Scripture, and it’s a clue to the identity
and nature of God. He was revealing an
important part of who He is—a God
who loves His people and who is
pledging to keep them from dis-ease.
God is the healer who can lead you
through a bad situation and into a land
flowing with milk and honey. God did
it for the nation of Israel, and He does
it in the life of anyone who commits to
living for Him. The wilderness is school,
a season when God is molding you,
shaping you, and preparing you for what
He is bringing you to. There is a purpose
for the trek through the wilderness. You
cannot step into the bountiful land He
has prepared for you without having
gone through the wilderness, because
without the wilderness you won’t be
ready for the land.
This process takes time. We want
God to turn our circumstances around
quickly. We want God to take us from
no place to the best place. When your
wilderness experience hits, you might
wonder if you’re good enough, if you’re
headed in the right direction, and if you
have the strength and resolve to endure.
We want God to make the situation
perfect and easy overnight, but God
doesn’t work like that. Tests and trials
in a wilderness season means God is
shaping you and molding you for what
lies ahead. Nothing is wrong—you’re
just going through your wilderness
season.
This jaunt into the wilderness was not
a mistake on God’s part for the people
of Israel. There was no miscalculation
in the navigation system. God was
deliberately leading them into the
wilderness because He knew His
beloved people needed challenging
new experiences in order to grow and
mature and really get to know Him.
Trials have a way of revealing the
contents of the human heart. The
people of Israel’s reaction to their test
at Marah clearly revealed the condition
of their hearts. As soon as they ran
into a problem, they began to complain
instead of trust God. Instead of asking,
“How is God going to do this?” the
question was, “What are we going to
drink?”
Because He cares, God allows us to
come to places of testing to see if
we will trust Him. Based on previous
miracles, we should! The people of Israel
had experienced incredible miracles
of deliverance a few days prior, but
somehow their trust in God had already
faded. Yet they were traveling under
the leadership of a God who loved
them, who was watching over them and
taking care of them, and who was their
healer.
“Do not worry about your life, what you
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