Have you been uprooted from your comfort zone? Do not fret. God has scheduled a come back for this “set back” if you can see your way to sit back and let Him direct this next chapter of your life.
We are making our way through this “wilderness wandering” series where we are using the children of Israel and Jesus’ wilderness experience to help us navigate what may seem like a desolate moment in our lives, can actually be a set up for the breakthrough that we have been endeavoring to achieve .
In today’s post, we are discussing what are some of the principles that we are to learn as we journey through this uncomfortable situation, difficult problem, time of instability. Let’s dive in:
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
Deuteronomy 8:2-7
So, here God lays out the reasons for this journey:
- To humble you
- To know whether you are with Him for more than just the “fishes and the loaves”
- That you may recognize that it is in Him that you live, move and have your being
What should be our response?
Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
deuteronomy 8:6
God’s goal here is to educate His people about what His word has commanded us to do, so that we will be refined through His word and receive the promise:
For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
Deuteronomy 8:7-19
Has God given you a Promise?
In the above passage, God has given the children of Israel a promise. He goes on to give them a word picture of what He has prepared for them upon meeting the conditions that He has established. And then He says, oh by the way, do not forget Who it was that brought you through that desolated place that you were in. He is the One who is keeping us, leading us and if we will allow Him to teach us through His word, He will lead us out of our wilderness experiences into a prepared place.
But before we get to that place, we must be prepared. So what is God asking you to do in this hour? Are you doing it? One characteristic of the wilderness is the fact that it is void of so many distractions. So this season would be a great opportunity to get into the routine of scheduling time with God, so that you can hear what He is saying to you in regards to His plan for you once you exit this wilderness.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
joshua 1:8
The Wilderness – Designed to Anoint You For Your Next Assignment
When Jesus was led of the Spirit into the wilderness, He was tested and tried in the fire (I Peter 4:12-13,) and He came forth into the ministry. There are times when our wilderness experience has been designed to birth an assignment/ministry that the Lord has given to us. Such was the case with Jesus. For it was after His wilderness experience, that Jesus was anointed for the ministry.
Satan tested Him 3 times with the temptations wherein men are tested: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life (John 2:16). Jesus was under great duress because He had been fasting for forty days, but notice what He said to Satan that caused him to leave Him alone. This my friend, is the same thing that we must do in order to defeat our spiritual enemies:
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
matthew 4:1-11
Did you notice how Jesus handled Satan when He tempted (“attacked”) Him? He quoted scriptures! That is a highly effective skill to employ because the scriptures teaches us that we have power by the words that we speak (Proverbs 18:21,). And the good news is that we can do the same thing that Jesus did, and no doubt there are some of you who “confess” the anointed word of God (which is like submitting yourself to God), and experience the results of watching the enemy flee from you. This is called spiritual warfare and it is highly effective arsenal that the Lord has equipped us with so that we are not at the mercy of Satan when he starts throwing his fiery darts at us. However, we must learn how to put on the whole armor of God, a subject we will be discussing in later posts.
Learning spiritual warfare is a skill that you learn in the wilderness. So, the next time you are feeling the heat, use one of your pieces of armor (the sword of the Spirit), and swing it against your enemy by declaring what is written: If he hits you with sickness, declare “by the stripes of Jesus, I am healed” (Isaiah 53:5). When you feel hell’s hounds hot on your trail, don’t run, turn around and declare: “No weapon formed against me shall prosper!” (Isaiah 54:17)
If God be for you, He is more than the world against you (Romans 8:31). It was this lack of faith in God’s ability to bring them into their inheritance that caused that generation of Israelites to cease from entering into their land of promise. They feared the “giants in the land” and that fear of the giants (rather than having faith in their God) caused them to die in the wilderness. For you it may be the death of your dream, an obstacle to a problem that needs to be solved, or breaking through to that next level. That in fact, will be the subject of the next post: Don’t run from your giants, face them. Giants do fall!
God Bless.
