What is this wilderness and why is it important?

The wilderness is symbolic of a period of intense trials in your life.

God chose to send you in the wilderness because He has a special plan for your life that can only come to fruition after you learn humility, patience, and obedience.

The wilderness is also designed to reinforce your trust in God. 

“Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. (Deuteronomy 8:1-2 NKJV)

Throughout the Bible, most of God’s prophets and servants went through a period in the wilderness before they were established as leaders of God’s people.

Moses spent forty years in the wilderness in the land of Midian working as a shepherd for his father-in-law before God called him to his destiny at the burning bush in the backside of the desert (Acts 7:30)

Consequently, Moses learned humility and spoke face to face with God because the Lord considered him to be the most humble person upon the land.

Moses also learned patience in the wilderness and so was able to lead a rebellious nation in the wilderness.

The children of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness to teach them humility and obedience. However, they failed the test and perish in the wilderness except for their children and Joshua and Caleb.

David spent many years as a fugitive in the desert before he was established on the throne of Israel.

The Holy Spirit led Jesus in the wilderness for forty days and nights to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4)

The wilderness of trials is to humble and test you so that you will become a better and more victorious person.

While in the wilderness it is important that you do not gripe like a spoilt child. It is also important that you remain calm and obedient to God.

For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. (Isaiah 30:15)

By always returning to God and resting in His love and assurance you will be saved in the wilderness.

In quietness and confidence, you will be strengthened during the wilderness journey.

The wilderness is a pathway to a fruitful land

The Lord will take you through the wilderness into a fruitful land. But while in the wilderness you will not lack.

Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. (Deuteronomy 8:4-6)

God will take you out to bring you in

The Lord will take you out of your trials to bring you into your blessings.

 And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He sware unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. (Deuteronomy 6:23-25)

The Lord will conquer your giants in your Promised Land

The Lord will go before you to conquer the giants in your promise land. They must be utterly destroyed out of your life so that you can gain peace.

When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: (Deuteronomy 7:1-2)