Wandering in the Wilderness

God wants to do something new, but it’s not for you. It’s reserved for the new you.

DISCLAIMER: Guided by Grace does not own the rights to this song, “Something Has to Break” by Kierra Sheard.

*This post is inspired by a sermon entitled “Wandering in the Wilderness” by Travious Mitchell.

Every now and then I find myself camped out with Israel in the wilderness. Both in my spiritual life and in meditation. That’s one of the reasons I’ve always found the Old Testament to be fascinating It’s full of narrative about the journey humans have taken with the God of Israel. No two people’s journeys with God are alike—that’s what makes us special; you have your story and I have mine, yet it’s the same God who meets us where we are. Behind His glory there is a story of how good He has been to me. The Old Testament is dear to me because when I engage with it I don’t feel like I’m alone in my struggles, my trials. and moments where I wonder where God is. Scripture in totality is the story of human experience with the God of Israel, our mistakes and how we learn from them, but it’s the the Old ztestament that highloghts the relationships and interactions between humans and God. The story of Israel as a people is perhaps the perfect painting of what it looks like to exist in the balance of joy and disobedience to God. Israel’s story isn’t foreign to us. They didn’t find God in church, in a synagogue, or by doing the right thing.

And most of us didn’t either.

Israel found God and God found Israel in the thick of it (shoutout to the Backyardigans). They met God in their slavery. In the opening chapters of Exodus, Israel’s fortune has changed drastically in the years following the patriarchs. The descendants of God’s friend Abraham are living in Egypt and the people who experienced God’s restorative power in Genesis are now dead. After them rises a generation of people who don’t remember what God has done. There is a danger in not teaching those who come after us about God, who He is, and what He has done. We can’t afford to complain about the spiritual state of our youth when we only expose them to God for a maximum of three hours a week on Sunday morning. How do we ensure our children remember God? By holding Bible study in our homes and not placing all the spiritual responsibility on pastors and preachers. How do we make sure our children have a relationship with God? Teach them how to pray. How do our children learn what God can do? By telling the story of how you met the man from Nazareth who can walk the waters and calm the seas, about the one who opens blinded eyes and brings hope to hopelessness. Tell them about the resurrecting work He’s done in your life since He met you in your mess. You teach your children about what the Lord has done for you. Make sure you do not leave this earth until you remind someone coming after you who God is.

God is the greatest legacy you can leave behind.

Because adults did a horrible job in properly raising their children to know who God is, the generation of Egyptians that followed the generation in Genesis didn’t know Joseph and the wonders God performed. As a result, the narrative changed. Instead of God’s people being seen as a blessing the Egyptians saw these foreigners as a threat. For a span of 400 years, Pharaoh after Pharaoh repeated the cycle of oppression. Israel was enslaved, and one Pharaoh was so evil he decreed mass murder of all Hebrew boys. This destructive narrative played out so long that it became the reality of the Israelites. They even forgot God. For 400 years they only knew Egyptian gods and after one Pharaoh dies, Israel’s has enough. Exodus 2:23 says they groaned under the weight of slavery; out of slavery their cry for help rose up to God. It never says they intentionally cried out to Him; what’s happening is they simply cry out to any god who may be merciful enough to help them.

Though they don’t call His name, Yahweh heard them and He moved.

Fast forwarding the story, God through Moses delivers Israel out of slavery in Egypt. He does the literal impossible. But God delivers them into the wilderness. This lesson that God led them to the wilderness is lost on so many of us because we’re taught the wilderness is the place of punishment. It’s been said that the trek from Egypt to Canaan (the Promised Land) should have taken eleven days. That’s true and that’s false. It is true that walking from Egypt to Canaan would have taken eleven days, but not for them. God never intended to send Israel immediately from Egypt to the Promised Land. Why? The Egypt in us has to die first; Egypt and Canaan don’t mix. God’s promises are prepared designations for a prepared people. God has to prepare us before He entrusts us with His promise. The sad part of this story is we focus on the forty years in the wilderness and we miss out on something greater. We jump to Numbers 14 where God punishes Israel’s rebellion with wandering in the wilderness for forty years, and we miss out on the two years prior to this.

God intentionally has Israel camp at Mount Sinai for two years to receive the law, become acquainted with their role as His chosen people, the ordnances for how to live as His people, instructions for offerings and worship. and most importantly, to rely on Him. These two years were filled with the glory of God—miracle after miracle, sign after sign, word after word. The wilderness is where we meet God. It’s where we’re prepared for what we have to do and become who we are in Him. After these two years are completed, God’s desire is to give them the Promised Land. But they’re not ready. Unfortunately, they show their lack of readiness and trust through rebellion. That’s when they are given the forty year probationary period to wander in the wilderness. They have to wander until the generation that came out of Egypt dies.

There’s only one solution to the dilemma of God being ready and His people not being ready—you’ve got to change.

For a total for forty-two years Israel is in the wilderness. Why? There has to be a change in us before we experience what God has for us. God wants to do something new, He wants to restore and build, but that’s not going to happen until our hearts are transformed. God allows things to get so bad that we wake up and realize something’s got to give, there has to be a change in our lives. What is the purpose of the wilderness? It’s the place where we change. It is the place where waiting happens and honestly, we’re not waiting on God; He is waiting on us. The wilderness does not have to be synonymous with suffering. God’s plan was for Israel to get to know Him in a way that no other place could teach them. Getting to know and be known by God offers a joy not even receiving what we prayed for can give. It’s heartbreaking that the wilderness is misunderstood and abused. For many it’s filled with anxiety and worry. Doubt begins to creep in and we start listening to the “what-ifs,” we try to make sense of where we’ve been placed. We become frustrated and angry with the Lord, and as I stated last week, feelings are not right or wrong, they are real, but feelings can be misinformed. That is why we cannot be led by pure emotion. The wilderness is God’s healing. He is not going to kill you, He is trying to kill what’s going to kill you and the promise if left unattended. While we’re in the wilderness there are a few things we have to be sure to remember in order to come out changed and prepared for God’s promise:

1. I have to perform self inventory

This is the pause in our living where we take time to be alone, we fast and pray, and spend intentional time with God to examine our hearts. This is the place where we ask ourselves: How is my life misaligned with God’s will for my life? What about my life do You not like, Jesus? How and where have I strayed from Your word? During this phase of being in the wilderness we reflect on where we’ve been and where we are. But this phase requires complete honesty with ourselves. Have we seen more God or more of ourselves with where we’ve been? It’s here that we truly look at ourselves and ask: Am I even ready for what I prayed for? At the end of this fasting period, at the end of praying and communing with the Lord. we have to decide what we’re going to do with what’s been revealed. Are we going to be trustworthy with the truth and humble ourselves? What is our response to God going to be after this?

2. I have to make the decision to submit

I have trouble finding the words to describe the importance of submission. There is safety and security in surrender to God. This phase of the wilderness is the letting go of what worked for us, what we planned/intended, and it is the letting go of idols in our lives. God wants your heart. All of it. There is no room for more than one god in out heart. You can only serve one and ultimately will end up hating the other. Submission hurts because the heart wants what the heart wants. Submission hurts, but it’s healing. It frees us from Egypt. Submission is the death of our rule as God of our own lives. It’s the moment Israel groaned because the weight of what they were carrying was too much. Ignoring the pain never helps; it makes it worse. Submission is the phase of the wilderness where we cry. And I mean that Viola Davis snot cry, this is the part where you ugly cry because sometimes faith hurts! Find your place and cry out. Your car can be your wilderness, your bedroom, it does not matter, find a place and cry out to God because letting go hurts. What makes this easier (and not so much easier) is that this is a process. Months can pass and you still need to cry out because letting go hurts. Being up at midnight missing them hurts. Have you ever noticed that the smallest things can make you think of someone? Memories hurt and God, I want to hold on to them because that’s all I’ve got left, this is all You left me with, but it hurts. And this is where God says, “Just give it to Me.” Submission is an act of trusting God while not knowing what His answer will ultimately be. Counsel is great here. Surround yourself with people who pray without ceasing. But remember: everyone has an opinion, but no one has the final say except God.

3. I have to intentionally trust in God’s security

In the wilderness, before we leave and go back to resume our lives, we have to trust that God knows what He’s doing. Admittedly, trusting this can be easier said than done. There are times when trusting God seems pointless. But God has already done something in our past to ground us in our present so that we may be hopeful about the future. If He did it before, He can do it again. Trusting in God’s security is surrendering our wisdom for His. God rules by His wisdom and trusting in it is what centers us in the reality that God’s character does not change because our circumstances have. If there were a point to about in this post, here it is: In Genesis 12, God calls Abraham to leave his family, community, social status and prestige to go to Canaan. God’s word to Abraham was “I’m giving this to you, but not now.” In other words. “It’s a yes, but not right now.” Genesis 12 happened 430 years before Numbers 13 did, and guess what God’s answer was even after Israel rebelled: “I’m giving this to you, but not now.” In other words, “It’s a yes, but not right now.” Why can I trust in God’s security? Because He doesn’t change even when I do. If God gave you the yes three years ago, it’s yes today. If you’re not in it now, it’s yes. But not right now.

Why does God have us in the “not now” although He said it’s ours? We’ve gotten what we feel has been confirmation, pastor has prayed and blown his breath on it, and all our spiritual friends were supportive at first. There’s work to do and part of that work is trusting God. What if we get to this same place because we haven’t changed and because we still don’t trust God that things will change? God wants the old generation in us to die first. The first two years God had Israel camp at Mount Sinai. but for the next forty they camped outside the Promised Land. I always thought that was rubbing it in, but the Lord changed my perspective. The reason they camped in such close proximity was to remind them, to keep them hopeful that the wilderness is not where they will be forever. The “not now” is not permanent; there’s just work to do. Why do you keep “running back?” Why does God keep “sending you back?” To remind you that where you are is not where you’ll end up. It’s your reminder that you’re close. If God is working on you, I promise you He’s working on “it.” He doesn’t prepare one without the other.

God hasn’t given up on “it” and He hasn’t given up on you.

In the “not now” we have to truly self examine ourselves, submit our hearts to God’s will, and trust in God’s security. Crying in the submission phase of being in the wilderness is acceptable. Feel how you feel, but be sure to let out a cry of thanksgiving and praise while you trust Him. Be thankful for the ”not now” because it’s healing you from Egypt. There is freedom, even in the wilderness. God provides there. There’s freedom in knowing the promise is yours and you get the opportunity to mature in Christ. What a mighty God we serve! God is stripping daughters of their trauma from turbulent relationships with their mothers, so they can finally receive and accept the love they deserve as daughters of God. God is restoring relationships between sons and fathers so that patterns won’t be repeated. The wilderness is the place we strip our past off and bare our true selves to God. The wilderness is not merely the place God punished Israel; it’s the place of healing. If God told you “yes” and you’re still in the “not now,” God is waiting on you. But while He waits He’s healing you. Don’t be afraid or discouraged any longer by the wilderness—you meet God there.

I’ve got a wonderful feeling that everything is gonna be alright.

Until next time, continue to stay guided by grace,

Tra

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:19‬ ‭