“I thank Thee that many of my prayers have
been refused
I have longed for Egypt and have been given
a wilderness.”
– The
Valley of Vision
The wilderness is a place of briars, barrenness, and solitude. Danger lies all around and no path has been cut through the overgrown trees and plants. Sustenance is not easily obtained. One must tread slowly and carefully, and even then, a tree root or rock may cause the feet to stumble.
It is not a place we willingly choose, but a place that
God allows for our own best interest.
The wilderness forces one to look to the Lord for the most basic yet important needs: guidance, companionship, and nourishment. These are readily available in many forms in Egypt, along with the extra comforts like fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic (Numbers 11:5). Egypt is bustling with people, ideas, advice, thrills, and comforts, but that’s usually not what our spirit needs most.
The temptations are greatest in the wilderness. Satan did
not take Jesus to the bustling, distracting city to tempt Him. Instead He was
tempted in the solitude and harshness of the wilderness. The temptation to
worry, fear, lust, or grow angry and bitter – these can easily take root in our
hearts and minds in the wilderness. The battle against the lust of the flesh
and the pride of life is sharper in the wilderness.
If we choose to respond to our wilderness the right way,
we can see our great sin and God’s great saving grace made real each day. We
learn how to wield the weapons that are mighty through God. We learn what it’s like
to have a Friend that sticks closer than a brother. What it’s like to walk in
literal step by step dependence upon Him, trusting His right hand to hold us
and keep us from falling. What it’s like to be fed the Living Word. What it’s
like to be filled, as Paul writes in Colossians, with His fullness in spite of
the barrenness we see around us. And we may even see what it’s like to find
beauty in the wilderness.
“Oh, the desert is lovely in its
restfulness.
The great brooding stillness over and
through
everything is so full of God. One does not
wonder that He used to take His people out
into the wilderness to teach them.”
–
Lilias Trotter
Yes, to teach them of Him and His ways. “It is good that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes” (Psalm 119:71). It’s all about purifying us and molding us into the image of Christ. And the wilderness is one of His greatest tools.
Do I trust Him to lead me through the wilderness in His time? Yes, “I shall not lose me in the brake, for Thou dost know the way” (Amy Carmichael).
"My Lord knows the way through the
wilderness.
All I have to do is follow.
Strength for today is mine all the way,
And all I need for tomorrow.
My Lord knows the way through the
wilderness.
All I have to do is follow."
- Unknown
