Hello everyone.
I will continue sharing from my own study of Deuteronomy by sharing something I learned from Deut. 8. In Deut. 8:2, it says: " Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or nor you would keep his commands."
This forty years of wandering was given to the Israelites back in Numbers 14, when the faithless nation refused to obey the command to take the Promised Land. Now in Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking and he is telling the nation that the last forty years of wandering in the wilderness had been more that just punishment. It served two God-driven purposes. First, it was to humble them. Then it was to test their hearts to see if they would be obedient. So God allowed this punishment to be an incredibly time-consuming test. (Forty years is a very long time.)
So what can learn from this? First, like the Israelites, we all have difficult and challenging things going on in our lives. It is possible that God has put them there to humble and test you. It's possible. When you think about the Israelites, you would think that God would not need to humble them. I mean they started out as slaves. But their humble circumstances did not mean that they were humble. God still needed to work on their hearts. It may the same with us. For example, I am currently going through a series for physical ailments that at times has been quite debilitating. It is really challenging. Is God at work in my life to humble me and to test me? Quite possibly, He is. After all, I am probably not nearly as humble as I would like to think that I am. (For the record, you probably aren't either.) And if that is the case I need the test for the sake of my own humility.
The thing that I want to focus here is the test. God used something that started out as a punishment (forty years in the wilderness) to be a test to see what was in their hearts and to see if the would obey Him. The challenges that I am going through will reveal my heart. Just as your challenges will ultimately reveal yours. Will I pass the test? Will you? I may not know what your wilderness test is, but I know that mine has been hard. Yours probably is too. But we all want to make sure that we pass it. The way pass is to commit ourselves to being obedient to God no matter what, because when that test is over, you may face another one. Rom. 5:3-5 tells us that our suffering produces perseverance, character and hope, and that hope is evidence of the love God has poured into our hearts.
So take your wilderness test and pass it, but know it may be long. The Israelite wilderness test took forty years. Yours may take a while too. I have on many occasions told that that I have passed this test already and would not like to keep taking it, (not very humble of me) but I see now that it is for Him to decide. I'm sure my own wilderness will continue to reveal what is in my heart. As for the Israelites, when their test was over, and they had shown that their hearts were committed to the Lord, they entered the Promised Land. Like them, great blessing awaits us as well. So no matter how long it may be, Pass.
Tom
