Wilderness | Week 1 | September 10th, 2023

“Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.”
– James 1:2-4

What if God is using the wilderness in your life not to punish you, but to prepare you.

“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”
– Exodus 13:17

When we have a limited perspective, the wilderness can feel like punishment. That is not wrong it is just incomplete.

“But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.”
– Exodus 13:18

“And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.”
– Exodus 13:20-22

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
– Jeremiah 29:11