Through The Wilderness!

Ps.78:4, “We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.”

 Every God’s child goes through a phase of wilderness in various forms. When the Lord made the Israelites go through wilderness for forty years, He had a great purpose to teach them great chapters. Wilderness is like a classroom, with no visible teachers. But yet the invisible teacher never leaves us. Psalms 78 marks the journey of wilderness in a beautiful way with each chapter being disclosed in amazing ways. The lessons learnt during the phase of wilderness are to be passed on to generation to generation, thus equipping them also to go through the wilderness in a fruitful way. His strength and His wonderful works are best tasted in wilderness.

Ps.78:13, “He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; And He made the waters stand up like a heap.” Before dividing the sea, He closed all possible doors visible to our physical eyes. Pharaoh and his army from behind, mountains on either side and a huge sea right in front. There was no other option left, but to cry out to the Lord. The invisible and great doors are a cry to heaven away from us. Let us take off our eyes from all that we might be calculating and expecting in our own strength and trust Him for beautiful unknown ways, yet to be revealed right before our eyes.

Ps. 78:14, “In the daytime also He led them with the cloud, And all the night with a light of fire.”  The pillar of cloud and fire lead them by day and night. The pillar of cloud is difficult to be seen in night, and so is pillar of fire during day time. Had this happened, people would have been confused and misled into wrong ways. But our Lord is not a God of confusion. He leads us very specifically, revealing His ways as clearly as fire in night and cloud in day. The only thing we need to do is seek Him with all our heart and with complete submission, admitting and confessing time and again, that we do not know the way ahead in this wilderness of life. Every step might seem to be a cross road. The ways which appear to be ways might end up in destructive whirlwinds of life. Unless we have a steadfast attitude to ask, seek and knock time and again, to know and follow His ways, phases of wilderness might turn out to be dangerous and destructive. Wilderness teaches us to seek His ways time and again.

Ps.78:15, “He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths.” He brought the Israelites to a time when all the water they had with themselves got over. They were thirsty. They lacked even the basic necessity of life. But God did not abandon them. Soon Moses was asked to smite the rock in Horeb. Water gushed out of the rock in abundance. Their thirst was quenched and soul refreshed. We often take the provision for our basic needs as granted. The realization of divine provision of our basic needs, not only satisfies our physical body, but also refreshes and renews our spirit. We realize that we have a loving Father who is actually concerned about us and who will never abandon us.

Ps.78:24-25, “Had rained down manna on them to eat, And given them of the ^[e]bread of heaven.  Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to ^[f]the full.’  Though the Israelites continued to murmur, question God, doubt Him again and again, the Lord graciously opened the doors of heaven and rained manna, angels’ food so much so that not a single stomach was less than ‘full’. Just like a father and a mother rejoices to see their children eat to fullness of their belly, our Lord rejoices to see us being blessed in fullness. He does not treat us according to our sins. No parent deprives their children of food, even when they might hurt or disobey them. Their concern and care for their children is beyond limits of expression. We see depth of His love and concern more in wilderness.

Ps.78: 27, 29, “He also rained meat on them like the dust, feathered fowl like the sand of the seas; So they ate and were well filled, For He gave them their own desire.’  The basic need was met by giving manna. But then, instead of being grateful, the people desired more than they needed. They demanded meat with an ungrateful heart. The Lord again gave them their heart’s desire. He rained quails around their tents like dust. But this time, His grief was so much that His wrath came against them, slewing and striking down the rebellious lives. Wilderness also becomes grounds of chastisement and judgement in order to correct and rebuke.

One does not get anything in a wilderness because its empty, abandoned and deserted. And if we are in wilderness, this is what we actually deserve i.e. nothing & abandonment. But God in His mercy does not consider us as per our sins. In return, we need to be grateful and content with what the Lord graciously provides us.

Ps.78:40, “How often they provoked^[h] Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert.” After being blessed and lead so lovingly by the Lord, they continued to provoke, murmur, rebel and disobey. How often we grieve Him! How often we murmur and complain so easily!

Ps.78:38-39, “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, And did not stir up all His wrath;⁹ For He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again.’ It’s His compassion that sustains us each day. He is our potter. He knows our weakness. Yet let us strive through the grace given to us to learn well the chapters of wilderness. Let us focus on the promised land of eternity and be overcomers of wilderness, like Joshua and Caleb, instead of being victims of wilderness.

GOD bless us all.