The Wilderness

Hey everyone.
Just before everyone was issued a stay-at-home order, I was privileged to be able to go to a conference for the Conversations Conference for the kingdom teachers within our churches.  It was an amazing event, in which I learned a tremendous amount and gained new vision for myself and for a teaching ministry here in New Jersey.  One thing that came up in more than one of the lessons that I heard while there was talk about being in the wilderness.  A few speakers talked about going through their own personal wilderness and what God taught them while they were there.  Nobody needed to explain what the wilderness was. I think we all identified quickly, because we all have had our own times in the wilderness.  The comparisons were made with the wilderness that the children of Israel wandered through for forty years, but even Jesus had his time in the wilderness.

I share this now, because the talk of wilderness has taken on a new meaning to me after five or six weeks of being at home.  I'm working from home, worshipping at home, talking to the brothers from home.  I mean, I get excited when someone needs me to walk to the CVS around the corner to pick up medicine, just to have a chance to get out of the house.  After some phone converstation with a few brothers, and hearing how difficult this isolation has been, I began to realize that we are in a very new and different wilderness. (One that I pray does not last 40 years.) I think that there are some valuable lessons for us in this wilderness.

Deut. 8:2-3 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 is in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

God says plainly that for the Israelites, the wilderness was a time of testing. God used the wilderness to test the Israelites and see what was in their hearts, and whether or not they would obey Him.  Often, they failed the test. Read Exodus 16 about the manna and the quail.  God says in verse 4 that He is testing them to see if they with follow His instructions.  Some did. Some didn't.  Those who did, always had just what they needed.  Those who didn't had maggot infestations or went hungry.

So then the idea to consider is this: Is this time of stay-at-home, social distancing and online fellowship a wilderness for you?  Is God testing you to see if you will remain faithful to Him?  Or to see if you will follow His instructions? I don't know, but be open to that possibility.  How long will this wilderness last?  Again, I don't know.  I have determined, though, I will leave the wilderness stronger than I entered it, because if I am being tested, I want to pass this test.  Let's pass it together. Stay in the word.  Read some good spiritual books.  Pray. Find ways to stay connected. So that when this time of wilderness is over, we will enter the Promised Land together.