SPIRITUALITY AND FAITH
How to Maximize
Your Life During Your Wilderness Experience!
Written by Minister Sylvia Rose
There are fewer words that will conjure thoughts of despair or disappointment in the minds and hearts of a Christian than wilderness. So often when we hear it we have negative images of drought, dearth or even death. But when we do hear that word, we fail to consider God’s use and purpose of the wilderness; for in the two major examples that we have in the Word (the Israelites and Jesus), they were both God-led experiences. Thus, God’s intent and purpose was central to that experience.
Every Christian will encounter a wilderness experience at some point in their sojourn with God and it will be imperative that they accept and acquiesce to the plan and purpose that God has designed for it. However, in order to do that, one must be aware of where they are (acknowledge their place with God) before they can see (understand or perceive) what He desires to do in their lives. Not doing so increases the likelihood that complaining will yield to disobedience and to unnecessarily lengthening the time spent there.
How does one maximize a wilderness experience? First we must understand that a wilderness is a spiritual place with physical ramifications.
You did not and do not choose your wilderness; it is a place God has prepared
for you, to prepare you for Him. It is a place God takes you to prove who He is to you and to press out of you who you are to Him. God wants to prove His mighty power, miraculous provision and His magnificent presence in and to you. A “dry place”, where resources are few, where your true needs are magnified and your physical abilities are revealed as limited, gets your attention so that you can hear from, see and focus…on Him. The trials of a wilderness are needful in that they test our confidence in God. They show where (in Whom or in what) we have placed our trust. Trials test our faith in the competency of God. They will reveal your faith in how God can respond to you in time of crisis and need. Thirdly, trials test our commitment to God. Trials will make or break your ability to endure (James 1:3). It will reveal how long you will hold on to God and His way of doing things once difficulties arise, for the ultimate goal of trials and testing is to produce a mature faith (James 1:4; Ps. 119:75).
Secondly, we must also understand that a wilderness may be a physical place that will yield spiritual results. Everything that God does in our lives is to bring about a closer relationship with Him and to impact our relationship with others. To this end we must see that a wilderness experience is relationship with others.