Day 77
“Who is this coming up from the
wilderness, leaning on her beloved”
Song of Songs 8:5
Every true Christian has a wilderness experience: a period of time during which temptation, trouble, or travail test us. It can even be a long period during which God’s presence seems to be absent in our lives. The wilderness is marked by its dryness; a place of little or no life. It has a sense of abandonment about it.
The children of Israel experienced the wilderness for forty years. The normal two week journey took 39 years and 50 weeks longer because of what was in their hearts. Their time of testing revealed their hearts and in the end they could not enter the place God prepared for them. During those years the Lord raised up a new generation that took possession of the land.
Job also had wilderness experience that brought great suffering and accusation of sin by his friends. But in the end, Job came to know God in way he had not before. Elijah carried out God’s work as a prophet and then spent a few years in a wilderness setting. It tested his faith. David was anointed King of Israel, but spent a lengthy time in the wilderness being pursued by Saul, who wanted to kill him. Great character building took place during these times.
God is in the wilderness. He is in the deep valleys. He is in the night and dark places. He is there even though we may not sense His presence, or even believe He is there. Because He is sovereign and controls all things, He is the One who permits our wilderness experiences. And His one and only purpose is that we come out of the wilderness leaning on His breast, the breast of our Lover.
“Even the darkness will not be dark to You;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to You”
Psalm 139:12