40 How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert! 41 Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel. 42 They did not remember His power: The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
Some of the hardest times for the people of God was in the wilderness, the same is true for you and I. You see, the wilderness is a place of great testing and faith training. The bible says they wandered around in the desert for over 40 years…it’s due to their lack of faith. Had they believed God after the spies returned, they would’ve inherited the Promised Land a lot sooner. This is so true when it comes to our circumstances.
There are quite a few of you who should be further along than you actually are, but you’re stuck in the wilderness, too afraid or concerned about entering the Promised Land. You’re not alone in the wilderness. There were several people in the bible that went through the same things: usually to teach us a spiritual lesson and encourage us to keep on going.
- Abraham was tested in the Wilderness
- Jacob wrestled with an Angel of the Lord all night in the wilderness
- Jesus was tempted in the Wilderness
God will often test the strength or the weakness of our faith in the wilderness. If you’re going to live for God, you must be stronger than your enemies…
The World / Flesh / Devil
LUKE 22:31-34
'And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has askedfor you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed foryou that your FAITH should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brothers. But Peter replied, Lord I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.' Jesus said, I tell you the truth Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you deny Me 3 times that you know me.'
Jesus told Peter that the devil would attack his life, but He is praying for him to remain ‘faithful’ He goes on to tell him that after he’s recovered, he should strengthen his brothers…Peter replies stating he’s ready to endure the up and coming trial, Jesus answered, ‘No you’re not!’
Why did Jesus say this? One of the obvious truths is, Peter had more faith in his abilities rather than trusting God…he was confident that he was better than his brothers and he could handle anything…Jesus clearly says, no you cannot. However, even when you fall, you should have enough faith to get back up!
You can afford to Fail, but you cannot afford to be untrue or unfaithful!
Peter was sent through a wilderness experience, filled with failure, but he recovered...how about you?
JOSHUA 1:1-2
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant saying; 'Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise,go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them - the Children of Israel'
The children of Israel were able to come out of the wilderness after this significant event in their lives…the death of Moses. This speaks of 2 dynamics:
1. Moses represented an era of Unbelief > It was Moses who couldn’t go into the Promised Land because he struck the rock, remember? It was Moses who tried to do everything himself and Jethro had to set him straight
2. Moses represented an era of ‘Almost’ > They almost entered into the land but were halted by the 10 spies, Korah, the Golden Calf, the Bronze serpent, etc. Moses led the people out of bondage, but he couldn’t direct bondage out of the people! They had to learn the basics of freedom, they had to establish faith, establish the law, etc…by the time Moses died, all of that generation had died with him…Joshua and Caleb were the only ones left…they were able to convince the new converts (if you will), to fight for freedom and the Promised Land
This is so true when it comes to you and I coming out of the wilderness. SOMETHING HAS TO DIE, or we’ll never change and come out. God will make sure that we keep going around and around, until we kill off what is hindering. NOW YOU KNOW WHY YOU REPEAT THE SAME STUFF YEAR AFTER YEAR – YOU HAVEN’T DIED.
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