September 14th, 2022

God is With You in the Wilderness

Deuteronomy 2:7 NKJV

"For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord you God has been with you; you have lacked nothing."

      I've been reading a book by Pastor and Author Alex Seeley. If you haven't heard her messages before, I highly encourage you to check out The Belonging Co. church. Located in Nashville, you can listen to her and her husband Henry's message via podcast. But anyway, the book that I'm reading is titled, "Tailor-made," and it's a wonderful book on life changes and what we can learn along the way. But one of the chapters discussed the topic of wandering in the "wilderness." In this specific scripture that we're looking at today, the Israelites, after having wandered around in the wilderness for forty years, were finally about to grasp hold of the land God had promised them. The wilderness, as Pastor Alex explains, can be lonely, and desolate, and here specifically the Israelites were wandering in the desert, so they were thirsty and even hungry. 

      Essentially, the wilderness represents the seasons of lack that we find ourselves walking through. In the wilderness, we might find ourselves starving and thirsting for God's goodness. We might find ourselves wandering aimlessly without any hope. We might find ourselves feeling extremely lonely, whether it be because people don't understand or because we choose to isolate ourselves. We might even feel distant from God. I can personally say that I've found myself wandering through the wilderness many times in my life. But what reassures me now, is knowing that though I feel lonely, I am not alone. And though I may see lack as far as the eye can see, there is a promised land just around the bend. Although we may feel lost, hopeless, lonely, and deprived of God's love, He's never left our sides and has been with us all along, waiting for us to reach out to Him. If you don't believe me then take the Israelites for example. When they cried out for food, God gave them quail and Manna (Exodus 16). And when they cried out to God for water, He produced water from a rock (Exodus 17:1-7). Even in the wilderness, you are not alone.