By Pastor Andrew Farland
In the Old Testament, we read about the Israelites, God’s people, having to travel for 40 years through the wilderness.
God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt but guided them through a challenging and turbulent journey toward the Promised Land, a beautiful country where God’s people could finally settle and enjoy their lives.
Along the way, God’s people complained and wished for the journey to end. They even wished to go back to a life of slavery because it would be easier than that wilderness.
Have you ever been there?
Have you ever been stuck in a long, difficult season?
Have you ever thought that it might just be easier to give up?
We’ve all been in that situation.
The question remains: why the wilderness?! Why does God lead us into long and arduous walks through the desert? Three truths from the Israelites’ 40-year journey can help us answer that question.
The wilderness wasn’t a place of punishment. It was a place of preparation. God sends people through the wilderness to prepare them for the Promised Land. The truth is that God’s people would not have been able to appreciate God’s blessings if they hadn’t gone through a time when God felt distant. What might God be preparing you for?
The wilderness wasn’t the last stop on the tour. There was a plan unfolding before their eyes. Some were willing to see the lessons that God might be teaching His people. Others were hardened. What lesson is God teaching you? What lessons has He already taught you in the desert?
The wilderness was the place where God demonstrated His patience and not His wrath. God let the Israelites mess up and eventually find their way back to Him. Thankfully, God gives His people time to figure things out. He doesn’t expect us to see His lessons or understand what He’s preparing us for. He just wants us to keep the faith and get back up when we stumble.
You should know that God was active in the wilderness when the Israelites were on their 40-year journey and He’s always with us in the middle of the valley.
Let’s sum everything up. Why the wilderness? God needs us to go through the desert so that He can teach us the lessons we’ll need in the Promised Land. If you’re on the other side of the wilderness, you know this is true. If you’re in the middle of one, keep the faith and look for the lessons God is trying to teach you.
Deuteronomy 2:7
“For the Lord, your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”
Be encouraged today because God is with you.
