God's Wilderness Lessons

God’s Wilderness Lessons
 
The wilderness is a place used throughout scripture to shape and form God’s people. Thought we may not necessarily physically go to wilderness places to be shaped by God today, we certainly experience seasons of wilderness, times where we are waiting and things are hard and slow. So, what are some lessons the Lord teaches his people through wilderness experiences?
 

1. We are to regard God more than others. From Moses to Elijah to John the Baptist, a consistent lesson from wilderness experiences is deepening devotion to the Lord, as opposed to the posture of people-pleasing we are so often prone to live in. How might God be addressing the sin of people-pleasing in your life through a wilderness experience right now?  
2. God is often better experienced in small, quiet places. A lifestyle of endless rushing and busyness often crowds the Lord out of our hearts, and so sometimes the Lord brings a wilderness season into our lives so that we learn to be still before him. How might God be inviting you to a posture of stillness and quietness before him right now?  
3. Humility is more important than capacity. It is often easy for us to measure ourselves by what we’re capable of, whether in our job or our home life or our schooling. However, what is most important and useful to the Lord is not the capacity of our gifts and skills abilities, but whether our hearts are humble before him. How might God be using a wilderness experience in your life right now to teach you humility?

Ultimately, may we be thankful to Christ for embarking upon the ultimate wilderness experience when he stepped out of heaven and came down to our sin-filled, broken world. In doing so he entered our suffering, took our sin and suffering upon himself, and ultimately paved the way for us to be one day fully and completely be set free from this sin-filled wilderness that is not our home.