The WildernessSample

6th day. The end of the wilderness.

Every time we find ourselves in the wilderness, most of our initial thoughts are to get a plan of escape. We want to go back to where things were comfortable, where we could feel God’s presence each day, and where we were in control of our own circumstances. But as we’ve learned these past few days, that is not always the case, and we should not run ahead or away from God. It is God’s will for us to pass through the wilderness and not remain in it. So how and when do we end the wilderness season? The answer is quite easy, it is through our obedience and surrender.

God’s will in the wilderness is to accomplish things in us to prepare us for greater things to come. When we present ourselves as living sacrifices unto the Lord, He can accomplish what He wants to in and through us. We are to be transparent before God so that the characteristics, weaknesses, distractions, and sins that draw us away from Him can be dealt with. Our ultimate goal in the wilderness should be to draw closer to God, to know Him more intimately, to trust in Him no matter what and to experience His hand upon your life in ways that were unfamiliar to us before. Paul sums this up beautifully in Philippians 3:10. It reads, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,”. This verse is subtracted from a piece where Paul described all his earthly goals and achievements as rubbish because he realized everything was null and void if you are not in a relationship with Christ.

Our obedience unto the Lord and His ways are of utmost importance to God. If we look at Israel’s journey through the wilderness, God was pleased when they walked by faith and obedience but when they started to grumble, complain, and distrust God, their season was prolonged. We will reach our promised land when we are obedient and when we have passed the test in the wilderness. A huge asset is to renew our minds. The number one challenge Israel had was not the lack of food, water, guidance, protection, or even clothes. Their biggest challenge was their mindset. We have to set our minds on things above and habitually keep it set there. We have to renew our minds daily with the Word of God so that we don’t conform to the pattern of this world, but be changed and transformed from the inside out, able to discern what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2). If you want to know God’s will amid trials and hardships, then renew your mind with the Word of God.

I want to encourage you not to lose heart in the wilderness. Even when it seems unbearable, even when you want to run away from the wilderness or back to your comfort zone, even when it feels like God has abandoned you and your life is a mess. Take heart, that is not the case. God is busy, God is on the move, and God wants to raise up the Body of Christ so that we can be bold as lions in this world, declaring the Kingdom of God with all power and authority. Don’t be like some of the Israelites that died in the wilderness because of disobedience, and wrong mindsets. Let us be like the people who followed Joshua into the promised land and conquered the enemy one city at a time.

If God is for us, who can be against us?