Have you been going through the same thing for a while, which leaves you constantly feeling as if there is no way out?  Maybe you feel like you are in the movie Ground Hogs Day and you are constantly waking up only to find that you are in the same scene in life.  If so, then you are having a wilderness experience.

Recall Deuteronomy 9:7-21. Even while Moses was in the mountain receiving the law of the Lord, the people were busy making a golden calf to worship.  They did not have enough trust in God to understand that His law was enough.  They needed more or at least their flesh needed more. Something more tangible, not realizing that God is a Spirit and those that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.  Placing those meaningless things in life over God will often lead you to a “wilderness experience.”

“Often, God has to keep us in the wilderness until all our golden calves become detestable to us. I am speaking of all those calves we adore in everyday life – automobiles, jobs, houses, success, fame, fortune, etc. It is often because of such things that we often must face the wilderness”  (Jim Garrish).

“The wilderness can be a lonely place. Many of us try to escape the wilderness and God’s plan of testing for our lives. We try to minister only in our natural strength as Moses once did (Exodus 2:11-15). Such ministry is useless. I think I would rather spend forty years in the wilderness and minister only one day in the Lord’s strength, than to spend one day in the wilderness and minister forty years in my own strength” (Jim Garrish).

God allows us to be placed in a wilderness experience so that we can grow, mature and better appreciate the green pastures that lie ahead. The wilderness is not a place where you get to invite friends and family.  No way!  This is the solitary place that God has tailor-made for you to reach you exactly where and how He wants to. Because your wilderness experience is so special and unique to you, no one can really relate.  Your spouse will not be able to truly understand it, your parents will not have a clue, and neither will your children.  Only you will be able to have the epiphany as to why you are going through that which God has designed in the wilderness for you. The wilderness experience not only grows one’s character, but also one’s humility.  Don’t run from your wilderness experience! If you really think about it, it is like the Wizard of Oz told the Lion who wanted courage, the Tin Man who wanted a heart, the Scarecrow who wanted a brain, and Dorothy who just wanted to go home. They had the ability the entire time. In a wilderness case one has the ability to escape from the wilderness from the beginning of the experience. The length that one remains there is totally up to how quickly one is able to learn the lesson God is trying to teach them. Embrace your wilderness experience and learn from it. The quicker you do these things, the quicker you will be delivered.

Tonya DJ Saheli, JD