Wisdom From The Wilderness - Guard Your Heart (Daily Devotional)

Shalom and it is a blessing to join you here today as we look into God’s word and meditate on it. We have been learning wonderful truths about the wilderness experience of the Israelites and trusting God that some of these learnings that we have will help us as we go through our own personal experiences.

As we kept reading and understanding, we know that a wilderness experience is a place of testing, where our dependance on God can be challenged. When we are faced with that uncertainty or discomfort or that waiting, there is a temptation that often arises to seek security in other things other than God, to temporarily look into other things that we think could give us some form of peace. It could be material possessions, relationships or our own abilities. When we look at Exodus chapter 32, we read that while Moses was communing with God, the Israelites grew impatient and they doubted his return and that is when they pressured Aaron into making a golden calf as an idol to worship. I wonder if we too are prone to creating idols that offer that temporary relief or quick relief but we know that it ultimately leads us away from God’s perfect plan. What do we learn from this? We need to guard our hearts. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23 reads, ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.’ What does guarding our hearts mean? It means recognizing where our dependance lies. The Israelites may not have initially set out to reject God but they simply grew impatient and they wanted another fix. Their desire for a visible symbol of security led them to craft a golden calf. Likewise, sometimes there maybe idols that we craft which could start off as innocent desires, maybe in some form of success or a relationship that we find emotional safety in or a stability in our finances but these can gradually take the place of God’s rightful place in our lives. We need to be cautious of anything that can take the place of God. Idolatry is just not about statues or images but anything that takes the place of God in our hearts. So, especially in times of struggle, we need to be vigilant to guard our hearts to know that God alone is our provider, comforter, guide and savior and He is the one who leads us through those seasons of wilderness. Even as the wilderness can be a place of waiting and it can breed impatience, let’s be careful of not doubting God’s timing or seeking our own solutions. God desires our deepest conviction and also our exclusive devotion of Him especially in our hardest times. This devotion reveals to God a heart that is completely dependent on Him and Him alone. So, may our hearts rely on Him as our Lord and savior and the one who will take us through these wilderness experiences and in every season.

Let’s pray together, Heavenly Father, we pray that you will guard our hearts from temptations, from impatience, from losing track on your timing. We desire that our focus will be on you because you are the one who is the satisfier of all our needs even in our difficult circumstances. Keep our eyes focused and fixed on you, our anchor of faith, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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