Wilderness Training

I weighed 129 pounds in this 2020 photo due to a debilitating illness that baffled the doctors. After many tests, their only guess was, “We think you have bacteria in your heart growing on an old pacemaker wire that we are afraid to remove. You must take antibiotics for the rest of your life.”

Not exactly what I had hoped to hear.

Sometimes I feel like I’m on a wilderness trek with God, wondering where on earth He is taking me. I’ve been asking Him, “What are You trying to teach me in this season? Can we leave the wilderness now?”

I’m so glad God doesn’t smite us when we question Him. Aren’t you?

The wilderness is not necessarily a bad thing. God told Pharoah to let His people go, “that they may worship me in the wilderness.” Exodus 7:16.

It pleased God to send Jesus into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted by the devil. Wilderness training was essential before the Son of God could accomplish His mission.

Silly me! Why do I complain during my times in the wilderness? I’ve been praying to be more like Jesus and to feel closer to God. Now I see these ordeals are an answer to my prayers.

God tells us every trial we face is to test our faith so that we would be “mature and complete, not lacking anything.”James 1:4

I guess I’m just not mature enough yet!

Dear friend, if you’re going through a tough time, God wants to use your hardship to draw you closer to Him. It’s in the wilderness we really get to know Him intimately.

Thankfully, God doesn’t want us to remain forever in the wilderness. The Israelites weren’t meant to spend forty years in the desert. Their constant complaining extended their stay.

So it is with us. Once I stop complaining about my situation and begin to worship Him in the wilderness, that’s when He either brings me out or gives me the joy and strength to endure it.

Praising God in the wilderness isn’t hard. It’s impossible! It’s supposed to be. For what’s impossible for us is possible for God. We need only to surrender to His will and let Him have His way in us.

Then just like Jesus, we can leave the wilderness, “filled with the Holy Spirit’s power” — better equipped to love others!

“The Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2

“These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold” 1 Peter 1:7