Entering The Wilderness (The Trials + Seasons Of Life)

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2

The Wilderness…

So vast and so many unknowns.

It’s a place no one wants to enter, and yet it’s a place the Lord has or will eventually call us into.

A place of trials.

A place of suffering.

A place of questioning.

And sometimes even a place of wandering.

When we look down the path that leads into the wilderness, its whispers of uncertainty can be frightening and almost deafening.

What lies ahead? What will I encounter? Will I be able to adapt? Will I be able to survive? How long will I be here?

If today you find yourself staring at a vast unknown, I understand not wanting to enter.

And, if you’re already in the wilderness, I understand wanting to escape it.

But consider this: if we didn’t ask to enter the wilderness and weren’t actively seeking it out, how did we end up here? By coincidence? By accident?

No, we were led here.

And, you already know by who.

By the One who goes ahead and behind, the One who created you.

Yes, the wilderness is mysterious, challenging, scary, and sometimes dark.

But it is also filled with special things waiting to be found. Concealed and secret things that God is waiting to reveal to you. Hidden treasures that could never be found outside of this place. But you must be willing to look.

Yes, the wilderness will test your faith, but we have been told to rejoice when this happens:

“Rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love” (1 Peter 1:6-8). We have also been promised that when God tests us, we will emerge from the other side better than we entered, like gold that has been purified by fire (Job 23:10).

Yes, our weaknesses will be revealed, but we have been shown that it is at our weakest that we become strong:

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

You will be bent beyond what you thought was possible, but you will not break.

However, this is only true if you lean into Jesus and depend on Him to lead you through. Don’t push Him away or try to run in the opposite direction of where He is leading you. For God is not only the One who led you here but also the One who will sustain you in it and ultimately deliver you from it.

God will not allow the wilderness to overcome you.

He goes before you, and He is with you (Deuteronomy 31:8).

It may take days, weeks, months, or even years, but there will come a time when you will revere the wilderness because it was in this place that the Lord was closer than ever before and where God revealed the deepest parts of His heart to you. For it is in our sufferings that we are able to draw closer to Christ than ever before:

“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

I speak not as a woman who has experienced the wilderness and emerged from the other side but as one who is still in the midst of the wilderness.

As one who can say, what was once an unknown has now become my home.

I’m no longer desperately trying to escape. Instead, I press forward, following my Savior to the tops of mountains and into the depths of the sea. And through the years, the Lord has shown me that there is indescribable beauty and unimaginable blessings that can only be found here in the vastness of the wilderness.

And as I stand here in the wilderness, I know some of you are standing in your own wilderness.

Although our individual wildernesses may be different, our God is the same, and His promises are for you and me.

So as you read this, it’s as if I’m looking over at you, as we both stand in our own private wildernesses, and I’m shouting out:

He is working!

He is moving!

He is still here!

Then, there are those of you who are staring at a wilderness that you’re about to enter.

And as you read this, I imagine as you look out into the distance, you see me already deep in the wilderness. And as I smile at you, I shout:

Don’t be afraid of entering this vast unknown! Jesus is here, and He will sustain you through the highs and the lows, through the nights and the days, for He will make a way!

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)