“Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.”
Deuteronomy 8:2
Nobody likes to remember a wilderness! However, Moses urged the Israelites to
“…remember how the Lord YOUR God led you through the wilderness.” When GOD leads, the wilderness becomes a classroom.
The Israelites could remember how God let them go hungry so He could feed them with manna, a food never known before. They could remember for forty years God preserved their feet and clothes, He supplied water in a dry place, and He protected them when they were terrified. Every experience was a God-given test to see…will they TRUST Me or not?
I remember the driest wilderness of my life…a time of weakness, overwhelming fear about the future, and no hope of change. But my God fed me daily with HIS manna, truths I had never seen before! He refreshed me with water and palm trees. When I felt overwhelmed by fear, He held me snuggly in His security blanket, encouraging me to let go of MY control and rest in His.
Twice Moses told the Israelites that GOD’s tests in the wilderness were for their own good, so no one would emerge from the wilderness saying, “I did this myself!” (v. 17) I certainly learned that lesson in my wilderness classroom…TRUST God alone!
Wilderness tests are always for my own good…May I pass each one with TRUST!
