Wilderness\u2026have you spent time there? Years ago my husband and I took an unforgettable vacation, driving from Tennessee to California and visiting popular tourist sites along the way.<\/p>\n
We crossed desert areas\u2014miles of brown loneliness. Fighting anxiety over what might happen if our car broke down in the unbearable heat, I felt huge relief and a sense of safety when we drew closer to populated areas.<\/p>\n
My computer thesaurus offers these synonyms for wilderness<\/em>: wilds, rough country, backwoods, wasteland, boondocks. Have you seen brochures advertising these vacation spots? Not likely.<\/p>\n Lonely, confusing wastelands that seem to stretch for miles\u2026years.<\/p>\n An unexpected detour took me there. I didn\u2019t deliberately veer off course, and nothing catastrophic caused it. Looking back, it was a gradual slipping under a heavy load. I found myself in a barren wasteland of brown loneliness.<\/p>\n Hesitant to talk about it, I admitted to close friends my \u201cdiscouragement\u201d but offered no details. I couldn\u2019t explain what happened\u2014I didn\u2019t know what happened! Crying out to God for understanding and begging for deliverance from this emptiness, I did all I knew to do\u2014study the Bible, pray, and cling to Jesus.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t speak in a blaring voice but in soft whispers, giving bits of encouragement\u2014wisdom to recognize the place\u2026a wilderness. That word cropped up repeatedly in my Bible reading, my daily devotional Streams in the Desert<\/em>, and hymns at church.<\/p>\n He widened my vision to identify purpose. He was leading me into closer fellowship, teaching me to lean on him as my all in all\u2014a term I\u2019d never understood\u2014and to cast myself fully on him, all I am and have.<\/p>\n He reminded me that before he began his public ministry, the Spirit led him into the wilderness \u201cto be tempted by the devil\u201d (Matthew 4:1 NIV). The evil one didn\u2019t just happen<\/em> to show up at that vulnerable time. The encounter was divinely arranged\u2014for a definite time and purpose. Was my time in the wilderness designed\u2014preparation for something<\/em>? Only God knew.<\/p>\n In his time he began leading me to a spacious<\/em> place, a wide and wonderful place, bright and inviting, full of promise, mentioned in the Psalms.<\/p>\n \u201cHe brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me\u201d (18:19). \u201cYou have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place\u201d (31:8).<\/p>\n But I\u2019ve never forgotten what I learned in the wilderness experience.<\/p>\n There God brings us to the end of ourselves that we might rely totally on him.<\/p>\n Moses had a wilderness experience. After impulsively slaying an Egyptian he saw mistreating an Israelite, he fled to the desert. \u201cAnd when forty years had gone by, there appeared to him in the wilderness (desert) of Mount Sinai an angel, in the flame of a burning bramblebush\u2026there came to him the voice of the Lord, saying\u2026come! I will send you back to Egypt [as My messenger]\u201d (see Acts 7:30-34 Amplified).<\/p>\n Numbers 12:3 (NIV) tells us, \u201cNow Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.\u201d I\u2019m thinking the wilderness had done its work, stripping him of everything\u2014all self-confidence and self-sufficiency\u2014so the Lord could become his all in all.<\/p>\n If you’ve been stripped, you know it. If you don’t know it, you haven’t been. We never forget the stripping place.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re there, God may be getting ready to do something big in your life to display his glory in a greater way than ever before.<\/p>\n Adopt this mindset for your wilderness place: I\u2019m here on purpose. God designed this. He arranged all the circumstances. From my vantage point, the future looks bleak. He sees it from another angle. And what he\u2019s doing is covered with purpose. Put your confidence here:<\/p>\n He brought out his people with rejoicing,<\/em><\/p>\n his chosen ones with shouts of joy\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom<\/em><\/p>\n and broke away their chains.<\/em><\/p>\n (Psalm 105:43, 107:14 NIV).<\/em><\/p>\n A prayer for your wilderness place: I\u2019m in your hands, Lord. Help me to stay there and be content\u2026even in the wilderness.<\/em><\/p>\n Have you spent time in the wilderness? Please comment. And share this post with friends who feel lost in a wilderness today.<\/p>\n \u00a9 Dianne Barker 2018<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wilderness\u2026have you spent time there? Years ago my husband and I took an unforgettable vacation, driving from Tennessee to California and visiting popular tourist sites along the way. We crossed desert areas\u2014miles of brown loneliness. Fighting anxiety over what might happen if our car broke down in the unbearable heat, I felt huge relief and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,40,17,113,112],"class_list":["post-647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-dianne-barker","tag-discouragement","tag-gods-purpose","tag-moses","tag-the-wilderness-where-do-we-go-from-here-loneliness"],"yoast_head":"\nOur journey with Christ may include wilderness places.<\/strong><\/h3>\nOur journey with Christ may include wilderness places. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n
The wilderness is a stripping place\u2026a dying place\u2026a sanctifying place\u2026a renewing place.<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe wilderness is a stripping place\u2026a dying place\u2026a sanctifying place\u2026a renewing place. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n
The wilderness is for a season and a purpose.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The wilderness is for a season and a purpose. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n