The Wilderness: Being Broken For Him

WILDERNESS Experience

Wilderness is a wild place untouched by human development. There is wildness about the place that causes us to reconsider ways of doing things and focusing on the priorities. In the wilderness, you feel alone, out of place, abandoned, disoriented, and inadequate and not in control. Welcome to the transformation chamber! Here, all wild urges and out-of-control personalities are brought under the authority of Jesus Christ.

Richard Foster Once Wrote “ I have been seek God to raise up an incendiary company of Spirit-led, Spirit-Ordained, Spirit-Trained, Leaders…. leaders who are, lone like the Tishbite (Elijah), like the Baptist (John) bold; cast in a rare and apostolic mold.”

It is my firm conviction that what is termed the wilderness experience is that time in our walk with God when the road becomes narrow, wide enough for only you and God. All others fall away, howbeit temporarily, so God can have his fullest and most personal time with you.

Those moment one feels like everyone is out to slow you down, when you desire that people who love you are there to help, but you discover that there is no one (No dad, No mum, No Brother, No Sister, No tall Uncle, No Friend) but only God. You walk through it without any Human assistance.

The wilderness experience strips you of competition and comparison to others as your indication of your success. The Person you are with God stands out. Who are you without People? This Question you must answer in the wilderness. Like the children of Israel in the desert God provides Manna and Water to you. God makes you realize that you are not abandoned. God becomes your ever present Help in time of need. Adversity does not mean abandonment! In those dry season God allows compliments like drops of water in a dry season. You will see Hope, I your promised land will be real. Your Time will come! (Habakkuk 2:1-3). I declare over you right now that your time will come, in Jesus’ name! You are blessed of God and certainly not forgotten! 

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1)

Every man or woman of God with a true call on their lives goes through seasons we’ve come to know as the wilderness.

These are three signs of a God-initiated wilderness experience. 

SIGN 1: The people who used to understand you no longer do.

PURPOSE: At the end of the wilderness, you will have a renewed vision and a new group of people (eagles) to help you accomplish it.

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm (Proverbs13:20).

SIGN 2: The activities that used to be fun and pleasurable fade away

PURPOSE: A change of appetite comes with the wilderness package. A hunger and thirst for God alone is needed to deliver God’s gift to you.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6).

SIGN 3: Your weaknesses and character flaws become glaringly obvious to you.

PURPOSE: A higher level of character is required for the new level of anointing. God will expose you to yourself so you can humble yourself to Him and be repaired.

Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty (Job 5:17).

The wilderness experience is continual because we area work in progress. It is not only spiritual; it is physical, emotional, social, and in every area of your life. To walk with God, we will constantly need a person makeover. Expect it, embrace it, and enjoy it.  Let’s process the experience of two patriarchs, Joseph and Moses, when they were led into the wilderness to be perfected for their life-long assignments. We’ll observe the three signs of a wilderness experience and how they responded to them. You are not alone!

Josesph: From Canaan to Egypt

Joseph enjoyed the maximum attention he needed and wanted from his father, Jacob. He was his favorite son, and he wore the one and only special, custom-made coat of many colors. He was loved, and he was a dreamer who willingly shared his dreams. Then God’s next plan for Joseph was set in motion.

SIGN 1: The people who used to understand you no longer do. Joseph’s brothers no longer saw him as one of them. His dreams had pushed them to the brink of hatred. Jacob, their father, also joins the boys after Joseph’s latest dream. The people who once understood Joseph no longer did. To them, his words, actions, and dreams were extreme and weird. That is how it is with your wilderness. Those who thought they had you figured out soon realize they don’t.

Please note that this will frustrate and irritate them, but you must continue to obey God.

SIGN 2: The activities that used to be fun and pleasurable fade away. Joseph had a pretty comfortable lifestyle. The most he did was to send food to his brothers when they worked in the fields. I would imagine that he did not allow his designer coat to be soiled by the daily activities of farm life. When he was thrown into a pit and sold into slavery, he lost his coat and woke up to a whole new world of living. His life got replaced with floor scrubbing, market shopping, toilet cleaning, and sheep shearing. Let’s not forget some jail time and a real-time realization of how soon man forgets what s done for them. What used to be fun and pleasure faded away. We would notice the maturity of Joseph in Egypt. The attention on him shifted to focus on God. He declared before Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (Genesis 41:16). That was only possible because his hunger shifted from life pleasures and himself to knowing God and helping others.

SIGN 3: Your weaknesses and character flaws become glaringly obvious to you. Joseph’s character and resolve to please God was strengthened in his time in Egypt. I am not aware of any specific weaknesses Joseph had, but we know he did because he was human. The strength of character is evidenced by the favor of God and the favor of man upon him. Whatever Joseph did prospered (Genesis 39:5-6). Potiphar, his master, made him plenipotentiary over his entire estate. Later on, Pharaoh did the same. Even when thrown in jail, he found favor before the keeper of the prison. When advising Pharaoh concerning the famine to come, Joseph did not toot his own horn. He told Pharaoh to find a man to execute this survival plan. What great humility! It was a sign of a man whose character had been processed. Another proof Joseph’s character was fortified by his wilderness experience was his reaction to his brothers when they came to Egypt for grain. He acknowledged the journey of his personal wilderness was God’s plan to save his family.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said,

I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. (Genesis 45:4-8)

Moses: From Egypt to Midian

Moses had his socioeconomic status changed within ninety days of his life. He became a member of the royal family of the greatest country in the world at that time. Moses escaped becoming a slave and gained instant access to the best education possible. In human eyes, Moses had it going for him. Then God’s next plan for Moses was initiated.

SIGN 1: The people who used to understand you no longer do.  Moses became restless when he knew he was a Hebrew and saw his fellow Hebrews being tormented through slavery. I could picture Moses asking questions of both Egyptians and Hebrews. He no doubt asked his adoptive mother numerous questions to understand who he was. He later killed an Egyptian and had to flee Egypt. The royal court was stunned. What has come over Moses? Why does he spend so much time with the slaves? The Hebrews on the other hand might have also wondered why this Egyptian was always over at their place and doing favors for them. It’s a trap, he’s a spy, many may have thought. All of a sudden, those who understood Moses no longer did. Those with whom he had things in common could not see him as one of them. Egypt wanted Moses dead!

SIGN 2: The activities that used to be fun and pleasurable fade away.  Moses’ job description changed from general in the Egyptian military to keeper of sheep at the backside of the desert. Moses’ appetite began to change in his last days in Egypt. He hungered for justice and freedom. The niceties of his birth country were no longer fulfilling. He hoped there was more to life than that. In his wilderness experience, Moses traded his Egyptian scrolls for classroom sheep. He was the student. The lesson topics included but were not limited to the following: “Quiet, God is Speaking,” “How to Navigate Impossible Terrain,” “How to Defend and Protect Sheep,” and “Loving, Forgiving, and Guiding Rebel Sheep.”

SIGN 3: Your weaknesses and character flaws become glaringly obvious to you.
Moses had an anger problem. He killed a man in Egypt, he destroyed the first set of Ten Commandments tablets, and he struck the rock when God asked him to speak to it. In the wilderness, Moses was forced to confront that troublesome area of his life. Justified anger was no excuse to destroy things. He learned that quick and fast results did not apply to people—one of the many lessons he acquired from hanging out with sheep. In his encounter with God at the burning bush, Moses realized that strength and might were not the answer to everything. God exposed Moses’ inadequacies, and then affirmed him that he, Moses, was able to accomplish the mission because He, the “I AM THAT I AM” was with him.  At the end of the wilderness experience, you would:

• be humbled;
• have greater confidence and reliance on God;
• lose some friends; and
• have greater and refined character.

The wilderness is a place between you and the manifestation of God’s promise in your life. Until you embrace and enjoy the wilderness, your ability to handle God’s best for you is, at best, weak and incomplete. Let God have His way with and in you. Accept this invitation to the wilderness. It is only those who are sweetly broken by God in the wilderness who understand, appreciate, and truly know His love, power, and grace!