Walking Through the Wilderness
by Gilly Mathiesen
Wilderness times are something most of us experience at some stage of our lives. A wilderness can have different forms. It can be a restricting illness, a job loss, a broken relationship, the loss of someone you love, a dry patch in our walk with the Lord, or bankruptcy, and the list continues.
One thing we are promised is that the Lord will not abandon us in the wilderness, on the contrary. Even when the Israelites rebelled, God’s word tells us in Nehemiah 9:17 about how forgiving, gracious and compassionate He is, slow to anger, and abounding in love. Therefore, He ‘did not abandon them in the wilderness.’
These are precious words. Even if we end up in a wilderness because of wrong decisions, the Lord does not leave us high and dry. He is longing for relationship with us so much, that He patiently waits for us to turn around from going in the wrong direction and come back to Him.
Wildernesses can be lonely places, but they always serve a purpose. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, was tested by the enemy, and then led back out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit. He then fulfilled His call for the remainder of His time on earth.
The children of Israel’s wilderness experience was for a higher purpose too. Deuteronomy 8:2 states ‘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.’
Wilderness experiences provide an opportunity for us to grow and to focus more on the Lord, allowing Him to search our hearts and bring us through as gold. Job said ‘He knows the way that I take, when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold’ (Job 23:10). Testing our hearts seems to be part of the purpose and discovering more of our identity in Christ in the process.
I believe that part of the wilderness journey is to bring us into a deeper revelation of the Father’s love and a greater sense of who we are in Christ. Job said, in Chapter 42:5, ‘My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you,’ and that is my prayer for each of us going through a wilderness right now.
May the eyes of our hearts be opened to see Him! And if you know someone else walking through a wilderness right now, encourage them that God is right there with them in their wilderness.
Gilly Mathiesen Gilly has a heart to see broken lives healed. She got involved in Christian ministry at a young age, working as a missionary for some years, as well as teaching at a Christian school. She has been involved with Ellel Ministries for the past 10 years and trained and worked on the team in Northern Ireland before moving to Denmark in 2016. She and her husband Steen have been pioneering an Ellel work there since early 2018. They long to see people healed and set free to be all that God has designed them to be.
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.
