Wisdom From The Wilderness - Place Of Preparation (Daily Devotional)

Shalom, we are glad that you have joined us for a time where we can look into God's word, learn things from the scripture and apply it into our day to day lives. We pray and hope that these devotionals are a blessing to you and your family. Through this week and this series, we are going to be looking and meditating on wisdom from the wilderness.

When we look in Scripture the Israelites journey into the wilderness has been recorded in three books in the Bible - Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy at great length. And the wilderness journey of the Israelites serves as a reminder even for us on how God can use difficult and challenging situations in our lives even to refine us. So, through this week, we are going to be looking at certain lessons and certain wisdom that we can learn from the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness. The Israelites' journey through the wilderness was not only an historical event, but it is also a powerful metaphor for the wilderness seasons that we may encounter. So, through the coming days we hope and trust that there will be certain lessons that we can look into. We begin with understanding that the wilderness is a place of preparation. In Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 2, it says, ‘remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would really obey his commands’. We read from this account that God led the Israelites through the wilderness to humble them and also to test them, to test their character. For forty years, God led them through a barren and an unfamiliar land and the Israelites wandered when they were exiled in the wilderness. We see that the wilderness was not a place of punishment but it was a place of preparation. It was not the end of a journey but it was a preparation for what was coming. It was a preparation for the Promised Land. God used that time to shape the Israelites into a people who were ready to inherit the blessings of God. Through that they learned obedience, they learned perseverance, they would have learned trust and so what we see from this? For us the wilderness seasons can prepare us for the next stage of what God wants to do in our lives. It is may to be to have a character that is refined or to strengthen our faith a lot more. We see that through the Israelites' journey, it was also a place of testing for them because the experience exposed their hearts, it exposed what was within their hearts. Would they really trust God for the resources, when resources were scarce, food and water were scarce? Would they obey Him when their path was unclear? They faced many trials, hunger, thirst, opposition, and this all revealed their lack of dependence. Similarly, in our own wilderness journeys, it reveals our hearts, that we’re in a place may be doubt or pride. All of this brings us to understand where we are at, what is in our hearts. The wilderness also stripped the Israelites illusion of self-sufficiency, they had to depend on God for their daily manna, their daily water and guidance. It was a humbling experience for them to be reminded that they were not in control but God was the one who was in control. So, as you and I keep meditating on the wilderness journey, we hope to bring more focus on that experience in the wilderness and draw some truths from that because when we face our own wilderness, it needs to be a reminder for us that that season is not wasted but it is a time of preparation even for us. So, it is a time and a season for growth.

Let's pray together, Heavenly Father, in our willfulness seasons, we pray that we would look to you to know that you are leading us through those seasons because you want to prepare us for something greater. You want our hearts, our thoughts, our attitudes to be like yours, in your likeness. May be not disdain the wilderness times but may we be look with gratitude and with thanks giving knowing that you are preparing us for a season that is much greater, thank you Father, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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