THE WILDERNESS
And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna …that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. –Deut. 8:2-3
Are you in the wilderness? It may not be a barren land. Your hunger may not be for food, but for health or a job. Like the Israelites, we all spend some time in the wilderness.
God allows us to be in the wilderness. He does this in order to humble and test us. He is showing us what is in our hearts.
God allowed the hunger, but He did not let them starve to death. Instead He provided heavenly food, manna. Verse 4 tells us that their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell in those forty years. That is truly miraculous. He wanted them totally dependent on Him.
Some of us go through a temporary wilderness. Others live in the wilderness. They may be paralyzed, blind or live with a disease that can be controlled, but not cured. The wilderness keeps us dependent on God. Our prayer lives are richer. Life in the wilderness makes the Promised Land of Heaven that much sweeter. Until then, we will feast upon the manna that God provides.
Copyright 2013 Carolyn Dale Newell.
A Mountain of Faith 