August 27th, 2024
This week, I’ve been thinking about the power of having faith, especially in the wilderness. No one enjoys a wilderness and this isn’t a pleasant thought necessarily, but it’s something that’s been on my heart and I want to share it with you!
2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us that we are to walk by faith, not by sight! It’s easy to have faith when everything is going well. However, faith is most important when your circumstances challenge God’s word. Faith is most important when you have to choose to believe God despite what you see.
The wilderness is not always a bad place to be. When God led His people into the wilderness, it was a place of testing, and would have been only a testimony to God’s faithfulness. However, it became a place of wandering, not because of God’s plan, but because of the Israelites’ disobedience.
God demonstrated His glorious power when He delivered His people from Egyptian slavery. After a series of signs and wonders, He parted the Red Sea and promised them He would lead them into a good land.
In the wilderness, they followed the tangible glory of God. They saw Him descend on Mount Sinai as a consuming fire. They were given God’s covenant. He miraculously provided food and water and their clothing never wore out (Deuteronomy 29:5).
However, most of them never saw the land of promise, because of the power of their own unbelief. An entire generation died in the wilderness, outside of God’s promise, simply because they chose not to believe Him.
1 Corinthians 10:1-5 says,
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”
Most of them were overthrown in the wilderness. What a warning to the body of Christ! I would recommend reading all of 1 Corinthians 10. Paul goes on to explain exactly what overthrew them. It wasn’t an enemy. It wasn’t heat or starvation or exhaustion. They were overthrown in the wilderness because they refused to listen, trust, and obey.
In Exodus 16, we see the first instance of the Israelites’ unbelief. It was directly after God miraculously delivered them from Egypt, but when they couldn’t see how God would provide them water, they began to complain (Exodus 15:22-27). They then grumbled because they didn’t know how God would provide food (Exodus 16). Finally, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron after the spies were sent into the land of Canaan. Ten of the twelve spies brought back a bad report and their hearts were turned. They chose to believe in the strength of the enemy rather than the faithfulness of God. Numbers 14:1-4 says,
“Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
When they saw the enemy, their first response was to return to slavery. Their plan was to appoint a new leader and go back to bondage. They were willing to choose a life in chains rather than face a battle God promised they would win. It sounds ridiculous because we know the story, but how many believers live this way? How do you respond in the face of an enemy?
Numbers 14:21-24 says,
“But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.”
They were overthrown in the wilderness not by hunger, thirst, or an enemy, but by their own disobedience bred in unbelief.
The wilderness is a place of testing and it’s a place we will all have to walk from time to time. It’s the place where you may not be exactly sure how provision is going to come. It’s the place where you may not be sure how the Lord will defeat the enemy you’re facing. It’s the place where you may not be sure how the Lord will lead you. However, it’s in this place that it is most important to have faith. We have to trust that God will provide even though we don’t know how. He will lead us, even if we can’t see the way. Faith in the wilderness is the key to entering the Promised Land!
This is the time it’s easiest to doubt, grumble, and complain. However, it’s the time we must choose to have a different spirit, as Joshua and Caleb had. They didn’t see the giants in comparison to themselves. They saw the giants and remembered God’s promise. In the wilderness, water will flow from rocks; manna will descend from heaven; God’s glory will be like a cloud; and He Himself will lead you into the land He has for you. He will keep every one of His promises! He’s as good now as He was then. This week, believe His word and let your heart be refreshed. He’s God of the wilderness and the God of the Promised Land and we need only to have faith!
2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us that we are to walk by faith, not by sight! It’s easy to have faith when everything is going well. However, faith is most important when your circumstances challenge God’s word. Faith is most important when you have to choose to believe God despite what you see.
The wilderness is not always a bad place to be. When God led His people into the wilderness, it was a place of testing, and would have been only a testimony to God’s faithfulness. However, it became a place of wandering, not because of God’s plan, but because of the Israelites’ disobedience.
God demonstrated His glorious power when He delivered His people from Egyptian slavery. After a series of signs and wonders, He parted the Red Sea and promised them He would lead them into a good land.
In the wilderness, they followed the tangible glory of God. They saw Him descend on Mount Sinai as a consuming fire. They were given God’s covenant. He miraculously provided food and water and their clothing never wore out (Deuteronomy 29:5).
However, most of them never saw the land of promise, because of the power of their own unbelief. An entire generation died in the wilderness, outside of God’s promise, simply because they chose not to believe Him.
1 Corinthians 10:1-5 says,
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”
Most of them were overthrown in the wilderness. What a warning to the body of Christ! I would recommend reading all of 1 Corinthians 10. Paul goes on to explain exactly what overthrew them. It wasn’t an enemy. It wasn’t heat or starvation or exhaustion. They were overthrown in the wilderness because they refused to listen, trust, and obey.
In Exodus 16, we see the first instance of the Israelites’ unbelief. It was directly after God miraculously delivered them from Egypt, but when they couldn’t see how God would provide them water, they began to complain (Exodus 15:22-27). They then grumbled because they didn’t know how God would provide food (Exodus 16). Finally, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron after the spies were sent into the land of Canaan. Ten of the twelve spies brought back a bad report and their hearts were turned. They chose to believe in the strength of the enemy rather than the faithfulness of God. Numbers 14:1-4 says,
“Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
When they saw the enemy, their first response was to return to slavery. Their plan was to appoint a new leader and go back to bondage. They were willing to choose a life in chains rather than face a battle God promised they would win. It sounds ridiculous because we know the story, but how many believers live this way? How do you respond in the face of an enemy?
Numbers 14:21-24 says,
“But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.”
They were overthrown in the wilderness not by hunger, thirst, or an enemy, but by their own disobedience bred in unbelief.
The wilderness is a place of testing and it’s a place we will all have to walk from time to time. It’s the place where you may not be exactly sure how provision is going to come. It’s the place where you may not be sure how the Lord will defeat the enemy you’re facing. It’s the place where you may not be sure how the Lord will lead you. However, it’s in this place that it is most important to have faith. We have to trust that God will provide even though we don’t know how. He will lead us, even if we can’t see the way. Faith in the wilderness is the key to entering the Promised Land!
This is the time it’s easiest to doubt, grumble, and complain. However, it’s the time we must choose to have a different spirit, as Joshua and Caleb had. They didn’t see the giants in comparison to themselves. They saw the giants and remembered God’s promise. In the wilderness, water will flow from rocks; manna will descend from heaven; God’s glory will be like a cloud; and He Himself will lead you into the land He has for you. He will keep every one of His promises! He’s as good now as He was then. This week, believe His word and let your heart be refreshed. He’s God of the wilderness and the God of the Promised Land and we need only to have faith!
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