PART 2, OUR SPIRITUAL WILDERNESS, DON'T WASTE IT!

From the desk of Dr. Mary Tisdale Green    RECOVER ALL WEDNESDAY

Sin is not the reason God sends us into the wilderness. King David was no stranger to wilderness experiences (Ps 28:1-2; Ps 38:9-10), and though he sinned like you and me, yet he was “a man after God’s own heart”  Psalms speaks to our hearts  as believers when we are experiencing spiritual dryness. The wilderness experience, is God’s way of getting us to exercise our faith even when there is little feedback or affirmation or emotional joy. In the wild-erness we are not being punished — we are being tested, and our faith is being strengthened.   During the wilderness experience we will be tempted to give up and doubt the integrity of God’s Word—it’s a time when we become confused, frustrated, irritable, and angry… we move from thoughts of faith to thoughts of doubt; from thoughts of being faithful to thoughts of being self-centered. In the wilderness we are tempted to do our own thing, and try to make things happen in our own strength. We are strongly tempted to doubt and question. we question everything we ever learned — How can a loving God allow this to happen to me? Have I been fooling myself all these years? Does God really exist? Why doesn’t He show Himself, and take some kind of action, and mount a rescue mission.If we are to come out of the wilderness triumphantly, we must follow the example of how Jesus gained the victory over the devil in the wilderness. Your wilderness experience is that place where God hides you from public view and prepares you for “His purposes.”

PRAYER: Lord thank you for your plan and purpose for our lives, help us to appreciate and enbrace our wilderness experience as you teach us and bring us closer to the purpose you have for us. In Jesus name, Amen.