July 7, 2025 • 19 mins
Ever feel like you're wandering through a spiritual desert with no oasis in sight? Like you're working hard but seeing no fruit, waiting endlessly for clarity, or stuck in a place that feels too small for your dreams? You're not alone—and your wilderness isn't a mistake.
The wilderness seasons of our lives aren't where God forgets us; they're where He forms us. Drawing from Deuteronomy 8:2, Pastor Nick unpacks the profound truth that God intentionally leads us into challenging seasons to humble us, test us, and reveal what's truly in our hearts. These barren times strip away the distractions and expose our default responses—whether panic, defensiveness, or doubt—not to shame us, but to heal us.
Like Joseph's years in slavery and prison, the wilderness refines our character in ways that comfort never could. Romans reminds us that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. When we feel hidden or overlooked, God is often preparing us for future influence. As with John the Baptist, obscurity can be the birthplace of calling—the training ground where God equips us to carry what He wants to entrust to us.
Whether your wilderness comes from others' mistreatment like Hagar's, from calling like John's, or from your own choices like Israel's at Kadesh, God remains faithful. He sees you, He hears you, and He meets you there. So stay rooted in truth when the enemy whispers lies, remain consistent in spiritual disciplines, look for God's lessons rather than just seeking escape, and celebrate the small wins along the way. The God who led you into this season will lead you through it and into His purpose for your life. What wilderness are you facing today, and what might God be revealing and refining in you through it?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey friends, welcome back to another podcast episode
of Beyond Sunday.
I'm Pastor Nick and I'm so gladyou're here today because we're
kicking off something I believewill speak directly to your
heart, especially if you've everhad that moment that you felt
like life had hit pause or likeyou're stuck in a season where
God seems to be silent, or atleast not talking about what
(00:23):
you're going through.
Our new series that I'm goingto talk through for the next
couple weeks not talking aboutwhat you're going through Our
new series that I'm going totalk through for the next couple
of weeks is called Leading inthe Wilderness.
Over the next few episodes,we're going to explore what it
means to be in the wildernessNot a literal desert, right, but
those seasons in life, thoseseasons in leadership, where
everything feels barren,confusing or delayed.
(00:43):
Now you know what I mean thosemoments when you're working hard
but you're seeing no fruit,when doors keep closing over and
over and over again, no matterhow much you're praying for God
to open a door, when you'rewaiting for clarity on a calling
, or stuck in a place that feelssmall compared to the dreams
that God has placed on yourheart.
(01:04):
I've been there, and maybe youhave too, and here's what I've
discovered the wilderness isn'twhere God forgets you.
It's where he forms you.
It's not the place that you'rejust put out to pastor and alone
for the rest of your life.
It's where he's workingactively on your life.
Today, we're going to unpackwhy God actually leads us into
(01:25):
wilderness seasons and look atsome powerful examples from
Scripture that show us thatwe're not alone in this right.
We're in good company.
Let's start with a verse thatsets the stage for this series.
It's found in the Old Testament, deuteronomy 8, verse 2, and it
says this Remember how the Lord, your God, led you all the way
into the wilderness these 40years, to humble and test you,
(01:49):
in order to know what was inyour heart.
That's interesting.
God didn't abandon Israel inthe wilderness.
He led them there on purpose.
I want you to think about thatfor a moment.
He led them there for a reasonto humble them, to test them, in
order to know what was in theirheart and what he did in them
(02:11):
prepared them for the promisedland.
So let's wrestle with thatquestion why does God lead you
and I into wilderness seasons?
The first thing, just based onthe verse we just read, is to
reveal what's in us.
The wilderness acts like amirror in your life.
It strips away the noise andexposes what's really inside.
When Israel left Egypt, theywere free physically, but their
(02:34):
hearts were still enslaved tofear and complaining.
They were no longer in slavery,but slavery was still in them.
They still had the same habits.
They still had the samementality.
They still had the samementality and that was seen by
how they reacted in thewilderness.
As soon as they got hungry, assoon as they got thirsty, they
(02:56):
grumbled and began questioningGod.
They had just seen God do someincredible things in their life.
They had just seen the plagues.
They had just seen the rescue.
They had just seen the waterparted.
They were seeing God provide.
They were seeing a fire bynight, a cloud by day.
They were seeing God constantly.
And then they missed a meal andthey missed a drink and they
(03:16):
grumbled and questioned God.
The wilderness exposed theirtrust issues and maybe you've
seen this in your own lifeexposed their trust issues, and
maybe you've seen this in yourown life.
When finances get tight, do youdefault to panic?
When someone criticizes you, doyou lash out or shut down?
(03:37):
When your plans fail or whenthey're stalled, do you start
doubting your worth?
God doesn't reveal these heartissues to shame us.
He reveals them so he can healthem.
And I think what happened tothe Israelites happens to you
and I constantly.
We find ourselves in thosemoments life is going great, god
is good, we're singing thesongs, we're high-fiving people,
(03:57):
and then a tragedy strikes, orfinances get tight, or we're
laid off or there's a strugglein the marriage or with the kids
, and the first thing we do isstart complaining God, do you
even care anymore?
God, you don't have my lifeperfect anymore, so what are you
even doing, right,no-transcript?
(04:20):
So God doesn't use those heartissues that he reveals in us to
shame us.
He reveals them, as I said, sothat he can heal them.
What that wilderness reveals,god is ready to redeem in your
life, to restore, to bring backto something worthy of him.
The second reason I think thatwe see these moments in the
(04:42):
wilderness in our life is torefine our character.
You don't build endurance onthe couch right.
You build it in the gym,underweight.
And spiritually.
The wilderness is God'straining ground.
Think about Joseph.
Joseph in the Old Testament isan incredible story.
There are moments of sadness,there are moments of dismay.
There are moments that you andI would have given up and cursed
(05:03):
God.
He was sold into slavery, hespent years in prison before God
raised him up to lead Egypt,and that time wasn't wasted.
I would love to have thatconversation with Joseph,
because I wonder the momentsthat he felt it was wasted, or
the moments that he feltabandoned or wondered where God
was.
But then to look back after Godrestores him, after God puts
(05:24):
him into a position of power,after God places him in a place
that he can lead the nation,that time wasn't wasted, right,
it refined him into a humble yetwise leader who could handle
power without arrogance.
Romans 5, 3, and 4 says it thisway we also glory in our
sufferings, because we know thatsuffering produces perseverance
(05:47):
, perseverance, character andcharacter, hope.
Now, I don't know too manypeople that actually glory in
their sufferings.
I've met a few people that areI call them super Christians,
right?
They're a little annoying.
Whenever something goes bad,they're quoting these verses,
which is good.
I guess we all should be doingthat, but it seems a little
annoying because you just wantthem to suffer, or at least feel
(06:08):
the suffering that we allsuffer, to understand what
they're going through, butthere's something in them that
knows that the suffering they'regoing through is going to
produce this perseverance intheir life.
That perseverance producescharacter, that character
produces hope, and so that's thesame for us.
That character forged in thewilderness creates leaders who
can be trusted with influence.
(06:29):
And so let me ask you to reflectfor a moment.
Think about a hard season inyour life.
How has a hard season refinedyou?
What strength or empathy didGod develop in you that you
didn't have before?
Now I think we'd all say I wishhe would develop that without
me going through those seasons.
But, to be honest, most of uswouldn't give the time to it.
We wouldn't forge through thethings that hurt to get to the
(06:52):
things that make us better onour own.
And so when you had thoseseasons, those hard seasons of
life, what strength or empathydid God develop in you?
I think we can all look backand say, man, I hated that
season, but I saw God do this inmy life.
For me, a season of that was inmy early 20s.
I went through a hard season ofdepression and just loneliness
(07:13):
and God where are you?
And relationships were hard,whether it was with friends or
dating relationships.
All that season was just a hardseason of life, and there are
so many lessons I learned inthat season.
Probably most important is justto trust God right that he has
a plan, and ultimately, whereI've landed and where I'm at now
in my life wouldn't be where Iwould have landed had I not gone
(07:36):
through those seasons, and so Ican't honestly say I wish any
of that didn't happen, becauseI'm glad it brought me to where
I am today.
The third reason that I thinkGod takes us into these
wilderness seasons is to prepareus for future influence.
God often does his deepest workin leaders during seasons when
(07:56):
no one else is watching.
If you feel hidden right now,don't discount what God is doing
in your life and I think thisis easiest to speak to people
that are young, although itapplies to people all across the
board.
But sometimes when we're youngwe feel like nobody sees us.
Nobody sees what we're doing,nobody sees the influence we
could have.
We want to have a seat at thetable, kind of thing.
Don't discount what God's doingwhen you feel hidden in that
(08:19):
season.
Look at Paul After hisconversion, he spent years in
obscurity before he stepped intohis public ministry.
God used that time to shape histheology, to deepen his
humility, to equip him for themission ahead.
So often we want the platformbefore we're actually prepared
(08:39):
for it.
But God knows, influencewithout preparation leads to
disaster.
The wilderness equips us tocarry what God wants to entrust
to us.
So remember, hidden seasons arenot wasted seasons, they're
God's classrooms.
They're where we learn Now todeepen our understanding.
(09:00):
There are so many stories inScripture that we can look at of
people who were in thesewilderness seasons that God used
.
Here are three stories thatshow how God meets us in
different circumstances.
Take Hagar, for example.
In Genesis 16,.
Hagar fled into the wildernessliteral wilderness after being
mistreated by Sarah, alone andpregnant, she encountered God
(09:23):
there.
He didn't remove her wildernessimmediately, but gave her a
promise of hope and legacyGenesis 16, 13.
She gave this name to the Lordwho spoke to her.
You are the God who sees me.
I have now seen the one whosees me.
Even when your wilderness iscaused by someone else's
mistreatment or life'sunfairness, god sees you, he
(09:47):
hears you and he meets you there.
Maybe a little more famous of acharacter in scripture, john the
Baptist right, the wildernesswas a place of calling for him.
Before Jesus' ministry began,john the Baptist spent his
entire life in the wilderness.
Luke 3, verse 2 says the wordof God came to John, son of
Zechariah, in the wilderness.
Luke 3, verse 2 says the wordof God came to John, son of
(10:07):
Zechariah, in the wilderness.
God's word came to John not inthe temple, not in the city, not
in church on Sunday morningright, but in the wilderness,
showing that obscurity can bethe birthplace of calling.
I think some of the times thatGod has spoken to me most has
been out on the water, like Ilove to get on a boat, love to
get out in creation.
(10:27):
It's not been in my officestudying with a Bible and a
commentary, getting ready for amessage.
Although God speaks to me inthose moments, it's been those
moments where I didn't expect it, those moments where I was
outside of the programs that Icreated to grow in and allowing
God to just speak.
The wilderness is where God'svoice can break through the
(10:50):
world's noise, and I think youand I both can understand that
there's so much noise in thisworld that it's hard to hear God
sometimes because we've allowedso much more to speak into our
life.
Here's a third example,israel's second wilderness at
Kadesh.
Lessons on delays is what we seein this passage in Numbers 13
(11:11):
and 14.
Israel reached the edge of thepromised land, but because of
fear, because of disbelief, theywere sent back into the
wilderness.
This shows that sometimeswilderness seasons are extended
not just because God is tryingto teach us stuff, but by our
own choices, our unbelief, ourdisobedience, our unwillingness
(11:35):
to trust God's promise.
Yet even then, god didn'tabandon Israel.
He provided manna, water, heprovided protection every day,
proving his faithfulness despitetheir failures, his
faithfulness despite their fears, his faithfulness despite them
not doing what he had calledthem to do.
So let me ask you are thereareas of fear or unbelief
(11:58):
causing you to circle the samewilderness longer than God
intended you to be there?
I think sometimes we blame Godbecause we've made our own bad
choices right.
So what should we do if werealize we're in the wilderness
season right now?
Let me give you a couple things.
First is stay rooted.
In truth.
The enemy loves to lie to us inthe wilderness.
(12:20):
The enemy loves to whisper thatGod has forgotten us, that God
doesn't care, that God doesn'tlove us anymore.
And so in those moments, in themoments of wilderness,
especially when you're hearingthe voice of the enemy.
Stay rooted in the truth.
Keep your mind anchored inScripture.
It's why it's so important tomemorize Scripture, to allow
(12:42):
those things to pop in your headimmediately, the things that
you meditate on, to havescriptures ready to go when the
enemy speaks a lie into yourmind.
You already have the truththere, the truth from scripture,
that you can speak back right.
Number two stay consistent.
Keep showing up, whether that'sin prayer, in serving or in
loving your family.
Faithfulness in small thingsduring the wilderness builds
(13:06):
strength for what's ahead.
Stay consistent with your smallgroup.
Stay consistent with your Biblereading, even when you don't
feel like it.
I think small groups have been,for my family have been seasons
.
There are seasons, we're all inseasons.
Life's too busy and it's hardto make that a priority.
But even in the seasons thatwe've been all in, it never
fails.
We come to a Sunday night andwe're all tired and we're like,
(13:27):
oh, we got small group tonight.
I don't know if you've ever hadthat thought, but there's a
part of you that doesn't wannago.
And then you get there andyou're thankful you went.
You're thankful that you gotout of the house.
You're thankful you're spendingtime with friends and what God
is teaching you in that, andthose are hard seasons.
So stay consistent in thosemoments.
Again, when you're in thewilderness, look for God's
(13:47):
lessons.
Number three look for thelessons that God is teaching you
.
Instead of just asking God howdo I get out of this and I think
that's probably mostly ourprayer in wilderness seasons God
, get me out of thisuncomfortableness, get me out of
this down season, get me out ofthis wilderness Instead of just
praying that it's not a badprayer but instead ask God hey,
god, while I'm here, what do youwant me to learn?
(14:08):
What is it you're trying toteach me?
One that might speed up yourtime in the wilderness, right,
speed up the amount of time youhave to spend there if you learn
your lessons quickly.
I always equate this with kidsand learning chores and
different things around thehouse.
Sometimes Lori and I are goingcrazy because they just haven't
learned their lesson yet, and weknow, if they learn the lesson,
if they would just do thethings, then they would be able
(14:30):
to get to the happier things.
Right now we're in summerseason, and so there is summer
homework for every kid goinginto their next grade.
So Noah's going to eighth,aubrey's going to ninth.
They both have summer readingand projects to do and they're
just delaying and putting it off.
And it's such a battle in ourhouse.
But Lori and I also know oncethey get that off their plate
(14:51):
they can enjoy the rest of thesummer.
But for whatever reason, wedon't want to go through those
lessons.
So when you're in that season,look for the lesson, ask God,
what are you trying to teach mehere?
The fourth thing, the finalthing, is celebrate small wins.
This is probably the biggestlesson I talked about this in
one of my books that I try toteach people constantly.
The wilderness often includesslow growth.
(15:18):
Don't miss the signs ofprogress that God is working in
you.
Celebrate the small wins.
I'll never forget when we redidour landscaping at our house a
couple of years ago.
When they first put in allthese small plants, it was like
man, is this really ever goingto fill out and look good?
Some of the hedges that we hadhad replaced now, instead of
being five feet tall or two feettall, and they look pretty
scrawny.
And you're like did we justmake a mistake?
(15:39):
And if I go out there every dayand look at that plant, I'm not
going to see the progress.
But if I come back a year ortwo later and with all the rain
and all the growth, you're goingto celebrate what happened.
But what if?
What if?
Instead of waiting two years tocelebrate, I went out a month
later and I measured and I sawman.
There is growth here and I tooktime to celebrate that.
(16:00):
The same thing should happen inyour wilderness season.
Find the small moments tocelebrate.
Celebrate every small win, andcelebrating those wins is what
helps you endure the wildernesslonger.
So, to help you engage with thisepisode more deeply, here are a
few questions you can journalabout or discuss with a friend.
Number one where do you feellike you're in a wilderness
(16:22):
right now?
Identify it.
What season of your life, whatstruggle in your life, what part
of your life feels like thewilderness?
Number two what has Godrevealed to you about your heart
in this season?
It's practical that you mayhave already learned a lesson so
far, or learned something aboutyourself, in that I think one
of the lessons I learned mostlywhen I hit wilderness is how
much I don't depend on God incertain areas of my life, and so
(16:44):
that's usually the first lessonI learn when I realize, man,
I'm trying to do it all myselfand I haven't even prayed about
this yet.
Number three have you beenresisting a wilderness God is
using to prepare you?
Sometimes we fight it.
We don't wanna be in thatwilderness season.
Are you resisting somethingthat God is wanting to use to
prepare you?
And number four how can youinvite God's presence into your
waiting today, not in the future, not tomorrow?
(17:06):
How can you do it today, evenif you're listening at eight
o'clock or nine o'clock at night?
How can you take the next fewmoments and invite God's
presence into the waiting roomthat you're sitting in today?
Friends, the wilderness canfeel like the loneliest place,
but it's also where God doessome of his best work in us.
Remember, the wilderness isn'twhere God leaves you, it's where
(17:30):
he leads you, and whether yourwilderness comes from pain, like
Hagar's, or calling, likeJohn's, or delays, like Israel's
, god is faithful to meet youthere.
So stay faithful, keep yourheart open and trust that the
God who led you into this seasonwill lead you through it and
into the purpose he has for you.
Thanks so much for listeningtoday.
(17:51):
Hope you have an incredibleweek.
Hey friends, welcome back to another podcast episode
of Beyond Sunday.
I'm Pastor Nick and I'm so gladyou're here today because we're
kicking off something I believewill speak directly to your
heart, especially if you've everhad that moment that you felt
like life had hit pause or likeyou're stuck in a season where
God seems to be silent, or atleast not talking about what
(00:23):
you're going through.
Our new series that I'm goingto talk through for the next
couple weeks not talking aboutwhat you're going through Our
new series that I'm going totalk through for the next couple
of weeks is called Leading inthe Wilderness.
Over the next few episodes,we're going to explore what it
means to be in the wildernessNot a literal desert, right, but
those seasons in life, thoseseasons in leadership, where
everything feels barren,confusing or delayed.
(00:43):
Now you know what I mean thosemoments when you're working hard
but you're seeing no fruit,when doors keep closing over and
over and over again, no matterhow much you're praying for God
to open a door, when you'rewaiting for clarity on a calling
, or stuck in a place that feelssmall compared to the dreams
that God has placed on yourheart.
(01:04):
I've been there, and maybe youhave too, and here's what I've
discovered the wilderness isn'twhere God forgets you.
It's where he forms you.
It's not the place that you'rejust put out to pastor and alone
for the rest of your life.
It's where he's workingactively on your life.
Today, we're going to unpackwhy God actually leads us into
(01:25):
wilderness seasons and look atsome powerful examples from
Scripture that show us thatwe're not alone in this right.
We're in good company.
Let's start with a verse thatsets the stage for this series.
It's found in the Old Testament, deuteronomy 8, verse 2, and it
says this Remember how the Lord, your God, led you all the way
into the wilderness these 40years, to humble and test you,
(01:49):
in order to know what was inyour heart.
That's interesting.
God didn't abandon Israel inthe wilderness.
He led them there on purpose.
I want you to think about thatfor a moment.
He led them there for a reasonto humble them, to test them, in
order to know what was in theirheart and what he did in them
(02:11):
prepared them for the promisedland.
So let's wrestle with thatquestion why does God lead you
and I into wilderness seasons?
The first thing, just based onthe verse we just read, is to
reveal what's in us.
The wilderness acts like amirror in your life.
It strips away the noise andexposes what's really inside.
When Israel left Egypt, theywere free physically, but their
(02:34):
hearts were still enslaved tofear and complaining.
They were no longer in slavery,but slavery was still in them.
They still had the same habits.
They still had the samementality.
They still had the samementality and that was seen by
how they reacted in thewilderness.
As soon as they got hungry, assoon as they got thirsty, they
(02:56):
grumbled and began questioningGod.
They had just seen God do someincredible things in their life.
They had just seen the plagues.
They had just seen the rescue.
They had just seen the waterparted.
They were seeing God provide.
They were seeing a fire bynight, a cloud by day.
They were seeing God constantly.
And then they missed a meal andthey missed a drink and they
(03:16):
grumbled and questioned God.
The wilderness exposed theirtrust issues and maybe you've
seen this in your own lifeexposed their trust issues, and
maybe you've seen this in yourown life.
When finances get tight, do youdefault to panic?
When someone criticizes you, doyou lash out or shut down?
(03:37):
When your plans fail or whenthey're stalled, do you start
doubting your worth?
God doesn't reveal these heartissues to shame us.
He reveals them so he can healthem.
And I think what happened tothe Israelites happens to you
and I constantly.
We find ourselves in thosemoments life is going great, god
is good, we're singing thesongs, we're high-fiving people,
(03:57):
and then a tragedy strikes, orfinances get tight, or we're
laid off or there's a strugglein the marriage or with the kids
, and the first thing we do isstart complaining God, do you
even care anymore?
God, you don't have my lifeperfect anymore, so what are you
even doing, right,no-transcript?
(04:20):
So God doesn't use those heartissues that he reveals in us to
shame us.
He reveals them, as I said, sothat he can heal them.
What that wilderness reveals,god is ready to redeem in your
life, to restore, to bring backto something worthy of him.
The second reason I think thatwe see these moments in the
(04:42):
wilderness in our life is torefine our character.
You don't build endurance onthe couch right.
You build it in the gym,underweight.
And spiritually.
The wilderness is God'straining ground.
Think about Joseph.
Joseph in the Old Testament isan incredible story.
There are moments of sadness,there are moments of dismay.
There are moments that you andI would have given up and cursed
(05:03):
God.
He was sold into slavery, hespent years in prison before God
raised him up to lead Egypt,and that time wasn't wasted.
I would love to have thatconversation with Joseph,
because I wonder the momentsthat he felt it was wasted, or
the moments that he feltabandoned or wondered where God
was.
But then to look back after Godrestores him, after God puts
(05:24):
him into a position of power,after God places him in a place
that he can lead the nation,that time wasn't wasted, right,
it refined him into a humble yetwise leader who could handle
power without arrogance.
Romans 5, 3, and 4 says it thisway we also glory in our
sufferings, because we know thatsuffering produces perseverance
(05:47):
, perseverance, character andcharacter, hope.
Now, I don't know too manypeople that actually glory in
their sufferings.
I've met a few people that areI call them super Christians,
right?
They're a little annoying.
Whenever something goes bad,they're quoting these verses,
which is good.
I guess we all should be doingthat, but it seems a little
annoying because you just wantthem to suffer, or at least feel
(06:08):
the suffering that we allsuffer, to understand what
they're going through, butthere's something in them that
knows that the suffering they'regoing through is going to
produce this perseverance intheir life.
That perseverance producescharacter, that character
produces hope, and so that's thesame for us.
That character forged in thewilderness creates leaders who
can be trusted with influence.
(06:29):
And so let me ask you to reflectfor a moment.
Think about a hard season inyour life.
How has a hard season refinedyou?
What strength or empathy didGod develop in you that you
didn't have before?
Now I think we'd all say I wishhe would develop that without
me going through those seasons.
But, to be honest, most of uswouldn't give the time to it.
We wouldn't forge through thethings that hurt to get to the
(06:52):
things that make us better onour own.
And so when you had thoseseasons, those hard seasons of
life, what strength or empathydid God develop in you?
I think we can all look backand say, man, I hated that
season, but I saw God do this inmy life.
For me, a season of that was inmy early 20s.
I went through a hard season ofdepression and just loneliness
(07:13):
and God where are you?
And relationships were hard,whether it was with friends or
dating relationships.
All that season was just a hardseason of life, and there are
so many lessons I learned inthat season.
Probably most important is justto trust God right that he has
a plan, and ultimately, whereI've landed and where I'm at now
in my life wouldn't be where Iwould have landed had I not gone
(07:36):
through those seasons, and so Ican't honestly say I wish any
of that didn't happen, becauseI'm glad it brought me to where
I am today.
The third reason that I thinkGod takes us into these
wilderness seasons is to prepareus for future influence.
God often does his deepest workin leaders during seasons when
(07:56):
no one else is watching.
If you feel hidden right now,don't discount what God is doing
in your life and I think thisis easiest to speak to people
that are young, although itapplies to people all across the
board.
But sometimes when we're youngwe feel like nobody sees us.
Nobody sees what we're doing,nobody sees the influence we
could have.
We want to have a seat at thetable, kind of thing.
Don't discount what God's doingwhen you feel hidden in that
(08:19):
season.
Look at Paul After hisconversion, he spent years in
obscurity before he stepped intohis public ministry.
God used that time to shape histheology, to deepen his
humility, to equip him for themission ahead.
So often we want the platformbefore we're actually prepared
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for it.
But God knows, influencewithout preparation leads to
disaster.
The wilderness equips us tocarry what God wants to entrust
to us.
So remember, hidden seasons arenot wasted seasons, they're
God's classrooms.
They're where we learn Now todeepen our understanding.
(09:00):
There are so many stories inScripture that we can look at of
people who were in thesewilderness seasons that God used
.
Here are three stories thatshow how God meets us in
different circumstances.
Take Hagar, for example.
In Genesis 16,.
Hagar fled into the wildernessliteral wilderness after being
mistreated by Sarah, alone andpregnant, she encountered God
(09:23):
there.
He didn't remove her wildernessimmediately, but gave her a
promise of hope and legacyGenesis 16, 13.
She gave this name to the Lordwho spoke to her.
You are the God who sees me.
I have now seen the one whosees me.
Even when your wilderness iscaused by someone else's
mistreatment or life'sunfairness, god sees you, he
(09:47):
hears you and he meets you there.
Maybe a little more famous of acharacter in scripture, john the
Baptist right, the wildernesswas a place of calling for him.
Before Jesus' ministry began,john the Baptist spent his
entire life in the wilderness.
Luke 3, verse 2 says the wordof God came to John, son of
Zechariah, in the wilderness.
Luke 3, verse 2 says the wordof God came to John, son of
(10:07):
Zechariah, in the wilderness.
God's word came to John not inthe temple, not in the city, not
in church on Sunday morningright, but in the wilderness,
showing that obscurity can bethe birthplace of calling.
I think some of the times thatGod has spoken to me most has
been out on the water, like Ilove to get on a boat, love to
get out in creation.
(10:27):
It's not been in my officestudying with a Bible and a
commentary, getting ready for amessage.
Although God speaks to me inthose moments, it's been those
moments where I didn't expect it, those moments where I was
outside of the programs that Icreated to grow in and allowing
God to just speak.
The wilderness is where God'svoice can break through the
(10:50):
world's noise, and I think youand I both can understand that
there's so much noise in thisworld that it's hard to hear God
sometimes because we've allowedso much more to speak into our
life.
Here's a third example,israel's second wilderness at
Kadesh.
Lessons on delays is what we seein this passage in Numbers 13
(11:11):
and 14.
Israel reached the edge of thepromised land, but because of
fear, because of disbelief, theywere sent back into the
wilderness.
This shows that sometimeswilderness seasons are extended
not just because God is tryingto teach us stuff, but by our
own choices, our unbelief, ourdisobedience, our unwillingness
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to trust God's promise.
Yet even then, god didn'tabandon Israel.
He provided manna, water, heprovided protection every day,
proving his faithfulness despitetheir failures, his
faithfulness despite their fears, his faithfulness despite them
not doing what he had calledthem to do.
So let me ask you are thereareas of fear or unbelief
(11:58):
causing you to circle the samewilderness longer than God
intended you to be there?
I think sometimes we blame Godbecause we've made our own bad
choices right.
So what should we do if werealize we're in the wilderness
season right now?
Let me give you a couple things.
First is stay rooted.
In truth.
The enemy loves to lie to us inthe wilderness.
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The enemy loves to whisper thatGod has forgotten us, that God
doesn't care, that God doesn'tlove us anymore.
And so in those moments, in themoments of wilderness,
especially when you're hearingthe voice of the enemy.
Stay rooted in the truth.
Keep your mind anchored inScripture.
It's why it's so important tomemorize Scripture, to allow
(12:42):
those things to pop in your headimmediately, the things that
you meditate on, to havescriptures ready to go when the
enemy speaks a lie into yourmind.
You already have the truththere, the truth from scripture,
that you can speak back right.
Number two stay consistent.
Keep showing up, whether that'sin prayer, in serving or in
loving your family.
Faithfulness in small thingsduring the wilderness builds
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strength for what's ahead.
Stay consistent with your smallgroup.
Stay consistent with your Biblereading, even when you don't
feel like it.
I think small groups have been,for my family have been seasons
.
There are seasons, we're all inseasons.
Life's too busy and it's hardto make that a priority.
But even in the seasons thatwe've been all in, it never
fails.
We come to a Sunday night andwe're all tired and we're like,
(13:27):
oh, we got small group tonight.
I don't know if you've ever hadthat thought, but there's a
part of you that doesn't wannago.
And then you get there andyou're thankful you went.
You're thankful that you gotout of the house.
You're thankful you're spendingtime with friends and what God
is teaching you in that, andthose are hard seasons.
So stay consistent in thosemoments.
Again, when you're in thewilderness, look for God's
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lessons.
Number three look for thelessons that God is teaching you
.
Instead of just asking God howdo I get out of this and I think
that's probably mostly ourprayer in wilderness seasons God
, get me out of thisuncomfortableness, get me out of
this down season, get me out ofthis wilderness Instead of just
praying that it's not a badprayer but instead ask God hey,
god, while I'm here, what do youwant me to learn?
(14:08):
What is it you're trying toteach me?
One that might speed up yourtime in the wilderness, right,
speed up the amount of time youhave to spend there if you learn
your lessons quickly.
I always equate this with kidsand learning chores and
different things around thehouse.
Sometimes Lori and I are goingcrazy because they just haven't
learned their lesson yet, and weknow, if they learn the lesson,
if they would just do thethings, then they would be able
(14:30):
to get to the happier things.
Right now we're in summerseason, and so there is summer
homework for every kid goinginto their next grade.
So Noah's going to eighth,aubrey's going to ninth.
They both have summer readingand projects to do and they're
just delaying and putting it off.
And it's such a battle in ourhouse.
But Lori and I also know oncethey get that off their plate
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they can enjoy the rest of thesummer.
But for whatever reason, wedon't want to go through those
lessons.
So when you're in that season,look for the lesson, ask God,
what are you trying to teach mehere?
The fourth thing, the finalthing, is celebrate small wins.
This is probably the biggestlesson I talked about this in
one of my books that I try toteach people constantly.
The wilderness often includesslow growth.
(15:18):
Don't miss the signs ofprogress that God is working in
you.
Celebrate the small wins.
I'll never forget when we redidour landscaping at our house a
couple of years ago.
When they first put in allthese small plants, it was like
man, is this really ever goingto fill out and look good?
Some of the hedges that we hadhad replaced now, instead of
being five feet tall or two feettall, and they look pretty
scrawny.
And you're like did we justmake a mistake?
(15:39):
And if I go out there every dayand look at that plant, I'm not
going to see the progress.
But if I come back a year ortwo later and with all the rain
and all the growth, you're goingto celebrate what happened.
But what if?
What if?
Instead of waiting two years tocelebrate, I went out a month
later and I measured and I sawman.
There is growth here and I tooktime to celebrate that.
(16:00):
The same thing should happen inyour wilderness season.
Find the small moments tocelebrate.
Celebrate every small win, andcelebrating those wins is what
helps you endure the wildernesslonger.
So, to help you engage with thisepisode more deeply, here are a
few questions you can journalabout or discuss with a friend.
Number one where do you feellike you're in a wilderness
(16:22):
right now?
Identify it.
What season of your life, whatstruggle in your life, what part
of your life feels like thewilderness?
Number two what has Godrevealed to you about your heart
in this season?
It's practical that you mayhave already learned a lesson so
far, or learned something aboutyourself, in that I think one
of the lessons I learned mostlywhen I hit wilderness is how
much I don't depend on God incertain areas of my life, and so
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that's usually the first lessonI learn when I realize, man,
I'm trying to do it all myselfand I haven't even prayed about
this yet.
Number three have you beenresisting a wilderness God is
using to prepare you?
Sometimes we fight it.
We don't wanna be in thatwilderness season.
Are you resisting somethingthat God is wanting to use to
prepare you?
And number four how can youinvite God's presence into your
waiting today, not in the future, not tomorrow?
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How can you do it today, evenif you're listening at eight
o'clock or nine o'clock at night?
How can you take the next fewmoments and invite God's
presence into the waiting roomthat you're sitting in today?
Friends, the wilderness canfeel like the loneliest place,
but it's also where God doessome of his best work in us.
Remember, the wilderness isn'twhere God leaves you, it's where
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he leads you, and whether yourwilderness comes from pain, like
Hagar's, or calling, likeJohn's, or delays, like Israel's
, god is faithful to meet youthere.
So stay faithful, keep yourheart open and trust that the
God who led you into this seasonwill lead you through it and
into the purpose he has for you.
Thanks so much for listeningtoday.
(17:51):
Hope you have an incredibleweek.
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