The Spiritual Wilderness
The "Spiritual Wilderness" is a place that God takes all new followers to teach them to trust him to supply their needs and to get "Spiritual Egypt" out of them. The wilderness is a place of training and testing. It is a place that is removed from Egypt and also a place where someone can go to escape from Egypt. Leaving Egypt is a one way ticket for anyone that wants to follow the Lord. Going back to spiritual Egypt is an invitation to death. God takes this as a personal rejection of himself and his family. Making it through the wilderness is how someone enters the "Promise Land". There is no quick jump from Egypt to the Promise Land. Everyone must voluntarily go into, and hopefully make it through, the wilderness to come to possess father God's promises in their life.
1 Corinthians 10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 10Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 12Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
God doesn't want us to be overthrown in the wilderness. Think "Relationship". Evil things offend Relationship. Idolatry and idols. Money, amusement parks, games, jobs, people. Dead gods we want more than God's word. Multiple shallow relationships from fornication wound our souls. Testing Christ makes him mad. Don't you trust him? "Self", the flesh part will want to murmur and complain as it dies and becomes subject to your new Christ spirit. You can be standing today and falling tomorrow.
Deuteronomy 1:31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
Father God was trying to see the Hebrew people as his children. He will carry us in our spiritual wilderness like we are his child.
Deuteronomy 2:7 For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.
Fourty is the number of testing. The Lord was with them the whole time and they lacked nothing.
Deuteronomy 8:1 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. 2And 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 not. 3And 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.
"Possess" (Strong H3423) here means "to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place)..."
After all the adults from 20 years old and up rejected the first opportunity to enter the Promise Land they were led about in the wilderness until they all died. The next generation was trained for 40 years to rely on the Lord. This was to teach a new generation to be humble and to test them to see what was in their heart. The Lord had to know if the next generation would keep his commandments or not. In order for them to be successful in entering the Promise Land and conquer the giants that were living there at the time they had to be following the Lords commandments. If they weren't ready yet it might take more than 40 years. However, the Lord is a good judge of character and after the next generation saw their parents die in the wilderness over 40 years they were much more cooperative. The Lord will put us in our wilderness to know what is in our hearts as well. We are to humbly learn that the word of God is our life and we walk by and live by the word of God. We develop a personal relationship with the Lord when we volunteer to rely solely on the word of God for all of our needs just as the Hebrew children had to for health, food, water and clothing in the desert wilderness. God resists the proud and gives grace to those humble to him.
Deuteronomy 8:4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 5Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. 6Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7For 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; 8A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9A 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. 10When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
We should take it to heart that the Lord is chastening us like he is our father. This is all about relationship as far as father God is concerned. What does he want us to do? Learn from him. Walk in his ways and reverence him. On a small scale, our own bodies are the promise land that we must learn to conquer and occupy with our new raised from the dead spirit that we obtain from Jesus. This expands outwards into more of our life as we mature in Christ.
Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Are we spiritually famished or spiritually strong? We become as spiritually strong as we have the word of God abiding/working in us.
Deuteronomy 8:15 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; 16Who 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;
Serpents and scorpions are types of evil spirits that we can encounter. Some of these we might inherit and others may be encountered through life. God will humble us and do good for the humble who pass their tests.
Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
We should seriously keep in mind that father God is a jealous God. Hating the Lord is not in anybody's best interest. We do much better if we're in father God's mercies. Inherited generational curses can apply to us at conception and must be lifted, cast down, removed through repentance and/or declaration using God's word. Go back 3 to 4 generations. Any non-followers there? We must apply the blood of Jesus onto our generational curses to wash away our history.
Genesis 21:20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
We are not to dwell in the wilderness, but pass through the wilderness. We should not take anything from or have relationships with anyone from the world(Egypt) we have been delivered from. Just accept things from God.
Genesis 37:22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him (Joseph) into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.
In the story of Joseph we see there may be attacks against us while in the wilderness. Look to the Lord and his word for the way out of the attacks.
Nehemiah 9:15 And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. 16But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
Bread from heaven. Water from rocks. God can meet peoples' needs anywhere on our way to possessing our promise land. We should be thankful he meets our needs and honors his promises. No good will come out of not following father God's commandments.
Nehemiah 9:17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. 18Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
Some of us might want to rebell and go back to Egypt instead of depending on God's word.
Nehemiah 9:19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. 20Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. 21Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
God won't forsake us entirely in the wilderness until we either die there of old age or learn what we need to about him and his word. God will instruct us with his spirit as to the way we should go to continue moving us through the wilderness to eventually leave the wilderness ready to enter our promise land. If we do not heed his spirit it will be a long time in the wilderness.
Nehemiah 9:22 Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. 24So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
If we eventually learn our spiritual lessons on how to come into good relationship with God and walk in our raised from the dead Christ spirit, and properly use his word, we will enter our promise land and be blessed there. With our cooperation, God will subdue and destroy the previous inhabitants in us.
Nehemiah 9:26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations. 27Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
When God's children are disobedient and reject his word and disregard instructors, he lets their enemies vex them until they repent and put him first again. He makes the choice clear to us, sometimes in a painful way. We should always be correctable. The fastest way to move ahead is to be corrected and immediately drop whatever mistake we are making. Then it is no longer our mistake. It is gone and we move on.
Deuteronomy 32:9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
The Lord is inheriting the people that become part of his family. Likewise, we inherit him and father God. This takes us back to being family just like Adam and Eve were. He will lead us and instruct us on how to become good productive family members. He won't allow any other "gods" to be in the middle of the relationship, so neither should we.
Psalm 29:8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 9The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
Kadesh is a holy place that the Lord wants us to learn to walk in. One of the things that we will learn in the holy wilderness is his glory.
Numbers 32:9 For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them. 10And the LORD'S anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, 11Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: 12Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD. 13And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.
People who don't wholly follow the Lord through the wilderness will wander in it their entire life and will end up dieing there. They will never see the promises. They will have attacks from serpents and scorpions. They will have calamities, damages and destruction going on in their life again and again. This isn't what God wants for us. He wants us to have mental and spiritual peace, prosperity and blessing.
Deuteronomy 9:7 Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.
Many people who begin their relationship with God by receiving/taking Jesus' raised from the dead spirit to become born again have never submitted themselves to the word of God. They keep resisting God through their entire life. They will never enter into the promises and their personal promise land. They will wallow around in their same old problems. Until they repent, they will never come out of their bondage.
Psalm 78:15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. Psalm 78:16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
God can supply our needs in the wilderness right out of rocks if he wants to.
Psalm 78:17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. 18And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. 19Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? 20Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?
Any time you provoke the Lord you are sinning. God has established a way of righteousness. Trusting him is right with him if he has made you a promise. He considers it provoking, or testing, if we don't believe he is already providing for us. On the other side of enough, lust of something beyond the provision God considers enough is also testing. Either way, it takes you away from becoming prepared to enter your promise land.
Psalm 78:21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; 22Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: 23Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the grain of heaven. 25Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.
Jacob was later called Israel. The country Israel is named after Jacob. Since everyone in Israel is a descendant of Jacob, sometimes when they are bad they get the earlier name of Jacob used on them instead of Israel.
God can use resources we don't see. He can toss down things from heaven that we have never been told about. Not believing in God's salvation puts us off track from making it through the wilderness. It raises the question of "if" you will make it and "if" the training should continue.
Psalm 78:29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; 30They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, 31The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
Notice father doesn't let people slide into the promise land. Even the most chosen may die in the wilderness.
Psalm 78:40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
Provoking, grieving and limiting God will definitely make it harder for us to get through the wilderness. If we limit God we can't use or enjoy his resources. We will never gain confidence in them. Cooperating with the lessons will help us to pass the tests and be qualified to enter the promise land.
Psalm 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, 8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 11Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
If we can hear God's voice and want to enter into his promised rest, we should obey his voice or we run the risk of searing our conscience, also known as hardening our heart. Not learning God's ways leaves us in the wilderness until we learn his ways. We only have to act like sheep.
Psalm 78:52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
The Lord will lead his sheep through the wilderness safely. We won't need to fear our enemies if we trust God. Other humans just like us may die while we have faith in God.
Isaiah 51:1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. 2Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 3For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. 4Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. 5My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. 6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. 7Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. 8For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
After we have left spiritual Egypt and have learned to depend on the Lord, we volunteer to remove spiritual Egypt from within us. Even as Abraham left everything behind and followed the Lord to an unknown land, we must leave behind our old life and follow the Lord through our wilderness to a new spiritual place. Probably this will also be a new physical place. If we cooperate enough with the Lord and learn his righteousness, we won't end up going in circles in the wilderness and the Lord will make our wilderness become like the garden of Eden and bring us into our spiritual promise land and his salvation.