As I was reading through the Old Testament this week, I came across a scripture that was an encouragement to me during our time in the wilderness. This scripture answers the “WHY” to our wilderness seasons and the purpose behind them all.
When we think of the wilderness, we often get focused on the promised land and how quickly we want to arrive there. However, we tend to overlook the opportunity for growth in our spiritual lives that can only be obtained by walking through a season of difficulty and challenges.
What I have learned about myself over the past few years is that I can handle and manage short term sufferings. However, when the short term turns into months or years, then I am quick to become weary, frustrated, angry, bitter, and feel lost. That is where I found myself halfway through our journey. We were dealing with so much and things were coming at us so fast that I felt overwhelmed and like I couldn’t breathe. We didn’t have time to process the emotions let along deal with the issues at hand. After several months of facing challenge after challenge, I began to ask God the question “Why”.
I would cry out to him in desperation during my prayer time and I heard nothing in return. It was as if God was silent. When I needed to hear from Him the most, I heard nothing at all. Yet, one day as I was reading my bible, I came across this scripture that was revelation to me and was the answer to my “why”?
It was a revelation for me, and I hope that it will be for you too. If you are walking through a difficult season and are struggling trying to figure out the reason behind it all, I hope the following will be an encouragement to you.
1. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years. We were in the wilderness because God had led us there with intention and purpose. This helped me to reframe asking God the question of “Why am I going through this?” to “What it is that you want me to learn from it?” Reframing the question from why to what changes the position from one of loss to one of gain. I encourage you to take a moment to look at this as an opportunity for growth and what it is HE is trying to teach you during this time. HE, too, has led you here with intention and purpose.
2. To humble you. The definition of humble means reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of respect or submission. Another definition means marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful. We may find ourselves in a place where our attitude and behaviors need to be corrected and changed. This may not be a result of what we have done wrong or a result of sin, it can be. However, God sees something inside of us that he wants to grow and develop. This season is an opportunity to change your attitude, your behaviors, and to submit to God.
3. To test you to know what was in your heart. Hmmm, this one still stings for me. God wants to test us during this season to reveal what is in our hearts. Trust me, when you are dealing with issue after issue, what is in your heart will be revealed and what was in mine was ugly. God revealed to me that I had an Israelite heart. Instead of walking through our wilderness with hands raised high and giving God praise for what He was doing and what HE has done, I murmured and complained the entire time. Let’s just say there were more pity parties happening than praises. There were things in my heart that needed to be acknowledged and corrected. Often these changes will only take place through our time in the wilderness. There may be things hidden in your heart that need to be revealed as well. God already knows and it will be exposed.
4. To know whether you will keep his commands: God wants to know that we are fully committed to Him and HIS word. Commitment is a choice that we make to carry the process through to completion. Was I going to continue to follow God or walk away? I could either turn to God or turn away from HIM. Although, at times I felt like giving up. I knew deep in my heart that giving up on God was not an option. HE has never given up on me. And despite my feelings and emotions, I was committed to seeing this season through to completion. More importantly, I was and am committed to living my life, according to his word, for the Lord. He wants to know the same about you.
I don’t know where you are in your life. You may be coming out of the wilderness season or getting ready to enter one. You may find yourself asking the same question as I did. My hope and prayer are that this scripture will give you encouragement and help you understand the “why” of your season.
God has shown to me that as much as I wanted our journey to be over, that getting to a certain place, or our promised land was not the purpose of it. It is the position of my heart when I arrive there. Our hearts must be humbled, tested, committed and in a position to be ready and able to receive what God has for us.
Deuteronomy 8:7 says, “For the Lord your God is bringing you into good land”, a land of abundance... where we will lack nothing.
What a beautiful promise of what God has waiting for us as HE leads us through our seasons unharmed, delivered and forever changed. That is HIS “why” for the wilderness.
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