DAY THREE: DESERT SONG

“ 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.”

Deuteronomy 8:2-5 (NIV)

We know of course, that the Israelites to whom this was spoken failed the wilderness test miserably – they grumbled, they rebelled, they slipped into idolatry – yet God still sustained this people, stuck with them, they remained His choice.

In Luke 4, Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit and passes the test that the Israelites centuries prior couldn’t pass – but as Tim Keller pointed out in his sermon “Honey from the Rock” (yes, it’s the same sermon that helped inspire that other song!), Jesus passes the test that we cannot pass.

We are going to face wilderness seasons, desert seasons, in our lives, and statistically, the likelihood of us navigating them perfectly and sinlessly is absolutely 0%.

1 Corinthians 10 tells us to take heed of what happened with the Israelites, to be warned and not to think we’re beyond making some of the same mess ups – but we’re also encouraged in the same chapter that God is faithful and that when we’re tempted He WILL provide a way out so that we can “endure” (that’s such an important word for the wilderness) and told that even those wild post-Egyptian Israelites were accompanied by Christ: “They drank from the spiritual Rock that accompanied them, and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:4 NIV)

If He accompanied them in the desert, He certainly accompanies us. Thank God we have a Savior who navigated the wilderness perfectly before we ever had to, that He will help us endure and sustain us therein. He is one in whom we can absolutely trust and on whom we can utterly rely.

“To him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:16