Devotionals

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Miracles in the Wilderness

“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you and you have lacked nothing.” (NKJV) Deuteronomy 2:7

The Israelites were drawn from slavery in Egypt into the wilderness. There, God wanted to heal their wounded hearts, show himself faithful to them, provide for their needs and show himself miraculous.

Today's verse shows how God was a provider for the Israelites in the wilderness. First he provided them with fresh manna everyday. He fed his children. Every time that the Israelites stopped, the Lord provided water, whether through a well or by miraculously flowing from rocks. If the Israelites could grasp the concept that God would provide, they would have feared nothing. If He calls, He equips. He doesn't begin any work that He cannot finish (Phil 1:6). If the children of Israel could have seen that they followed a God who could be trusted, they would not have feared to enter the promised land.

Sometimes God takes us into a place of wilderness in our lives, be it physically, spiritually or emotionally to show us His power. When we begin to grasp the awesomeness of our God, we will never doubt Him. He longs for us trust Him. If we trust Him and don't doubt, we will accomplish so much for His Kingdom. As we realise that we are merely His hands, His feet and His mouthpieces, what will we be afraid of? Like David, facing Goliath, we will not see the size of the giant standing before us, but rather we will see that smallness of that giant in relation to the greatness of God.

Working in radio, my husband and I had the opportunity to meet with some great people. One person who we had time with, was a man who had just returned from an undercover mission trip to Pakistan. He had met with believers in Pakistan to find out what, despite the great persecution, the Lord was doing in the Pakistani church. What this man told us amazed us. A church meeting was in process when somebody alerted the believers that soldiers were coming up their mountain to arrest them. The believers quickly left out the back door and fled up the mountain top. The soldiers knew that there was only one path down and so did not bother to pursue them. They knew that if they waited at the bottom, the believers would have to return. They waited and waited and waited. After about three days, the soldiers left, thinking that they would have died from the cold, with no food or water. What they didn't know was that God, who provided manna in the wilderness for the Israelites, had not changed. When the believers were up that mountain, they saw stars appearing, getting closer and closer to earth. Finally, the stars (or what had looked like stars), fell to the ground like huge fireballs. When they were cool enough to touch, the people realised that it was bread sent from heaven. And God continued to provide every night. The believers were rescued and were not pursued again. Maybe when word got around, the soldiers were too scared to go back. This is not some ancient story, this is a miracle which happened in about 2005.

In our comfortable worlds of computers, cars, choice, information and insurance for every possible thing that could go wrong, where have we left room for God? We have selfishly lived our lives, too busy for spending time with our Creator. Any loving parent would want to spend time with their child. God is no different. He sees us going through life on a certain path and He knows how much better it could be. He will often strip everything away from our lives so that we cannot help but cry out to Him. He wants to show us that He can handle our lives. He is enough. So let Him show you the miracles in the wilderness, so that when you are ready to move on, you're not dependent on seeing a miracle and proof of God's existence at every slight turn. We need to learn and grow up spiritually. Then, once we know that we can fully trust God, we will be able to embrace that same spirit that the shepherd boy David had and battle against our giants.

Prayer:
Thank you God that you care so much about me, that you have drawn me into the wilderness. I know that you desire to show me your power and let me know that I can fully rely on you. Thank you Lord for proving yourself faithful to me. Help me to grow up spiritually so that I can run into the things that you have prepared for me, knowing that when you are by my side, nothing can come against me and succeed. In Jesus name, Amen.

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