God uses wilderness seasons to deepen your faith, not destroy it. Follow the light, stay obedient, and surround yourself with spiritually grounded people. The Israelites' 40-year journey shows what happens when you disobey; Moses never entered the promised land because of his sin.
You will go through a wilderness, and you need to learn how to navigate it. Now, the wilderness was not meant to destroy you, and you will have seasons that seem like it's testing and it's trying you and it's pressing, it's challenging, but the wilderness was not meant to destroy you. Now, when you think about the people of Israel and when you look through Exodus, the reason why they wanted to go to the wilderness in the first place was so that they can worship God. Moses said, let my people go so they can go into the wilderness and to worship. So when you understand the purpose of the wilderness, that you will be able to navigate the wilderness a bit different. When you are finding yourselves in this season, make sure that you understand that the purpose of it all, the purpose of it all is to worship, is to give God the glory, the honor, the adoration that he deserves. And there are so many strategies that you can use to help yourself get through the wilderness, but one that I want to recommend right now is remembering who got you out of Egypt. Now, when you have found yourself delivered from different things, and our God is a deliverer, he would deliver you from addictions, he would deliver you from sin and frustration, he would deliver you from all sorts of things. And in the case of the Israelites, they were delivered from a very hard time of slavery in Egypt. And by the way they were delivered is the way that they needed to navigate through the wilderness, meaning the only way that they found themselves out of Egypt was by being led by the instructions of God. They got to the Red Sea, and at the moment they got there, the instruction came and they were able to pass through safely. So if you want to pass through your wilderness period safely, you must always be looking for God. If he goes ahead of you— remember, there was an Ark of the Covenant that led the people of Israel, and wherever the Ark went, they went. We need to be like that. We need to figure out what areas of our life is shining the brightest. Where is the illumination coming from? Because wherever that illumination, wherever that light is coming from, is another indicator of where God wants you to go. Sometimes he wants you to stay, sometimes he wants you to leave. But if you're finding yourself in the wilderness and it's so dark and it's difficult and it's tough, find the areas of your life that has the most light. Find the people around you that have the most light. These are the mechanisms that will help you to get through the wilderness. Amen. Now, another thing that I want us to learn about the wilderness is there's an allotted time that you're supposed to stay in the wilderness. Now think again about the people of Israel. There was a set time that they were supposed to be in Egypt. There was a set time they were supposed to be in the wilderness. But if you're not properly following God, you will get lost. Not everybody didn't make it out of the wilderness. Mind you, the people that didn't make it out of the wilderness were the people that fell into sin. Even Moses, the one that God used to deliver the people out of Egypt, didn't make it through the wilderness to the promised land because of disobedience. So even though that you're in the wilderness, you need to make sure that you're constantly listening for the instructions, because the only thing that would deliver you is the word of God. So find yourself praying, and I'm gonna use myself as an example. There was something that I just got delivered from, which was a terrible car accident, and I'm conscious of now the reason why I was— period— was through prayer and the Word of God. So if I find myself in this wilderness that I actually am in, then I need to make sure the same thing that I'm using is prayer and the Word of God, particularly the Book of Psalms. So you must be mindful and look back. In so many areas of my life that God delivered me from, what was the context of my deliverance? Hmm. Who were the people that were involved in my deliverance? What scriptures? What songs? What did God say? Who did God use? And take that context, because even though Moses was not gonna make it to the promised land, he was still the only person that could lead the people to the promised land. Why? Because he was the person that God used to lead them out of Egypt into the wilderness. So I want us in this season, and they could feel very much like a wilderness for so many people. You don't know up from down, left or right. You don't know what's happening, when things are gonna go. You don't know when things are gonna start moving. Things seem slow. It seems like nothing is happening. Look for the light, because there will be light. I promise you, as long as God is alive, when he speaks to you, when you worship him, when you seek him, you will find light. The Bible in the book of Psalms says that he's a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. And I pray in this season, wherever you're coming from, wherever you're going to, may God be the one that leads you in it, through it, and out of it, in the name of Jesus. Thank you. God bless you.
