Hey, God loves you and because He loves you there's going to come a time when you're going to have to go into the wilderness. I'm not talking about becoming like Bear Grylls and eating raw wriggling fish from a mountain pond - the wilderness can be many things. You see God is unchanging and perfect but we are not - we always need to change and grow - and often the best way for us to grow is through trials and tests of our faith. Sadly as humans we naturally often prefer comfort but character isn't built while sitting in an arm chair with a remote in your hand eating tasty snacks. Faith, Trust, Ability, Character and Discernment are built in the tough times when our comfort often is taken away. For you the wilderness might be a new school, a new job, moving to a new state, it might be the end of a toxic relationship, loss, rejection or even a death in your family. The wilderness might also be things taken away from you that gave you comfort yet made slow and lazy like cars, motorbikes, people, position and money. Why would God take away things like this from us? Because He knows better than us and can see much further ahead. He knows what we really are and what we can really do and He knows the best way to find that truth in us and bring it out to be seen.
The wilderness is unfamiliar, vast and dangerous. It puts us outside of our comfort zone and brings our weaknesses to be seen and addressed. The wilderness is full of predators, disease and risk - yet it's the wilderness that brings out our insight, skills and resliance that we didn't know we had before. In the Bible many of the heroes of faith were sent into the wilderness and it was there in that wilderness that they found God and their character was formed and honed into what God truly saw in them. It was in the wilderness that God found and comforted Hagar after she was treated harshly and sent away by Sarah. Joseph found God in his wilderness in Egypt where God unfolded his promised path as the leader and deliverer of his family. Moses was sent into the wilderness and found God in the burning bush and his calling as the leader of God's people out of Egypt. Elijah was sent into the wildness and was fed by ravens in the middle of a famine while being hunted for his life by an evil witch. Esther's wilderness was a foreign kingdom full of danger and enemies yet she found the favour of God and became the Queen sent to aid her people. Ruth's wilderness was the sorrow of losing her husband and an unknown land yet she clung to God and found her path as the great grandmother of King David.
King David spent many years as a shepherd boy in the wilderness fighting the lion and the bear and it was there he was being prepared by God for war and kingship of God's people. John the Baptist lived in the wilderness as an outcast and a wild man yet he paved the way for the Son of God. But the greatest picture of the wilderness has to be Jesus. It was the Spirit of God that led Him into the wilderness to be tempted and tested by Satan the god of this world. Jesus faced the one who had once tried to take His throne in Heaven in three rounds while completely physically depleted yet walked away from fight the undefeated and undisputed champion. He met every single trial head on, He never backed down and stood firm as a rock in a storm as the true King He really is. So when it comes time for you to go into the wilderness, don't fear it. Be excited because many have gone before you into the wilderness and it was in the wilderness that they found two very important things. They found God and they found themselves. Make God your shelter in the wilderness, make Him your strong tower, your deliver and your sword. Put your trust in Him and not your experience, knowledge or skill and He will not fail you. God is with you and He loves you.
[ Proverbs 3:5,6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ]
