walking in the wilderness

The wilderness.  How many of you have felt like you were in the wilderness?  Each wilderness season looks different for everyone.  Are you waiting for a job?  A spouse?  A child?  A loved one to quit drinking?  A friendship to be restored?  A healing?  Salvation for a loved one?  Is there something you are longing for deep in your bones that you haven’t seen come to fruition yet?  

Paul had a thorn in his side and pleaded with the Lord to remove it; but He did not.  Rather, the Lord said to him, “my grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in weakness.”  But, do we believe that?  Is His grace sufficient in all things?

Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Can any of you relate to those words?  I know I can.

I’ve recently been in a wilderness season myself.  My family encountered many hardships, including financial difficulties, health challenges, and the loss of both of my remaining grandparents.  I got my heart broken.  Some friendships needed to change drastically.  I wrestled with my future and the plans the Lord has for me.  In this midst of all this, I moved in with my parents; we live together for the first time in over 11 years.  For those of you who live with your adult children and/or parents - you know what I’m talking about!   ;)  If I had a $1 for every tear shed in this season, I’d be pretty rich.

The wilderness.  It is a time of great challenge.  

His grace is sufficient...

Matthew 3:13 - 4:2

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

This is one of my favorite passages.  We see Jesus being baptized.  We see the Holy Spirit coming down on Jesus!  (And He has not left!)  We see that God the Father tells Jesus he is pleased with him.  The Father is pleased with who Jesus is!  This is before Jesus ever did ministry publicly and the Father is pleased!  These are the greatest blessings we can receive: the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and praises from our Heavenly Father.

And then...then we see that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness.  Jesus followed him there, he was obedient - even as it led to a place with hardship and temptation - just like our wilderness experiences do.  The wilderness can feel like the worst place on earth to be, but if the Lord leads you there, it is not.  

The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years.  40 years!  Can you imagine?  40 years of waiting.  Mark Batterson said that waiting often leads to spiritual confusion and emotional exhaustion.  I am willing to bet the Israelites felt confused and exhausted.  I know I have!  Have you?!  BUT in the midst of wandering, God was there.  

His grace is sufficient...

Deuteronomy 2:7

For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows you're going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’

It doesn’t always feel like you’re lacking nothing, right?  Sometimes it feels like you are lacking everything...

Deuteronomy 8:2-4

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And 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. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.

Why does the Lord bring us to the wilderness?  He humbles us.  He tests our hearts.  He sees if we will obey him in all things.  Being humbled and tested isn’t easy...in fact, it often hurts a whole lot.  But it is for our good.  God has the power - and I believe he takes delight and great care - to refine us and make us more like Him.  But sometimes that can only be done in the hard places.  

AND he is ALWAYS with us in these places!  He gave the Israelites manna every day so that they had something to eat.  He didn’t give them a great big storehouse of it, but he gave it to them every day so they would have to depend on him for it.  The Lord was gracious to them and did not let their clothes wear out or their shoes.  He provided for them each and every step of the way -- even if it wasn’t the way they wanted him to provide.  Amidst the hardships, there are blessings.  So many blessings and so many things to be thankful for!  I find that gratitude begets gratitude...the more blessings I see, the more I continue to see.

His grace is sufficient...

Hosea 2:14-15

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

These verses make me smile.  I love that it says he will allure her...he will pursue her into the wilderness.  For those of you who can relate to the wilderness, it may seem like such a contradiction!  If you love me, why are you taking me into a place of hardship?!?  But it is in the wilderness, that he can speak tenderly to her!  In the wilderness, you are broken enough to listen.  And it is in the wilderness that hope is restored.  

I have to tell you something.  The biggest piece of fruit this wilderness season has produced for me is presence.  Over the past nine(ish) months, the Lord has taught me so much about being in His presence.  When I stepped into the wilderness there were days I just didn’t know what to do.  My heart ached.  Circumstances seemed to be anything but favorable.  I work for a university and there are many buildings...so I would go to a random building on my lunch break and find a bathroom stall.  I would turn the lights off and sit on the floor in the dark begging God to speak to me; demanding that the Holy Spirit show up!

And you know what?  He did!  I could tangibly feel his presence in there with me!  And He spoke to me - He gave me hope.  He gave me comfort.  He gave me the encouragement I needed to take one more step, to move ahead, to keep trusting him.  Months later, it is my favorite part of the day.  Sometimes I even crawl under the desk in my office, lay down, and wait expectantly on God to show up, to be near to me, and to restore my hope.  

Isaiah 45:3

I will give you treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by name.

Sometimes the secret places are in the bathroom and under pieces of furniture...  

Where are the secret places for you?  If you don’t have one, I challenge you to find one.  Is there some place that you can go where your defenses are down and you are less distracted so that your ears are opened?  Your heart more receptive to the presence and voice of our Lord Jesus?  Mark Batterson says that a change of pace and a change of place equals a change of perspective.  And sometimes a change of perspective is exactly what we need.  

His grace is sufficient...

David Powelson says, The  real  adventure  takes the  path  of  weakness,  struggle,  endurance,  patience,  small  kindnesses  done  well.  The  road  to  excellence  in  wisdom  is unglamorous.  Other  people  might  take  better  vacations  and  have  a  more  thrilling  marriage  than  yours.  The  path  of  Jesus  calls forth  more  grit  than  thrill.  He  needed  endurance  far  more  than  he  needed  excitement.  His  kingdom  might  not  cater  to  our cravings  for  derring-­do  and  thrill-­seeking,  but  "solid  joys  and  lasting  treasures  none  but  Zion’s  children  know."

God the father sent his only son Jesus to this earth to show us how to live, to save us from our sins.  He is the only way to heaven and salvation.  Salvation of our souls and of our lives; Jesus is the only one that can bring us true healing and restoration.  He is the only one who can make us lie down in green pastures and restore our souls.  Jesus came to bring life and life to the fullest!  But sometimes that life is not fun or easy; sometimes it is a daily battle.  

If you are trying to make it day by day, waiting and hoping for an answer, a solution, a peace.  I pray that our God who created the mountains and the seas, who is beyond all time, and able to do anything, who created you and has known you since before you were born, will be near to you.  James tells us to draw near to God and He will draw near to us.  In my trials, my joy has been renewed.  Any joy that I have comes from a dependence on Jesus and being in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  

I am sure that each of us has a story to tell about wandering in the wilderness.

Sometimes you can’t see outside if your circumstances.  Sometimes you can't see out of your prison walls.  Can you relate?  I can.  It does NOT change who he is or the good things he has done!  

Remember what he has done.  What has he done?   I can personally attest to the following:  watching a friend come to know Jesus.  Watching a friend receive the gift of tongues.  Watching someone be healed.  Praying for someone to get pregnant. Hearing a friend talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Having food provided weekly to a ministry I help with.  And many more things.  And I am sure that each of you can attest to things the Lord has done!  Ways you know he is alive and active!

Our circumstances are not how god feels about you.  How god feels about you is the cross!!  His grace is sufficient...

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

If you know Jesus, you have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing!  The Lord is not holding out on you.  Satan and our circumstances may try to tell us otherwise, but the Lord tells us the truth!  It is my prayer that all of us will believe this and live our lives accordingly.