Below is a sermon I wrote in the weeks following my grandfather’s death in March. I hope it’s an encouragement to you as you find yourself “weathering the wilderness” in your own life.
The Lord brought the general message for this sermon to me in the early part of February. It was the idea of taking a journey with the Lord through the wilderness. I remember turning on voice-to-text and jotting down notes on my phone to get the gist down.
I tried to begin preparing. I started digging through Scripture, looking at passages, reading commentaries, and praying. But something was missing. something wasn’t sticking. I felt like a piece was missing. Initially, I thought it was the fact that I was working so much. Pulling 55-60-hour weeks didn’t leave me feeling like doing much except sleeping. Because of that, I felt like I was a bit removed from the Lord. I’d get up at 5, try to read my Bible, eat breakfast, and be out the door by 6. I was hitting a brick wall.
I decided to go to the beach on the morning of February 25th. I wanted to get out there before anyone else and watch the sunrise. I thought maybe that would help clear my head. It did. I decided that being in Charleston was the wilderness I was going through. City life, city people, and city culture were so new to me. It was so different. THAT was the wilderness that I was going to focus on as I preached that message.
So I started again. Voice notes. Writing. I even started tying in some funny anecdotes to help the various points stick. However, the hole in the sermon remained. I kept praying about it. Lord show me what I’m missing from this. I had 10 pages of notes but it was disjointed. I had a bunch of good thoughts but no glue to hold it together.
Then March 15, 2023, happened.
I was in the middle of a code review meeting at work when I got a text about taking an urgent call. I stepped out of the meeting, took the call, and there it was. My whole world was flipped. My papa had died in a car accident, right at the intersection that I had crossed hundreds, if not thousands, of times over the years. It didn’t seem real.
I’m convinced that there are few things worse in life than having to grieve alone. Having to be down in Charleston while my whole family was in the throes of a tragedy was torture. I didn’t know how long the grief process would take.
Since that Wednesday, life has been a whirlwind. I’ve made so many core memories, things that I will never forget, yet things I don’t want to remember.
I’ve gotten to the point now where I can be fine one minute then an anvil drops on my shoulder when I hear a sound, or smell and smell, or see something that jogs a memory. And the whole time I’ve had a single question running through my mind.
And it’s not why…
Everybody always asks “why” in these sorts of things. I had the answer to that question minutes after I got the initial news. Because the Lord’s timing is better than my timing. The Lord’s way is better than my way. The Lord has his Will for each of our lives. That’s why Papa went out the way he did.
What I can’t seem to understand is HOW.
How was I supposed to stand before a congregation and preach a sermon on going through a wilderness when I am in the most deserted wilderness I’ve ever been in? How am I supposed to preach about holding to God when I feel so far removed? Living away from family, losing family, searching for a church, searching for a community, continuing to learn how to adult, continuing to learn about my job. So much at one time. But God is faithful, and I’m here to testify to that faithfulness. And what better way to do that than to remind ourselves of the truth in Deuteronomy 8? So let’s turn there this morning and begin.
First, we need to get some background. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses is speaking to the people on the banks of the Jordan. It is at the end of the 40 years of wilderness. The disobedient previous generation has died out and it is now time for the new generation to enter in. But first, it was important that the law be repeated in their ears a second time. That’s where the name Deuteronomy comes from. “Deuteros” means second, and “nomos” means law. One of the key themes of Deuteronomy is Remembrance, specifically in chapter 8, where we will be looking today. Moses is exhorting the people to remember the riches of the Lord and the dangers of forgetfulness and idolatry. And in doing so he is reminding them of the importance of the wilderness that they just went through. It is here that I want to spend a few minutes with you this morning, as we examine God’s truths in a sermon entitled “Weathering the Wilderness”.
Before we can understand this wilderness that Moses speaks of we have to understand how the people got into the wilderness. We can quickly go back to Numbers 14 to see that.
21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) Tomorrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
26 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me.
Num 14: 21-29
I want to note two distinct ways in which we end up in places of wilderness, obedience and disobedience.
Disobedience
There are 3 distinct actions of disobedience that you can take to end up in a wilderness apart from God. You can reject, run, or live in a state of ruin.
Living in a state of Rejection of the Lord.
The Israelites rejected the Lord. They didn’t follow his command to take control of the Promised Land. Their fear of its inhabitants and their lack of faith in the Lord compounded together to create a weak and reprobate nation that wanted to go back into captivity rather than the Promised Land. Thus, those above the age of 20 (Num 14:29) were sentenced to die in the wilderness
Trying to run from the Lord.
Jonah ran from the Lord. ended up in the midst of a raging see, then in the belly of a fish, because he ran from the call of the Lord. He ran away from the blessing of the Lord, tried to separate himself from God’s calling, and found himself sitting in the pitch-black dark, surrounded by putrid filth.
Living in a state of ruin away from the Lord
Check out Luke 8:29
29 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
Luke 8:29
The demon-possessed man was driven into the wilderness by the demon that possessed him. The word “devil” there references the demons that inhabited that man, not Satan himself. Some people have been so wrapped up in the chains of the devils and demons in their lives, that they are commanded into the wilderness by them.
Notice that the Israelites and Jonah had a previous relationship with the Lord. This man had not. All he had was his demons. And they drove him away from people, into the wilderness among the tombstones and dead men’s bones, where he would cut himself and wail and scream. Some of your demons will put you in a nice car, they will stroke your ego, they will give you a nice house, they will give you a great retirement, but when you get alone by yourself and really think about it, you have nothing. You are living in a state of ruin apart from God.
Obedience
You say, “Sam, obedience and disobedience are two sides of the same coin.” Yep, they are.
“You mean to tell me I’m going to end up in the wilderness at some point in my life regardless of what I do, regardless of whether I’m obedient or disobedient?” Yes, you will.
But the outcome when you’re obedient is much different than when you aren’t. When you are living in a state of Faithfulness, Fruitfulness, and Fellowship, you will find that the weathering the wilderness doesn’t feel as lonely.
Living in a state of Faithfulness
Elijah served the Lord faithfully, slaying 450 prophets of Baal. Jezebel swore to take his life, and he went into the wilderness. Don’t believe me? Here it is…
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
1 Kings 19:4
Living in a state of Fruitfulness
David was in the wilderness in caves hiding from Saul after he reaped good fruit from following the Lord’s command.
14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
15 And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.
1 Samuel 23:14-15
The Lord tells David to go fight the Philistines who are robbing the threshing floors at Keilah (1 Samuel 23:2). David saves Keilah, then has to flee to the wilderness because Saul tries to trap him in the place God told him to go.
The devil doesn’t quit when you’re where God wants you to be. Matter of fact, Satan gives you more trouble when you’re where you are supposed to be than when you’re not. If you’re not where you’re supposed to be, you’re being disobedient, so you voluntarily put yourself in a wilderness apart from God. However, when you’re being fruitful, the devil may try to make you feel trapped in the place God wants you to be, in order to put you in a state of discouragement. This is not an uncommon phenomenon.
There are many pastors standing in pulpits today who have written, unsigned resignation letters sitting in the drawers of their desks in their offices. They’ve gotten so discouraged they’ve almost thrown in the towel, even though they’re being fruitful in the work God has called them to do. There are Christians whom God sends to pagan places to make an impact, but the devil tries to immobilize those Christians, making them feel trapped in their surroundings, so they’re less effective for the cause of Christ. I know it firsthand.
Living in a state of Fellowship
Can you go into the wilderness even when you’re in a state of fellowship with God? YES. Look here are Mark 1:10-13.
10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
12 And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
Mark 1:10-13
Jesus was in a state of fellowship with the Spirit, and it drove him into the wilderness. Now let’s back up a minute and look at the difference between Mark 1 and Luke 8. In those passages, we see two men who have both been driven into the wilderness. Let’s quickly break down the two verses in question.
For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.
Luke 8:29
And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
Mark 1:12
In Luke 8:29, the word driven is “elauno” (pronounced el-ow’-no). It’s the idea of toiling and rowing in a violent windy storm. It’s used 5 times in the Bible, and always in a negative connotation. The word wilderness is “eremos” (pronounced er’-ay-mos ). It means a desolate, solitary desert place.
In Mark 1:12, the word driveth is “ekballo” (pronounced ek-bal’-lo). It’s the idea of bringing forth. Jesus was BROUGHT to that place by the Spirit. The word wilderness is “eremos” (pronounced er’-ay-mos ). It means a desolate, solitary desert place.
Get this. Don’t miss it.
The place is the same, but the way in which the subject was brought to the place is different. The demon-possessed man was tossed to and fro. He may have tried to pull against the current of his flesh, but because he didn’t have Christ, he was swept into a wilderness outside of his own volition. He was far away from the Lord in the wilderness. Jesus was brought there by the Holy Spirit because God had something he wanted to show Jesus. His walk with the Lord was strengthened in the wilderness.
If you’re in a desolate desert place today in your own life, I can almost assuredly say that you’re there for one of these 6 reasons. Living in a state of rejection, ruin, or running. Or living in a state of faithfulness, fruitfulness, or fellowship. Now that we’ve figured out how we get there, we need to figure out what we do while we are there. Let’s start examining Deuteronomy 8 for that.
1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.
2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
Deuteronomy 8:1-3
In verse 2, the word humble is “anah” (pronounced aw-naw’). It means to chasten. We get the word chasten from the Latin word chastus, which means to discipline in order to make morally pure. God sometimes puts us in the wilderness because he wants to put us back into a position of moral pureness. If you keep a compass around a magnet too long, the compass will become skewed and point towards the magnet instead of pointing to the true north. God wants our moral compass to point toward Him, not the things of this world, so there are times when He will remove us from those things.
The word prove is “nacah” (pronounced naw-saw’). It means to test. God gives us the free will to choose who we will follow. He will not force us to follow Him. Sometimes, we are put into the wilderness as a test of whether we will choose to rely on Him or rely on ourselves.
The word know is “yada`” (pronounced yaw-dah’). It means to discern and to discover. God already knows what is in your heart because he is omniscient. However, YOU discover what is in your heart when you go into the wilderness. It’s easy to say what you would do when everything is going well in your life. But when you are in a desolate, solitary, desert place, that is where the rubber meets the road.
Earlier this year, maybe a month or two after I had moved to Charleston, I had the opportunity to go out one Friday night with some work buddies. We had a new member joining the team, and all of us decided to go to Shem Creek and eat supper together as a sort of welcoming event. Shem Creek in Charleston, SC is a known party spot, especially for Friday nights.
Shortly after we got to the restaurant, the drinks began flowing, and some of my coworkers became drunk. As the night progressed, I became uncomfortable. I noticed a mother and her young child at the table behind us glancing at us as one of my coworkers told a bawdy, explicit story in his drunken state. I felt ashamed. Still, I stayed.
After the dinner was over, all of us went outside on the deck overlooking the water. “What are we going to do now?”, one of them asked. “There’s a good spot down the street, let’s go there”, one of them replied. And off everyone began walking. I followed. With every step I took, the weight on my shoulders got heavier. I’d never been bar hopping, but I knew what happened on these kinds of adventures. Yet, I wanted so badly to be a part of the team.
I was far away from everyone I knew. None of my friends and family back home would know if I went out that night. I could dance, drink, pretend to be someone else, and get away with it. Still, the conviction grew stronger. I started walking slower and slower as we progressed down the strip. Finally, I stopped and called after the group that I was going home. I said my goodbyes, went and got my car from the parking garage, and drove back to my apartment, where I promptly hit a gym session to get rid of the pent-up frustration.
I discovered that night what was in my heart. The desire to be well-liked and to find some sort of community in my wilderness put me on the edge of doing something irresponsible and dangerous, but, by God’s grace, I didn’t fall.
Let’s look back at Deuteronomy 8:3. There are a lot of Christians who have the head knowledge without the heart knowledge. Basically, in that verse, God told His people, “I’m gonna put you in a place where you learn to rely on the words that come from my mouth, rather than simply the bread that I give you.” There is a physical aspect to man’s life and a spiritual aspect. One cannot exist without the other, and both have equal importance. Both must be satisfied in some capacity. In the past, many of these people had been fed physically, but they were starving spiritually, and they filled up on the junk food of idolatry rather than the meat of God’s word. God was teaching them the need for His Word.
Let’s look at another account of when Jesus was driven into the wilderness by the Spirit in Matthew 4. What does he say?
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:1-4
Do you see how the Bible connects?! Jesus was referencing Deuteronomy 8:3!!! Man does not live by bread alone when he is in the wilderness. Those of you who are looking for the physical things of this world to satisfy your loneliness and your desolation in your wilderness will NEVER find it. God alone is your answer. God alone is your portion. God alone is your provider. We can see this in Deuteronomy 8:4.
4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years
Deuteronomy 8:4
God provided for the physical needs of the Israelites as they were in the wilderness. He met both their health needs (their feet didn’t swell) and their material needs (their clothes didn’t get old). These needs were met miraculously.
When I was a teenager, I’d play football with some of my buddies. I was never one for the whole tackling thing though (I had some pretty beefy friends, and I was a bit more slender 😁). As such, I always advocated for two-hand touch. As it normally went, though, we’d compromise on wrap, that way those who didn’t want to get tackled wouldn’t have to be, and those who wanted to physically assert their strength could still get a chance. One summer afternoon, we decided to play, and I just happened to be wearing a hot pink muscle tee. It was one my grandma had got me from Walmart during one of the summers I had helped on the farm. It was my lucky tee. As luck would have it, I found myself catching the ball and lighting off down the field at Mach-5 wearing this tee.
One of my buddies wasn’t quite as fast as me, but he had arms like a dern orangutan, so he reached out to wrap me, and just missed me, grabbing my billowy muscle tee instead. Can I tell ya’ll I was running so fast the front stayed on and the back was gone! My sister eventually sowed the two ripped pieces back together, and all was right in the world, but that story brings up an important point I don’t want you to miss.
APART FROM GOD, EVERYTHING PHYSICAL FADES AND WEARS AWAY. It’s just like that muscle tee getting ripped in half. Why do we spend so much time focusing on trying to get more stuff? For example, the Lord has blessed me with a good job. I make good money. It has come to my attention in the past week that ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD isn’t worth a minute of time spent making a memory with someone you love. It’s not worth a minute spent deepening a relationship with a brother or sister, a parent or a friend. It’s not worth a minute spent in communion with the Lord. That is where true value lies. He’ll provide for our physical needs, so we should spend our time focusing more on spiritual needs in our lives and the lives of those around us.
25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Psalm 37:25
God will provide. We need to spend less time focusing on the temporal and more on the eternal. Anyway… continuing on…
5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
Deuteronomy 8:5
Chasten comes from the Greek Word “yacar” (pronounced yaw-sar’). It means to instruct and current through punishment. A good father’s chastisement comes from a place of love.
11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction:
12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Proverbs 3:11-12
The Lord tells us in Deuteronomy 8:5 to consider this in our hearts. “Consider” is the same word as “know” in verse 2, yawdah. The Lord says, KNOW IN YOUR HEART THAT I AM DOING THIS OUT OF LOVE. Our emotions are what often get us into trouble. I can walk myself through a situation rationally with my brain, but, as Steve Perry so eloquently put it back in 1984, I have a foolish heart. It wants what it wants.
Training and restraining those heartfelt emotions takes a lifetime of practice and God’s grace because we will mess up. But when we feel these emotions (which aren’t wrong to feel, they are simply wrong to act on), we take them back to the source of truth, God’s Word. We see Deuteronomy 8:5 and Proverbs 3:11-12, that we can KNOW that the Lord loveth who He correcteth.
6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
7 For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
Deuteronomy 8:6-9
When I sat under the preaching of Dr. Lee at Midway Bible Baptist in Brevard, NC, he’d always say, “when you see the word therefore, you need to see what it is THERE FOR”. It points back to verse 5. Because the Lord corrects us out of love, we should keep His commandments, reverence Him, and walk in His ways. Don’t look at your wilderness as a punishment. You need to reframe it in your mind. The wilderness is God’s way of drawing you closer to Himself.
In verse 7 it says The Lord God bringeth them into a good land. He hasn’t brought them at this point. THE ISRAELITES AREN’T THERE AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME. They are still on the banks of the Jordan. They are still wearing those clothes that haven’t waxed old. Those shoes that haven’t worn out. They see the promise ahead, but they haven’t yet claimed it. They are still in a position of total faith. A lot of us are there right now in different capacities in our lives.
When all that tragedy struck my family, I had a conversation with my Grandaddy. I asked him, “what did the father of the sick child in Mark 9:24 mean when he cried, ‘I believe, Lord help my unbelief’”. I’d read the verse many times, but I’d never really thought about it like I did in the weeks following Papa’s death. Can you partly believe something? I’d always thought of belief as a binary choice. I either believe something or I don’t. And I wanted to say I believed God had a reason for taking my Papa, but I just didn’t understand why He did it through tragedy. The man served in the Navy and he’d had a quadruple bypass surgery last year. He’d gone through so many situations more dangerous than getting behind the wheel of a car. He’d touched so many people for the better. Still, even after all that, he got served his send-off papers by some man I’ll never know who ran into the back of his car at a stoplight.
I remember when I got the news I couldn’t stop thinking about the date. 3-15-23. There’s nothing unique about those numbers. They don’t add up to each other. Nothing notable has ever happened on March 15. It was just another day. But now I won’t be able to forget it.
As I told Grandaddy all of this, he just listened quietly. Once I ran myself out of things to say, Grandaddy held up his hands, right and left. He looked at his right and he said, “this is belief apart from understanding. You know God knows what is best, so you can hold to that no matter what you feel”. He then waved his left and said, “these are where the questions are. This is where the doubts are, this is where the fear is. This is where the stuff is that would want to take your belief. These are the reasons for unbelief. And it’s a spectrum. Sometimes those fears and doubts encroach upon your belief (he pulled his left hand closer to his right), but it doesn’t mean that your belief isn’t there.”
I recall that conversation often. It reminds me that there are promises that I’ve heard from the Lord, but I haven’t seen them come to pass yet. Just because I haven’t seen it doesn’t make it any less true. And just because you don’t see God in your life at any set point in time doesn’t mean He isn’t there. Hold to your belief in Him.
Just because you’re still wearing those same clothes, or you’re still caught up in that same predicament, doesn’t mean He isn’t in the process of BRINGING you where you need to be. What would have happened if the Israelites, standing on the banks of the Jordan, had gotten disillusioned and discouraged? The last time they did that, they went into the desert. Here Moses is talking about oil and honey and pomegranates, and all of these people have spent more years in the desert than not. They’ve spent more years in the wilderness than not. They have no idea what he’s talking about.
GET THIS… only those under 20 years old made it. It’s been 40 years past that period of culling at this point. The Israelites have been in the wilderness at least twice as long as they were out. Some were BORN in the wilderness. It’s all they know. And here’s a guy telling them about a land rich with blessings and comforts.
That’s the same situation with some Christians today. You’ve been wading through mud and driving through fog for so long that you’re starting to forget what it’s like without it. The wilderness is your home. But it won’t be forever. God’s got something in the works, and it’s not my place to understand why. My part is to simply do. And when I do, I have faith that the Lord will bring me out. So what happens when that time comes?
10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Deuteronomy 8:10
When you do get there, you bless the Lord. You thank Him and you worship Him. You don’t forget Him.
We have a tendency to get on a mountaintop and think we can see everything. We think we can anticipate and prepare for all the issues because we are high up and we’ll see problems approaching from a position of strength. But that’s not the case.
Never forget that the highest that man can go in his own power is still beneath the footstool of God. We have no intrinsic power of our own. So when we reap and enjoy the blessings God bestows upon us, we must keep the proper perspective, realizing that they are blessings and not entitlements. They are optional, not requirements. Job 13:15 says, “though he slay me, yet will I praise Him” That is the mindset that Moses is stressing in verse 10.
So when you’ve eaten and are full, it’s the Lord’s doing. When your family is strong and your health is good, it’s the Lord’s doing. When you have money in the bank and gas in the tank, don’t puff your chest out and survey your domain. You drop to your knees and give thanks.
11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
20 As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 8:11-20
Many people only cling to the Lord when they are weathering the wilderness, then they remove themselves from him when they get out. Some of you reading this aren’t in the wilderness. Life is chugging along exactly as you want it and you’ve forgotten the Lord. Worship has become a ritual. Life has become routine. No part of you is seeking to bless the Lord.
No part of you is seeking to come closer. You’ve become lethargic and fat on the milk and honey of the land that the Lord has brought you into. You’ve built your idols and worshipped yourself because you’ve forgotten what it means to depend on God.
I testify against you today that ye shall surely perish.
If you depend on your spouse, your job, your education, or your friends, the Lord is telling you today to BEWARE. He’s provided for you in the past, and He continues to provide. But, He loves you too much to leave you in a place where you are. He doesn’t want you to live your life in a place far removed from Him because your flesh has replaced HIM with the BLESSINGS He has given you.
So I ask you today, “what are you going to do?”
I take comfort in the fact that there were pillars of fire and cloud when the Israelites were in the wilderness. God will make His way known, even if it is simply the peace that he gives you to endure the trial that you are going through. God uses wildernesses to draw us into communication with Him.
The Lord had a plan for that demon-possessed man cutting himself with rocks in the wilderness. If you would have asked that man in his right mind if he wanted to be there, I can tell you he would say no, but BECAUSE HE WAS it led to him meeting the man who could set him free from all of it.
In 1 Kings 19, we find Elijah sitting under a juniper tree in the wilderness, requesting to die. A man who would never experience physical death is requesting to die, and God gives him a meal so good he doesn’t have to eat for 40 days as he travels to Horeb, the mount of God. He’s then hiding in a cave at Mount Horeb, and God sends an earthquake, then a fire, then A SMALL VOICE. Why does God do all this? TO GET ELIJAH’S ATTENTION.
Thus we come to the crux. The wilderness is a place where you turn your attention to God and his desires because you can no longer afford to focus on yourself and your desires. You can’t build yourself up in the process of being broken down. The purpose of the wilderness is to strip you of your self-imposed blinders and force you to tune your heart and tune your ears to that still small voice.
In doing so, two things will become crystal clear.
- You will find that God is a leader, protector, provider, and deliverer.
- You will find that you have a decision to either go all in with God or withdraw from Him completely. You and you alone have to make that decision. No one can do it for you.
The middle of the road is a poor place to walk. It is a poor place to drive. It is a poor place to live.
Vance Havner
You can’t live in the middle folks. There’s no middle ground. And I can prove it.
16 And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17 And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 24:16-17
During that 40-day period, Moses is up at the mountain in the distance getting the 10 Commandments. We then come to Exodus 32, Keep in mind since Exodus 13, the Israelites have been led in the wilderness by supernatural pillars of cloud and fire. And in Exodus 23, we just saw that the people see the glory of the Lord like a devouring fire on top of the mountain. After all this evidence, what do they say to Aaron, the priest?
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Exodus 32:1
There is no middle ground folks. Here are people who SAW THE LORD WITH THEIR OWN TWO EYES, and they made the decision in the wilderness to walk away. You have a choice today. What will you do?
I choose to serve Him in the wilderness.
My papa and us grandkids had a ritual for years Whenever we’d come and visit, when it was time for us to leave, he’d walk out to the mailbox, and wave to us all the way down the dirt road. And we’d stick our hands out the windows and wave back until we took the bend and he was out of sight.
I took a picture of it when I knew that I was going to be leaving for the Wilds last summer. I wanted to remember it. I brought it with me when I moved to Charleston. The night before he died, Tuesday night, I was cleaning up after supper. I saw the picture sitting in the nook where it had been since I had moved. A weird feeling came over me. Even though I’d seen the picture a million times, I paused what I was doing and stared at it for a second and the thought crossed my mind that one day that picture was gonna make me cry. In fact, it made me look forward to getting home that upcoming weekend and visiting him. Then sure enough, I came home the next day, took it out of the frame, and broke down crying while staring at it.
I was looking forward to visiting him that weekend. He would have been sitting right there on that back row of the church as I preached this sermon. We’d have gone out for Mexican after the service. He would have told me what a great service it was, even though we both knew he couldn’t hear all of it.
For reasons I won’t know on this side of heaven, the Lord didn’t see fit to let that be. He decided to take Papa home. I see him in my mind’s eye now. He’s waving just like how he was in that picture. Except he’s on one side of the crystal sea and I’m on the other. I’m in the desert and he’s in paradise.
I say all that to say each person on this earth is standing on the banks of the Jordan right now. Our life is but a vapor, we have no idea how close we are to the end of this stage. And some of you have been in a wilderness your whole lives. Some have only found themselves there in the last 5 years, some in the last 3 months. You may be wearing the same clothes, but they haven’t worn out. Don’t scoff when a man of God gets in a pulpit and tells you about a land of blessing and promise. A land where my Jesus is building a home for me. A land where I can rest and fellowship with him eternally. And I can see those I love who’ve accepted Him.
If you haven’t made that commitment to follow and love the Lord, you have no hope to cling to. Jesus is the only way. Works won’t do it. Connections won’t do it. Your family and friends can’t do it for you. You won’t be able to stand before the Lord and talk about stellar church attendance or record charity donations. The only thing that matters is that you bow the knee to Christ, accepting Him as Savior.
I have a voice note from Papa that I’ve listened to countless times since the 15th. It was a conversation we were having about me moving to Charleston. He wanted the Lord’s Will, he wanted me to honor my family name, and he wanted me to hold to Christ through it all. And I’ve made the decision that is what I’ll do. But today, some of you need to make that decision, rather than putting it off. Don’t let another moment go by. Life is too short. Those who you love and who love you would be devastated to know you took your last breath apart from Jesus, sentenced to eternal damnation. There’s only one way to avoid that fate, and His name is Jesus.
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