​WHY THE WILDERNESS??... by Bryan Hupperts

"And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has
led you in the wilderness (desert) these forty years, that he might
humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether
you would keep his commandments or not." - Deut. 8:2.

The dry times, those painful seasons of barrenness, are...

 times to be humbled before the Lord. Jesus said that the Father was glorified
when we bare "much fruit that remains." Notice when the children
of Israel finally got fruit... after they had walked through the desert.
Fruitfulness is the ultimate objective of God for you when he has
you walking through a desert.

What is precious in the desert? Sand? No, there is shifting sand
everywhere. Sky? No, in fact, there is little protection from the
merciless beating of the sun. What is precious in the desert is water.

A single drop of water can make the difference between living and
dying... Most plants cannot survive in deserts. For those that can,
survival depends on their tap root digging deep through the sand
to find water. Having water is the decisive factor between what lives
and what dies.

Look at the history of God's dealings with his saints. He led his
people out of Egypt by the hand of Moses... through the desert
headed to the promised Land. John the Baptist lived in the desert
until the word of the Lord came to him. Jesus was "led by the Spirit"
into the desert to be tested by the devil. Paul spent years in the
desert before his commissioning as an Apostle. God has used
the drought of many deserts to forge some of His finest saints.

Deserts are such obscure places. They precede blessing but are
themselves looked upon as curses. They function to bring you to
the place of having to only concern yourself with the basics of
existence. It is when water, symbolic of the Living Word of God,
becomes the only issue of your life, what you live and die by,
are you finally ready to enter into the Masters service. One drop
from heaven is all you need. When all else in this world appears
as sand in your eyes, empty barren waste, you are ready for
Kingdom service.

Plants grow in direct relation to the amount of water available.
When you can blossom with just a little water, you can blossom
anywhere! After the desert, you will be "like a tree planted by the
water" thriving!.. It is when you hunger and thirst for righteousness
that you are satisfied.

Don't curse the desert times. God is testing you, seeing what is
in your heart. Actually, he is letting you see what He has seen all
along. Allow your roots to grow deep into God so that "out of your
belly shall gush forth rivers of living water." A river in the desert
suddenly springing forth? Sure, that's His way.

God often uses the desert to prepare the messenger. When the
messenger is ready, then the message comes. We have our part
to prepare ourselves for the ministries God calls us to. We also
have to be prepared by God for those same tasks. When we can
serve Him in a place of barrenness, we can serve Him in a place
of fruitfulness. It is when we are humbled and broken of our own
power that God can then show Himself strong on our behalf.

There are some beautiful things growing in the desert. Be patient
and let Him finish what he has started in you. It takes a deep,
well developed root system, to be able to not only nourish a plant,
but produce and feed the growing fruit on its' branches. If there
are no roots, there will be no fruit. And His goal is to bring you to
a place of fruitfulness.


 
Bryan Hupperts.