Why the Wilderness?
You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip.
(Psalm 18:36 NKJV)
Often, we end up in our version of the wilderness—in a situation that we do not understand, and where we can’t comprehend what God is doing. He seems to have us on a journey that makes no sense to us with detour after detour.
The Hebrew slaves, led out of Egypt by Moses, were headed to the Promised Land. The obvious route was short, along the coastline to Canaan, but instead God led them through the Red Sea and into the Sinai desert. The coastline route would have taken approximately eleven days. But God knew something they didn’t. Between them and the Promised Land were the warring Philistines. The former slaves, fresh out of Egypt and with no knowledge of how to wage war, would have been sitting ducks.
God may have told Moses the reason, but if He did, Moses did not share it with the Hebrews, which led to grumbling and complaining as the long journey continued with obstacle after obstacle and no apparent end in sight.
God also knew His people needed to be trained, taught, and given time to grow in their faith before they would be able to take possession of the Promised Land. He had given them the land, but they still had to occupy the ground. So into the desert they went.
And that is what He often does with us. We must have a “wilderness” experience so we can grow and be strengthened in our faith. Every trial, every moment of pain, every instance of fear and confusion, He uses for our good.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28 NKJV).
God continually strengthens our spiritual muscles and prepares us for what He has in store for us so we are able to carry the weight of the blessings coming our way. Sounds counter intuitive that a blessing could be a “weight,” doesn’t it? But without His teaching, what God has ahead for us could easily become a burden and not a blessing if we are not ready for it.
He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me (Psalm 18:19 NIV).
David wrote this verse after his years of exile had ended and he was now king of Israel. God used those years in the desert when he was running from Saul, hiding in caves, with enemies all around him, as a training ground for his future role as king. He would never have been able to fulfil his calling as king without those times of trouble where all he had to hold onto was his faith in his God.
As you travel through your wilderness, keep clinging to His Hand, knowing it is all in His control. Don’t let fear tell you that you have been forgotten. God will never forget you. He is always working on your behalf.
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me (Isaiah 49:16 NIV).
Hold onto His Word and keep walking. One day, you will look back and see the whole picture and thank Him for those difficult times.
“Don’t question in the dark what God showed you in the light” (V. Raymond Edman).
