Thriving in the Wilderness

It's that time of year again, when the midterms roll around and second guessing what God has called you to do seems to come so easily. Spring hits and the new year's goals aren’t going as planned. You’re stuck in the mundane trying not to forget the miracles God is doing or possibly feeling like God isn’t doing any at all. 

Today I want to share with you encouragement on what it looks like to walk confidently with God in the wilderness, even in a season when the world brings reason for confidence to be shattered. Not letting a bad grade sway your view of who God called you to be. Not letting a missed goal define you as a failure. I want to share with you from the bible about who God is to his people in the wilderness. Are you in a season where you wonder what God is doing or wondering how he could do anything at all with the little that you have? God can use your C to get the degree, I can personally testify lol. God wants to use the best shot you can give him and turn it into the dream you are believing for, even through a moment of what can feel like the wilderness. 

I have recently been reading through Leviticus…. A book that can feel like you are in the TRENCHES of God’s word. This is often the spot where bible plans go down the drain, you skip a day, try to catch up, and then months go by and you just give up on the old testament all together. But nonetheless it is a book that reveals the character of God’s heart, his care for details, and his longing for closeness with his people. It’s also a book that revealed the power of the wilderness to me. Not Jesus’ wilderness that came with temptation and evil, although I'm sure this one did as well, but a wilderness that was set apart for growth, for miracles, for learning, and for the presence of God. 

As the Israelites journeyed from Egypt to Canaan, they were guided by a cloud during the day and a fire at night. If either of those moved, so would they. If either of them stayed, so would they. The average travel time from Egypt to Canaan should take about 11 days but at this point in the story the Israelites had been in the wilderness for over a year. It would be naive to believe that they didn’t understand what God was doing, how he was using their season, and wondering what they did wrong that kept them on this journey so long.

Can I be honest? I think it's ok to have a moment to recognize that life just straight up feels like the wilderness. I also believe that we can’t stay there. The middle of a semester can feel like the wilderness.  It can feel full of hunger for that which really satisfies, call it purpose, call it love, call it achievements. Does it feel slow moving? Like you are on a journey that should take 11 days but you’re on day 365. Does it feel as if you are being held from the promise ahead of you, being forced to wait to fulfill your potential. Have you begun to second guess the journey? I know the Israelites did. I know I have. Believing that what was behind them was better than what was before them. Wishing they had what once was instead of believing in what God had in store. 

It can be easy to miss the days we used to have, in moments that life gets hard but in doing that we miss the miracle that God has been providing all along. I think about how manna wasn’t a one time miracle, but a daily miracle. Because the Israelites were discontent with what was in front of them, a moment we read as a miracle soon became not enough. God didn’t take them through the wilderness because they were forgotten. The wilderness wasn’t a long journey because God thought they weren’t enough. It was in the wilderness God gifted them with time. Time to learn. Time to grow. Time to depend. Time to watch. Time to receive. It is in your “wilderness” that God has gifted you with the same. 

Let’s make this practical, what does “the wilderness” look like for us. It can look like forgotten purpose. It can look like a bad relationship. It can look simply like a day that you just aren’t feeling 110%. The wilderness can be a breakup, a messed up CFA order, or a dress that doesn’t fit the way you want it to. The wilderness is a moment that you just want to look at God and say “are we serious???” Do you feel like you are in the wilderness? Did the bad test grade make you feel like you lost your purpose? Did your bad day at work make you feel like you aren’t enough? I believe this season you find yourself in (or save this for when you are in it) is full of the same purpose that it was for the israelites. I believe it is to strengthen, to grow, to learn. I believe God is teaching us to receive, to watch, to depend on the One who breathes true purpose into your life in the middle of the wilderness. 

How can you optimize the wilderness you are in? Find ways to learn. Listen to a podcast, try a new workout studio, I have been doing a personal challenge each month of 2023. Last month was not eating out, this month is no diet coke :( haha. Learn more about you, learn about God, learn about your friends. Another way you can optimize the wilderness is to receive. Receive more of God’s word, spend consistent time with him, start a new devotional, start our new devotional (shameless plug). The third way you can make the most of the wilderness is to depend on God. What is something you are believing for this month that only God can do? Is it enough money for spring break? Is it enough money for school? Is it a restored relationship with your parents or for your parents? Believe in what God desires to do in your wilderness season.

God sees you and he cares about you enough to turn his head and listen to your desires. Don’t let the wilderness shake what God has built inside of you. Instead shake the wilderness with who you are and what God is doing through you. 

Believing with you, 

Scarlet