UNDERSTANDING YOUR WILDERNESS

Understanding Your Wilderness
Alice Smith 
  
When we're trekking through the wilderness, we are tempted to think, The devil led me here. However, it is the pathway through the wilderness that leads to intimacy with Jesus. God told Hosea, concerning Israel: "Therefore, behold, I will allure her (Hosea's prostitute wife), and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.  And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor (trouble) for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.  And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi (my husband); and shalt call me no more Baali (my master)" (Hosea 2:14-16). 
 
The wilderness experience moves us from a master-servant relationship to a bride-and-groom relationship. The identifying marks of wilderness are personal trials, the silence of God and the absence of His felt presence. This journey can also be a place of loneliness, darkness, and yes, even desperation.  But if you remember that our journey in God is cyclical, then you can take courage from the fact that a wilderness experience always precedes divine revelation, and divine revelation always precedes breakthrough! And so the cycle goes: wilderness, then revelation, then breakthrough; wilderness . . . revelation . . . breakthrough.
 
We see this repeatedly in Scripture. Consider Elijah, who instructed the false prophets to build an altar, stack firewood on it and offer an animal sacrifice, then challenge Baal, their god, to consume it with fire. Nothing happened (see 1 Kings 18:26). Then Elijah teased them, saying, "Maybe your god has gone out of the country, or perhaps he is asleep" (see v. 27).
 
Then it was Elijah's turn. Three times he drenched the firewood and filled the trenches with water. "Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.  And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God" (1 Kings 18:38-39).
 
Wow! That would have been something to see! A moment later Elijah single-handedly killed the 400 prophets of Baal and ascended victoriously to the top of the mountain to pray. The result? Rain began to fall, ending a three-year drought! Yet one chapter later we find this same powerful prophet running from Queen Jezebel. Scripture says, "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life into the desert" (1 Kings 19:3). Elijah went from breakthrough to wilderness.
 
Jesus experienced the same kind of challenge. As John baptized Jesus, a dove descended from heaven, and God said, "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased." Then one chapter later, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested! (See Luke 4:1.)
 
Journeys through the wilderness precede breakthrough. We will all make the journey. So how can you prepare for your next wilderness experience? The prime prerequisite is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Only Spirit-filled believers can be Spirit-led. Only Spirit-led believers can live in the power of the Holy Spirit!  Jesus was led into the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit (see Luke. 4:1). Forty days later, Jesus emerged from the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit after He passed the wilderness test (see Luke. 4:14).
 
The wilderness may present you with any number of tests, including financial problems, loss of a job, relational difficulties or even health problems. As Job learned, some of God's ways are more difficult to understand than others. They can include the death of a friend or family member or even the end of a marriage through divorce or death. Your wilderness journey may include the death of your life vision or ministry dream. No matter the circumstance, don't be defeated, for God is able to redeem every occurrence in your life.
 
What can you expect during a wilderness time? You will start with self-preservation and actually fight with the Lord on the natural and the spiritual level.  This is your attempt to preserve self-esteem. Your craving for legitimacy drives you to prove yourself to God, to others and to yourself. After all, American success is measured in terms of health and wealth. Aren’t these visual proofs of God’s approval? No! Health and wealth is a man-made standard, not a biblical one. By this standard, the apostle Paul and Stephen would have been certifiable failures! One was sickly, in prison and didn’t even have a coat to wear. The other had his life cut short in his youth in a death by stoning. 
 
Next, your mind will search for ways to correct the appearance that you are struggling. You will push to make things happen; but this only lengthens the fight.  When you finally stop struggling, the result will be the defeat of your flesh and victory for your spirit! Your loss of self-confidence and your acquisition of God-dependence are evidence of the work of the wilderness in you. You now have a more honest evaluation of who you are to God and who He is to you. Praise the Lord, for revelation has produced breakthrough!
When the heavenly Father draws you into the wilderness, and your circumstances become a wasteland; when everything appears to turn upside down and you experience chaos to the very core of your being, get ready! It is here that your soul awakens to new revelation about yourself and your God. As you passionately pursue the Lord and His purposes, and you stand in faith on His promises, you will experience the depths of His mysterious love. After all, the river of God's love runs deepest in the valleys.