Scripture: Deuteronomy 1 v 19 - 21: "And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.
20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged."
At some time in our life with God we will have a desert, or wilderness, experience, in which our only aim is to survive and find a way out. These are mostly experiences of the soul and flesh, rather than actually living in a desert region.
The first hint that we are in a wilderness experience is thirst. Followed by hunger. This is not physical either, it is a spiritual condition where we thirst for righteousness and hunger for truth. These are found in the Word of God, our only compass and map. There is no other name but the name of Jesus, by which we can be saved.
This same Jesus provided water from the Rock to the Hebrews on their Exodus out of Egypt. He provided Manna and Quails every day for forty years so they never went hungry. Spiritually, He is the Living Water, which continually satisfies our thirst to the point that we will never thirst again.
John 4 v 10, 14: "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
He is the Bread of Heaven or Manna which never runs out if we spend time in the Bible collecting it. It's when we become spiritually lazy that we end up in the Desert to revive our desire for eternal life. We then have no option but to search our cupboards for every edible scrap of food we can find.
We need to actually eat the food we find to satisfy those hunger pangs. In this case, it means apply the Word of God to our daily lives, relationships, discipline of children, attitude to people around.
When we are on the lush mountaintop we delight in God's abundance, and cheerfully underline those verses in the Bible that appeal to us. All the good words and sayings that comfort us. But when the Desert rises up to meet us, those underlined verses cease to be useful.
We need to look at the things that reveal to us the reason we have been driven to this harsh place in life. Everything was going well until suddenly we need a survival kit just to stay alive. We need to go back into the Word and read all the parts we never underlined. Because in there we will find directions back to the mountaintop.
We may need to make more than one attitude adjustment. In most cases we need to uproot the Tree of Pride in our successful life and become humble before God. This is not as easy as flipping a switch. We may not have to do it for forty years, but its not an overnight experience.
Pride is a demon that makes us big in our own eyes, and sees everyone else as lesser mortals because of our superiority. To climb down off this high horse takes becoming teachable. Pride is a know-it-all so those still self-enamoured, and unteachable, this is a long stretch of hardships until God has conquered this trait and seen true humility.
We saw the final speech of former Prime Minister of Britain, Boris Johnson, yesterday which highlighted his achievements but said nothing of his guilty misdemeanours, and caused commentators to be rather critical. Pride goes before a fall, and he has a lot further to fall until its conquered.
This is necessary as pride is deceptive and disguises truth in very pretty figleaves. The world is full of proud people who twist truth and scam every vulnerable victim. However, cheaters only seem to prosper because they face a few deserts of their own if they escape the justice they deserve but fall into the court of the Righteous Judge. The church has its share of ministers who have twisted the Word to suit their neatly underlined passages.
Bryan Hupperts excerpt from 'Are You in the Wilderness?' says "There are some beautiful things growing in the desert. Be patient and let Him finish what he has started in you. It takes a deep, well-developed root system, to be able to not only nourish a plant, butproduce and feed the growing fruit on its' branches. If there are no roots, there will be no fruit. And His goal is to bring you to a place of fruitfulness."
People deep in the Desert who have lost everything were once committed Christians but circumstances, doubts, worldliness and mounting debt drove them into the wilderness of not knowing which way to turn. The churches they know are all about money, first, last and all the time and they have no memory of the love of Jesus or even how to find Him again. But He never lets go of His lost lambs! He leaves those that are safe to find the ones that have strayed and fallen down cliffs, or got lost in the wilderness, and brings in the rescuers to lead them back to Him.
Going through the desert always has a purpose for pruning the dead branches and making us more fruitful, more energised, more obedient to the Lord. We are ready to turn the other cheek, and go the extra mile, to achieve the will of the Father. So if you are experiencing this wilderness experience, don't despair, never give up, its a major learning curve that will bless you forever.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You that we have Jesus as an example of a desert experience, and His victory over Satan gives us valuable lessons. All of Your children go through this at some time so guide us and give us ears to hear and a mind to understand. In Jesus' name. Amen.