Wilderness Survival GuideSample

SURVIVAL TIP #3 —FIND SHELTER

Someone stranded in a physical survival situation must immediately find or build a shelter. The first great danger is exposure to the desert’s harsh elements. It’s crucial to maintain your core body temperature in order to endure. A good shelter provides the necessary shade or warmth to keep your body temperature as stable as possible.

The “desert” may seem like God is absent, but a child of God is never cut off from Him and God’s presence is our safe place, our shelter in the desert. This truth is an answer to Moses’ wilderness prayer centuries ago. “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). God assured him, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). So the way a child of God finds or builds a shelter is by diligently seeking God as a haven in the desert. 

Think about this, when did God first promise He would abide with His people? When did He establish His presence with them? When did He give specific instructions for building His tabernacle in the middle of their camp? In the wilderness! That was the very time He inaugurated His personal, permanent presence with Israel.

No matter how discouraged you feel, rouse yourself to seek Him in His love and truth. Take time to conceal yourself in Him by spending time in His presence. Make His faithfulness your shield and shelter (Psalm 91:4). Know that you are hidden away deeply in a divine fortress that the harsh, demonic elements cannot penetrate.