Navigating Spiritual Wilderness: Trials and Trust

Wilderness as God’s Classroom

What wilderness are you traveling through? Is it a wilderness of physical suffering, mental anguish, or spiritual darkness? Why does God allow this for His children? God told the children of Israel that they were allowed to stay in the wilderness so "that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end" (Deuteronomy 8:16).

That time spent in the wilderness after fleeing Egypt allowed the Israelites to learn to trust God completely. They were wholly dependent upon Him for everything. From the crossing of the Red Sea to the provision of manna to the water from the rock, everything they needed for survival was provided by God. Can God provide? Absolutely!

Divine Provision in the Wilderness

But now it was time to leave the wilderness and go into the Promised Land. It was a good land where they would lack nothing. And at the end of the day, when they had "eaten and are full" what should their response be—to bless God (Deuteronomy 8:10).

After learning their lesson in the wilderness, now they need to be obedient to God. They need to accept the abundance He has blessed them with, realizing in humility that it only comes from Him. But what happens? In the midst of their wealth and prosperity they forget. They believe they have achieved it all by their own hands with no help from God (Deuteronomy 8:17).

The Danger of Forgetting God

This is the danger we all face. We go through difficult times and in the midst of them we reach out to God for help. In His graciousness He provides for us. He saves us mentally, physically, and spiritually. We know it is His work. We know that without Him we would still be in the 'desert'. But time passes.

After a while things go well again. We see success in our careers, our health, our children, and our relationships. We forget that we needed God. We think we don't need Him anymore. It's as if He were a 'rabbit's foot', an object we only need when we want good luck. Like a genie's lamp, we only rub it when we want good fortune.

Our pride swells in our accomplishments. "I did it!" we say to ourselves. We may tell others that God has blessed us but in our hearts, sadly, we tend to secretly believe it was really all our own efforts. Then we put ourselves ahead of God. We worship money, power, or success. We don't have a physical idol that we bow before but it is an idol nonetheless.

Idolatry of Success

The Israelites were warned that if they did this they would be punished just as the nations that were falling before them in battle. God had told them that those nations were punished for their evil and not to believe that God was blessing the Israelites with success because they were righteous (Deuteronomy 9:4). But if they became evil then they would receive the same fate. We can't assume that this applies to all nations. But we know there is a price to pay for disobedience on a personal level.

Navigating Spiritual Wilderness: Trials and Trust

In this part—navigating spiritual wilderness: trials and trust—we’ll explore how God’s loving discipline shapes our character and draws us closer to Him. Deuteronomy 8:5, tells us "You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you." It is for our own good that we are disciplined. We see the same thought in Hebrews 12:6, "For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives."

If we are God's children, we can absolutely expect to have our 'wilderness' experiences. Because we belong to Him, His desire is to produce spiritual maturity and holiness. This comes for us, as it did to the Israelites, by learning to trust Him in everything and learning humility through our suffering.

Christ’s Example in Trials

Lest you think that is harsh, look at Hebrews 5:8, "though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." Jesus was perfect—sinless—yet His human nature still learned obedience through suffering. He is our perfect role model for us as humans. He learned as we must learn. This doesn't mean He was lacking obedience, but it shows His total participation in the experience of being human. It was also to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the suffering servant (Isaiah 53).

What was Jesus' response to being in the wilderness? The Israelites wandered forty years; He was there for 40 days. Jesus was totally trusting in God to care for Him. Though tempted He did not fail the test like the Israelites did. His humility and His obedience never wavered. The Israelites could not seem to look back and see that God was always faithful to them. They doubted His love and care for them. Jesus did not.

Repeating the Same Mistakes

The tragedy would be if we suffered trials and then learned nothing from them. How sad if we endured trials over and over again and still were unable to appreciate that God had provided for us. Has your life been spared? Have you had job opportunities provided for you? Have you found the love of your life? If we don't appreciate that it was God who gave us those things, how many trials will we have to go through before we do?

When we look for satisfaction somewhere other than God, we will never find it. Is money the answer to all your problems? Is the praise of men something your heart desires? Is having power over others crucial to your idea of success? Can these things bring happiness or fulfillment, perhaps briefly, but in the long run they will fail us.

Remember that the trials that come our way are for our good. They are to teach us what is truly important. Do we learn how to suffer well? Listen to what 1 Peter 4:19 says, "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." The good that is produced is endurance, endurance produces character, and character hope (Romans 5:3-5).

Eternal Perspective in Trials

On that day that suffering ceases then we will see what we have hoped for—our blessed Savior. In Him the pain, tears, and anguish will be no more. Until then we should look to our God who made Heaven and Earth and who brings us help (Psalm 121:2). We hope in the good our pain produces, even if we can't see it. If God is for us, we need not worry.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 reminds us that we shouldn't lose heart. Our troubles achieve an eternal glory. Our eyes are fixed on the eternal, not the temporary. Is our faith genuine? Trials can tell us. It isn't too late to

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace."

- "O Soul, are You Weary and Troubled?" by Helen Lemmel (1922).

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