When a Christian runs away from the Lord we say he backslides. But when the Lord "runs" away from a Christian we say he is in the "wilderness" experience. A backslider says, "I don't need you Lord". But a Christian in the wilderness cries out to the Lord, "Lord, where are You". Backsliding is undesirable but wilderness is unavoidable.
God's Purpose for the Wilderness
God would not do anything without a purpose, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It is good for us to study the Scripture to find out the purposes of God. God, being the Lord of all things, is in control of everything that happens to his people and around His people. There are reasons why He allows His people to experience wilderness, darkness, dryness and dullness in their walk with Him.
Israel in the Wilderness
According to Paul, Christians can learn from the things happened Israel in their wilderness experiences recorded in the writing of Moses:
"These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, ...." (1 Cor. 10:11, NKJV).
Israel's ignorance of God's nature and character caused them to act wickedly, and what was to have been a brief wilderness journey became a lifetime experience. Wilderness was a time of testing for Israel.
God spoke to Israel through Moses:
"And you shall remember 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" (Deu. 8:2).
The purpose of the testing was to humble Israel and to find out whether they were obedient to the Lord or not.
In the time of testing the Lord caused Israel to hunger for the good things of Egypt - meat, fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, garlic and onions (Numbers 11:4 - 6). He did not give them the things their flesh wanted. He only gave them what their flesh needed (Deu. 8:3).
The Lord said further that by this testing Israel would know in their heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord their God chastened them (Deu. 8:5).
Israel remembered what they had left behind in Egypt (speaks of the world sytem). Their condition in Egypt, even with its bondage, appeared to be preferable to the wilderness into which God had led them.
Israel began to murmur and cried out to the Lord for meat. The result was:
"And He (God) gave them their request, so they ate (meat - quail) and were well filled, for He gave them their own desire. They were not deprived of their craving; but (He) sent leanness into their soul" (Psalms 106:15; 78:29, 30, NKJV, emphasis added).
Israel paid a high price for what they wanted. With the meat came "leanness of soul". This leanness made them unfit to endure, unable to pass God's test, and ultimately, they never entered His promised land. The sin was not in the crying out for meat, but what that request represented - the desire for the former things, things the world system provided.
The Church in the Wilderness
All true Christians go through a period of wilderness experience in at least one stage of their Spiritual Journey. Christians are now living in the last of the last days. God wants His people to understand the times and seasons so that we are prepared to depend on Him for His harvest.
"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: ..."(Eccl. 3:1).
Jesus rebuked the multitudes for failing to discern the time, "Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time" (Luke 12:56)?
Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament foretold the advent (first coming) of Jesus the Lord who is like a Refiner's Fire (Malachi 3:2).
"He (the Lord) will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness" (Malachi 3:3, emphasis added).
Notice that the "sons of Levi" foreshadows the "the royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), which is the Church. God desires to purify Christians and to prepare them as "an offering in righteousness" - a generation of believers that walk right with Him.
Jesus is coming back for a Church that is pure, without spot, or any such impurity (Eph. 5:27), a Church whose heart is unpolluted with the world's system - fit to be His Bride.
The Refiner's Fire
What is the fire He uses to refine Christians? The answer is found in the following passage:
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:6, 7, emphasis added).
The reason God wants to refine His people is that, He considers the genuineness of our faith, while waiting for the second coming of Jesus, is much more precious that gold that perishes. The fire God uses for refining our faith is various trials and tribulations. Once we are refined the world will see the character of Christ in us!
In Isaiah the need of refining is amplified to a greater degree:
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another" (Isaiah 48:10, 11).
The fire in God's furnace is not a literal physical fire that refines silver, but the intense heat of our trials which separates the precious from the vile. it is for His Name sake (mentioned twice) that our character conforms to the Character of Christ after the refining process.
That is the reason why Christians must be joyful when they fall into various trials:
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:2, 3, emphasis added).
It is not easy be joyfull in the time of trials. But the Scripture says, "Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). Joy is a spiritual force that gives us strength to endure afflictions and trials. The various trials could be persecution, temptations, calamities and crises of any kind. Notice that "patience" is part of the fruit of the Spirit. Notice also that James' writing is in agreement with Paul's:
"We also glory in tributlations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3, 4).
Once again Christ-like character is the goal of the Refiner's Fire!
Crises bring Christians closer to Christ
I believe God is going to let crises come. Crises do not tell us what we have but what we don't have. Crises reveal our weaknesses, our emptiness and how much we need Him. He is going to test our Christianity and He is going to test our faith in Him. He lets crises mount in our life until we feel like we are in utter despair. He sometimes begins to deal with us by withdrawing Himself from us. He is still there, but He is just not letting our emotions feel He is not there. That is why we must learn to live by our spirit instead of by our emotion (part of our soul). He wants us to live by faith of the son of God that is within us - it is His faith and not our wavering faith. He wants us to live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7) for the "just shall live by faith" (Heb. 10:38).
Crises come into our life to move us into Christ. He, being the Head of the Church, is not happy with our religious Church activities, our self-willed routine. He wants our carnal nature brought to surrender by the cross. He wants us to walk in the Spirit so that we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).
In a crisis we are broken enough to be totally dependent upon Him and He begins to teach us His way. Sometimes He will let us come to the end of ourselves to cry out to Him, "Why God, why me God?". Not all of us take the same route to Calvary. Some of us take a longer way than others because of our fleshly nature, our stubbornness and our rebellions.
Remember the prodigal son (Luke 15:11 - 24). The Lord knew, the father knew, what he wanted with his inheritance. He knew he would spend it riotously, but his father gave it to him anyway even though he knew it would only be to his harm. He had to let him come to the end of himself, to have his carnal nature crucified, before the Father could trust him with the rich provisions of His grace.
Wilderness and Unanswered Prayer
Unanswered prayer does not mean we do not get what we asked God for in our prayer. This is not the real problem. The real problem is sometimes we don't get a reply from God!
There are many ways by which God might answer my prayer. I could be in a situation that I am quite convinced that I want something and I ask for it. The answer God gives me could be, "No you can't have it, it's not good for you", or His answer could be, "Wait, the time is not ready". But that is not the real problem because there have been an answer and I know for certain that God heard my prayer. The real problem is, when the heaven seems like brass and I feel God is not listening and I am not getting through to Him! God deliberately chooses not to reply me. This is what I mean wilderness in my prayer life.
The Lord allows me to experience this wilderness in my prayer life because he wants me to learn not to be complacent and take for granted the answered prayers. He wants me to increase my prayer effort and to move up in the "School" of prayer. He seems to say:
"Try a bit harder, I want you to grow, I want you to mature, plead a bit more. I'm going to hold back because I want you to grow in the School of Prayer and I want you to be a strong pray-er. Do not take my presence and blessing of answered prayers for granted. Put more effort in your prayer life and never give up. I want you to love Me for My own sake and I want you to seek me whether I'm there or not. I want you to learn!"
Our response to God should be:
"Yes Lord, whether I hear from You or not I have decided to go on through this wilderness experience, this season of darkness and dryness, this season of waiting and hoping. Thank you Lord for teaching me something very precious".
At the far end of the dark tunnel of wilderness, seasons of trials and tribulations is the dawn of God. The God who gave Israel, in the days of their wilderness experience, the Promised Land is the same God who gives His Church a Land of Promises!
No comments:
Post a Comment