PURPOSE OF THE WILDERNESS

Deut. 8:1-3 – (READ)

(To me the Wilderness Season correlates with Spring – new growth; learning a new way of living as a son/daughter of God.)

1) Wilderness defined:

• A tract of land or region that is uncultivated and uninhabited by people – whether a forest of a wide barren plain; a wild, inhospitable waste, desert, or pathless waste of any kind.

• It is in its natural condition, the wild needs taming, i.e., to be trained out of slavery into freedom.

• A disorderly or neglected or abandoned place. Speaks of needing transformation.

2) God’s Purposes in our Wilderness Experiences:

• Ex. 13:17-18 – Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. – To protect them from war that they were not ready for!

• Deut. 8:2-10 – (READ) – to learn that God is our provider! – garments & shoes didn’t wear out; blessed with water from Rock, bread from heaven, and learned to obey God’s commands.

• II Cor. 4:7-10 – But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. – Learning to let Jesus live in us, our hope, and our joy.

• Mk 1:3 – John the Baptist: voice in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight! – This is where our lives begin to align with God’s new way of living. Living in His provision and abundance, rather than our own provision.

• Mt. 4:1 – Jesus was lead by the HS into the wilderness to be tempted.

o Temptation – will you live by God’s word, man’s word, or the devil’s deceptive promises. – Determines what your desires are – God-aligned or not.

o Test – (Deut. 8:2) to put to the proof; determines what you have learned and how to apply it.

o Trial – can be legal standing (Satan often challenges our legal authority or what we’ve heard God say – Eve experienced this). OR a time period set to see what you have skill to do (Jesus sent the 72 disciples out for a trail-run on their ability to prepare the way for Him – Lk. 10:1)

o Overcoming power – Rev. 12:11 – by the blood of the Lamb & by their testimony

• Wilderness (Hebrew midbar) = in the sense of driving; a pasture, open field, desert, uninhabited

From root dabar meaning to arrange; to speak (rarely in a destructive sense), to subdue, answer, appoint, command, declare, promise, rehearse….

3) How the Wilderness Experience Benefits us:

• Delivered (sozo – salvation) from relentless pursuit of enemy – Ex. 14 – Pharaoh & army drowns.

• Times of Rejoicing – Ex. 15:1-21 – Miriam leads the people in song and dance to the Lord. -

• Get alone with God – Lk. 5:16 – Jesus withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.

• Bitter made sweet – Ex. 15:22-27 – Bitter water made sweet; led to 12 wells of water – Healed and refreshed from what had led into complaint from toxic water.

• Daily Manna – Bread from Heaven – Ex. 16 – Learn to gather their own daily bread/Word of God.

• Water from the Rock – Jesus’ Life – Ex. 17:1-7 – Jesus helps us overcome contention due to lack. He is our refreshing.

• Overcomes over Amalek – Ex. 17:8-16 – means toiling labor; sorrowful; work with severe irksomeness; valley dweller (negatives) v. 15-16: And Moses built an altar and called its name, The Lord is my Banner, for he said, “because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

• Wise Counsel heard and heeded – Ex. 18 – v. 23-24: If you do this thin, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure and all this people will also go to their place in peace. So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

• God’s Laws and Ways learned – Ex. 19…..We not only hear His commands, but hold them in our hands (Bible) to study them, learn to apply them and walk in them.

Conclusion: The Wilderness is a God-ordained time of Preparation and Protection from too much warfare as well as Testing and Training in Righteousness. God’s ultimate purpose is Abundant GROWTH.

Ps. 107:35-38 – He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into water-springs. There He makes the hungry dwell that they may establish a city for a dwelling place, and sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest. He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their catted decrease.