is the same answer that the apostle Paul gave.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:16–18 ESV)
Your time in the wilderness is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. But notice what else Paul said. We must suffer with Christ so that we can be glorified with him. In other words, we need the wilderness. We need the wilderness to humble us. We need the wilderness to reveal our hearts. We need the wilderness to see if we will obey the Lord. We need the wilderness to learn that God is all we need. We need the wilderness to instruct us, correct us, and train us. So we follow Jesus while in the wilderness and learn from Israel’s failure.
Israel’s failure is an important point that Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Paul warns that we cannot do what Israel did while they were in the wilderness. What did they do? Paul says that Israel desired evil (1 Corinthians 10:6). They desired evil and indulged their flesh because things were hard. Is this not something we do? Our way to mute our pain in this world is to sin. We will indulge in our desires because we are having a hard time. God says do not do that because that is the path of failure. We are not learning what God wants us to learn when we do this. Do not turn to sin. Turn to God and let God prove his love toward you.
What else did Israel do in the wilderness? Paul says that Israel complained (1 Corinthians 10:9). We criticize Israel for complaining about their hardships in the wilderness because they have left their slavery and are on their way to the promised land. How can you complain? You were in slavery! You are on the way to the promised land! I know it is the wilderness but it is temporary. Think about the promised land! But that is the same message for us. Do not complain and do not desire evil. You have left the slavery of sin and you are on your way to the eternal promised land.
Friends, the wilderness is exhausting. The wilderness is painful. The wilderness is just hard. But here is hope: the wilderness is worth it and the wilderness is needed so that we can enter the glory to be revealed. Let the wilderness humble you. Let the wilderness reveal your heart and your faith. Look for God’s instruction and put your hope in the glory to come.
By the time the children of Israel reached the banks of the Jordan River, the older generation whom God had freed from slavery in Egypt had died in the wilderness. The story of their journey through the wilderness shows that they never overcame their slave mentality, the mindset they brought with them from Egypt. Their thinking—and thus their attitudes and conduct—constantly reverted to the way their bondage in Egypt had molded it. Despite witnessing awesome miracles, enduring terrible plagues that demonstrated God's mercy on them and His punishment of the Egyptians, living "under the cloud," and having their daily needs supplied directly by God, the Israelites found the wilderness to be nothing more than a huge cemetery in which they had wandered for forty years.
The warning is clear to those of us "on whom the ends of the ages have come" (I Corinthians 10:11). In this type of our spiritual journey, Canaan, the Promised Land, represents the Kingdom of God. But those older Israelites never made it there! They fell short of the goal because a carnal mind, shaped and hardened by this world into inordinate self-concern, so dominated their choices that they dropped like so many flies.
In graphic language, the apostle Paul writes in Hebrews 3:17, "Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?" The last phrase indicates a scattering of dismembered bodies as if they had been left unburied. These "corpses" were the same people who came out of Egypt with great joy, exulting in their newfound liberty. They yearned for a settled and free life in their own land. But, instead of knowing the joy and plenty of the Promised Land, they chose to sentence themselves to live a life of homeless wandering in a barren land and to die and perhaps be buried in an unmarked grave. Chosen to be the beneficiaries of God's great blessings in a rich land, they instead lived poor and hungry in the wilderness, discontented and often at war because of their sins. Their example ought to be a sobering warning.
In Hebrews 3:19, Paul puts his finger on the source of their problem, why their heart could not be changed, why they consistently and persistently sinned and rebelled: "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (emphasis ours throughout). Paul later turns this thought into an admonition for us:
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. (Hebrews 4:1-2)
Not only did Israel have the witness of numerous demonstrations of God's presence and power among them to provide a foundation for faith, but they were also given the Word of God by His servant, Moses and Aaron. In addition, they had living examples of faith in Moses, Aaron (most of the time), Joshua, Caleb, and others. God supplied these men with gifts by His Spirit as a testimony that should have provided more incentive for the Israelites to believe Him. But Hebrews 3:17 says He was angry with them forty years! If ever a people almost drove God to the point of exasperation, it was Israel in the wilderness.
We must not allow such a powerful lesson to pass by unheeded. Paul agrees, "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4).
The lesson is clear. Those who believe God reveal their faith by obeying Him. Those who do not believe Him disobey. Hebrews 3:12 warns, "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." Unbelief is evidence of an evil heart, and an evil heart departs from God. Like Hebrews 3:16-4:2, this verse equates unbelief with disobedience.
Living By Faith
How important is faith? "For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:37-38). "The just shall live by faith" is both a statement of fact about the basis of a Christian's life and a command. It is so important that it appears once in the Old Testament and three times in the New (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11). In each case, the context is somewhat different, but its importance to a Christian's salvation is not lost.
The concept is not difficult to understand. Paul further clarifies it in II Corinthians 5:7: "For we walk by faith, and not by sight." A simple definition of faith in Webster's New World Dictionary is "complete trust, confidence, or reliance." At the end of the definitions, "belief" is listed as a synonym. Belief means "faith, esp. religious faith; trust or confidence." The dictionary definitions show that the two words are virtually synonymous. However, in the Bible and in practical application, a very wide difference separates merely believing and living by faith.
The practical application of faith is more than simply acknowledging the reality of God. Living by faith involves qualities that are better expressed by the word "trust." This kind of faith produces loyalty or faithfulness expressed in the Christian's life by works of obedience.
Do we think even for a moment that the Israelites in the wilderness disbelieved that God existed? Some few may have argued that the miracles they had experienced from the arrival of Moses in Egypt until they died in the wilderness were nothing more than natural phenomena. There are always some doubters and scoffers of that sort (II Peter 3:3-7).
But the vast majority of Israelites could not deny to themselves God's mighty acts on their behalf. They had heard the voice of God at Mount Sinai, had seen a wind from God part the Red Sea, and had escaped death on Passover while the Egyptian firstborn had died. But when God required a higher level of obedience to follow His cloud across the wilderness and depend on Him to supply their every need, the record shows they did not trust Him. Their loyalty dissolved, and they rebelled! They did not have it within them to live—or walk—by faith.
"Walk" is frequently used in the Bible to indicate movement through life. When used figuratively, the context shows the manner or condition of the "walk." For example, "walk honestly" (Romans 13:13, KJV), "walk worthy of the calling" (Ephesians 4:1), and "no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind" (verse 17) are examples of a manner of living. "Walk by faith" (II Corinthians 5:7), "walk in the flesh" (II Corinthians 10:3), and "walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4) are examples of living in a certain state or condition.
The Israelites of the Exodus definitely lived according to the flesh, fulfilling the desires of their bodies and minds. They conducted their lives as if God did not exist, as though they would never have to answer to Him or anybody else. They lived seemingly without regard for what He said and with little or no concern about consequences to themselves or their posterity. They simply moved in the direction their carnal impulses drove them.
Somewhere along the way, they lost the vision of entering the promised homeland. They forgot about settling on their own property and living free under God's government and laws. Yes, that older generation literally walked in following the cloud as it moved toward the Promised Land, but their manner of life under the cloud corresponded to living in darkness. So, they never made it to Canaan.
The Right Kind of Faith
We can tell whether we have the right kind of faith. Hebrews 11:1 provides a definition: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hupostasis, the word translated as "substance," means "that which underlies the apparent; that which is the basis of something, hence, assurance, guarantee and confidence" (Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, p. 1426). The English "substance" is built from a prefix and a root that together mean "that which stands under." Webster's defines it as "the real or essential part or element of anything; essence, reality, or basic matter." It is very similar in meaning to hupostasis.
Paul is saying that, for Christians, faith underlies what is seen externally in the conduct of their lives. Underlying a building is its foundation, and in most buildings, the foundation is rarely seen. If it is seen at all, usually only a small portion is visible, but it is there. If no foundation exists, the building soon becomes crooked and warped. In most cases, it will collapse and be completely unusable.
Since Paul says, "We walk by faith, not by sight," we understand that underlying the conduct of a Christian's life is not merely believing that God is, but a constant and abiding trust in Him. Since it is impossible for God to lie, we trust that what God has recorded for us to live by is absolute and must be obeyed and that it will work in our lives regardless of what may be apparent to the senses.
How much of what we do is motivated by an implicit trust in God's Word? The answer to this question is how we can tell whether we are living by faith. We must be honest in our evaluation though. We find it very easy to shade the truth through self-deception. We justify disobedience by rationalizing around God's clear commands or examples, saying that our circumstance is special because . . . (fill in the blank).
If we are honest, we also have to admit that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego, Paul, Christ, and a whole host of others could also have rationalized that surely their circumstances were special. But in their cases, faith undergirded how they lived even when the going really became rough.
We like to think of ourselves as rising to the occasion when a time of great crisis arises. We all hope to emulate what the heroes of faith did. But as great as they were, Jesus says in John 15:13-14, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you."
It is easy to think of the sacrifice implied in "lay[ing] down one's life" as dying for another in one moment of time. Though that may occasionally occur, the context shows this sacrifice within the framework of friendship. Friendship occurs over months and years, not just in one moment in time.
In true friendships, because we are eager to help, we willingly spend ourselves ungrudgingly, without tallying the cost. Friends open their hearts and minds to each other without secrecy, which one would not do for a mere acquaintance. True friends allow the other to see right in and know them as they really are. Friends share what they have learned. Finally, and most importantly for this article, a friend trusts the one who believes in him and risks that the other will never doubt his loyalty but look on him with proven confidence.
Though the principle given by Christ is applicable to all friendships, He has one specific friendship as His primary focus: ours with Him, or more generally, ours with God. Proverbs 18:24 says, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." That friend is Jesus of Nazareth. He makes it very clear that if we are His friends, we will show it in our obedience to His commands. Before we can obey, however, we must trust Him.
We need to take a moment to evaluate ourselves. Are we as open and frank with Him as He is with us through His Word? Often our prayers are stiff and formal, not truly honest. Besides that, sometimes we become bored in His presence and soon have nothing to say to Him. Is it not true that we do not trust Him as fully as we should? That we are often quick to doubt Him? That we easily grow suspicious of Him? That we lose heart or fear that He has forgotten us? That He is not really trying or is unequal to the task of shepherding us into His Kingdom? Though He has never failed us, we are so quick to suspect and blame Him!
Israel did all of these things in the wilderness because they did not believe God. Much to our dismay, we do them now, in our time of salvation!
The Faith That Saves
Faith's importance to salvation is accentuated by Ephesians 2:8, where Paul writes, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Faith plays a role in the entire process until we enter the Kingdom of God. It is the sum of what God is doing in our lives: "Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent'" (John 6:29). In his wonderfully "meaty" fourth and fifth chapters of Romans, Paul mentions faith a dozen times, almost all concerning justification, being made righteous, or having access to grace, and thus, having the hope of the glory of God.
The faith that saves has its beginning when God, on His own initiative, calls us (John 6:44) and leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). He does this by His Spirit guiding us into all truth (John 16:7-14). Stirring up our minds to knowledge, His Spirit enables us to perceive from a perspective we never before seriously considered. Combined with the confrontation that occurs with the carnal mind when we are forced to choose what to do with this precious truth, this enabling gives birth to a living faith, a faith that works, a faith that walks in godliness.
This would never occur if God did not first do His part. We would never find the true God on our own or understand His gospel of the Kingdom of God. We would never be able to choose the real Jesus, our Savior and Elder Brother, from the mass of false christs created in the minds of men. Not knowing what to repent of or toward, we would never repent.
As miraculous and powerful as God's liberation of Israel from bondage was, even more so and of greater importance is the breaking of our bondage to Satan, this world, and human nature. This is why Ephesians 2:8 says the faith that saves is "the gift of God." Israel's release from Egypt was God's gift too. Regardless of how much they cried out to Him, the Israelites would never have left Egypt without Him. If God had not been merciful and faithful, if He had not been trustworthy, they would never have been freed.
What did God lead us to that sparked this saving faith in us? He led us to His Word. We can glean a measure of faith from observing God's creation, but this faith cannot save us because it does not reveal His purpose. It gives us no direction or outlet for the soaring thoughts and creative energies of the God-given gift of a mind trained in His image. But do we find God's purpose and His revelation of Himself in His Word? "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).
Of course, this does not mean that all who hear the message will understand and accept it. Without the message, however, there would be nothing to believe in, nothing that one could trust to lead him to salvation. In practical application, this means that one should always most carefully evaluate the message being preached rather than the man or the corporate body he represents. It is essential that we put our trust in the right teachings. Most of the people who claim to be "Christian" are living by false gospels.
The Bible shows this principle from beginning to end. Adam and Eve put their trust in Satan's message rather than God's (Genesis 3:1-6). The children of Israel listened to Korah, Dathan, and the two-hundred-fifty leaders (Numbers 16:1-3), and later they succumbed to the Moabites’ appeal to sexual license (Numbers 25:1-3). In each case, many died as a witness to us. After Solomon's reign, Israel followed Jeroboam's false message. Christ prophesied that many would proclaim that He (Jesus) is the Christ yet deceive many.
We Must Choose to Live by Faith
We must learn the valuable lessons of faith shown in the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness because they directly apply to us (Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 10:11). The people knew the history of their ancestors with whom God had worked, yet they chose to forget His graciousness to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. God demonstrated His presence to them, but the Israelites chose to disregard Him. They had the gospel preached to them, and they chose not to believe it. They had among them the godly witness of men of faith, men in whom the Spirit of God dwelled, and the rebellious children of Israel chose not to follow them.
God does not ask us to believe His message without evidence. He presents us with an overwhelming body of proof that He does exist and is working out a great purpose that now includes us. We would not even be in a position to read this had He not personally acted to stir our minds to understand things of His Spirit. He has given us His Spirit so that we might know the things of God.
When we have faith, we trust God that what He has said and promised is true. Though we may at times feel all alone in the midst of a trial, we can take comfort that so did all those others of the faithful who went before us. The very nature of faith demands that such a feeling of "going out on a limb" occur. If we had what we desire, we would not need faith (see Hebrews 11:13).
Now the weight of responsibility for making choices grounded on trust in God's Word has fallen upon us. It is awesome to think of ourselves as baptized into the history of the same spiritual company of those greats of the past, men and women of faith whose names are emblazoned in our memories. We must forget neither their standing with God because of their faith nor Israel's failure in the wilderness because they did not trust Him.
Remember the warning and advice God gave to Israel in the days before they entered the Promised Land:
For this commandment which I command you today, it is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?" But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. (Deuteronomy 30:11-20)
The choice is ours.
Wilderness appears in the Bible regularly and, what is more, it is often the background of significant events.When God freed His people from slavery in Egypt, He didn’t bring them straight into the Promised Land. He took them on a journey first. And not just any journey – He took them into the wilderness for 40 years. What is the meaning of the wilderness?
At first, that idea does not sound pleasant at all. The wilderness? Why should we spend any time there? It’s hard, it’s lonely, and its stillness is deafening. But God had a plan.As the Israelites wandered through the desert, God revealed Himself to them more than ever before.
A Path through… into the Wilderness
We avoid the uncomfortable in life, because we think we have very legitimate reasons for doing so. When our life hits the “desert”, a dry or lonely period, it is very hard to recoup. Our hearts and minds feel weary, burnt out, and everything seems lifeless or pointless. In most extreme cases, even taking a single step out the door seems to require an extreme amount of effort.
And yet, the desert is not presented as a hopeless place in the Bible. God had used the desert and the wilderness to speak with His people. If you are in the middle of a desert season, you’re actually not alone.
A Place of Encounter
It is important we notice the wilderness in the Bible. God spoke to Abraham while he was in the wilderness. God brought the Israelites into the wilderness, because He wanted to speak to them at Mount Sinai. This is where He spoke to Moses.In the wilderness God met with Elijah. It was in the desert when God spoke to John the Baptist, who spent most of his life in these rough conditions. He became known as the Voice Calling in the Wilderness.
Each of these stories is filled with miracles. Their seasons were not wasted – on the contrary, God used these difficult times for something meaningful and powerful. In the wilderness God was present, and in the desert, He made Himself known.
Hebrew Meaning of the Word “Desert”
The Hebrew language, which a big portion of the Bible was written in, carries so much depth. We can sometimes lose the complex meaning of a word, if we only look at its translation.Many seemingly different words can actually be connected in Hebrew, because they have a common root – three core letters.
The Hebrew word for the desert is MIDBAR. Because there are no vowels in Hebrew, the letters that spell it out are M-D-B-R. Coincidentally, this is also how you spell another Hebrew word, MEDABER – to speak.
The wilderness of the Judean hills is where the Holy Spirit sent Jesus before the start of his public ministry. He was in the desert so that God could have a conversation with him.
Jesus came to the midbar – the desert, so that God could medaber – speak to him!
Jesus didn’t wander into the desert by accident. He went there on purpose, because He wanted to hear from God. This shows us once again how deep the meaning of wilderness is in the Bible.Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Elijah – none of them were in the wilderness by accident. God wanted to speak with them, and what better place for an important meeting than the one where there are no distractions.
Letting Go in the Desert
In our Western cultures, we are very used to our comforts. Even as followers of Jesus, we try to avoid “the desert”. We don’t like when life gets hard, or barren, or lonely. The wilderness makes us feel isolated, so we do what we can to escape it.But what if we asked God about His timing – when is the right time to move on? Is He trying to tell us something?
The negative approach to the wilderness is challenged even in the Gospels. Jesus with His disciples often chose the wilderness for rest or some quality time, when He told them about the Kingdom of God.In these moments, Yeshua was not being pulled in every direction by those who needed His help. And it was in the desert where Jesus was baptized! There, God announced to the whole world that He loved His Son!
Facing the Discomfort of the Wilderness
Young David was running through the desert when he was trying to flee from King Saul. He was hiding in caves and you could say he was in a very low place in his life.But it was in that wilderness, where he experienced closeness and intimacy with the Lord. David wrote dozens of poems and songs, pouring out his heart. And he knew God was listening, too.
We all face things in our lives that feel like the wilderness.
Maybe like David we can’t seem to escape our problems. Like Abraham, we are not sure where to go or what to do. Maybe like Moses, we feel overwhelmed with our responsibilities. Or like Elijah, we are simply burnt out.
When the Bible Gives Wilderness Meaning
Although in hardship we want to avoid the discomfort of the desert, it is in fact an invitation to an encounter. God wants to speak to us.Thanks to Scripture we know for a fact that in the desert is where the presence of God is most prevalent.
Jesus chose the wilderness, because He knew that, while being alone and tempted, there was strength and authority to be gained by being alone with His Father.No matter how isolated you may feel today, God wants to come into your midbar – desert, be near you, and medaber – speak to you. He is in the midst of your wilderness.
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