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The Wilderness

They left Egypt triumphant. Without a sword being wielded, without a battle being fought, Moses and the Israelites left slavery behind and embarked on a journey to the Promised Land, a bountiful land God had promised long ago to their ancestor Abraham. But instead of taking the shortest route to Canaan, God led them through the wilderness, the long way.

I imagine there were those among the Israelites who wondered why they didn’t take the shortest route. If God parted the waters of the Red Sea, then certainly He could have performed a miracle to defeat the Philistines, who would not have welcomed the Israelites passing through their land. But God didn’t. They were traveling in a place where water and food were scarce─a difficult place, a dry and barren land─but there was a purpose for this wilderness experience.

Just as God spoke to Moses from a burning bush in the wilderness, God would speak to these Israelites from a mountain in the wilderness. From Mt. Sinai, God spoke. He told the Israelites of His desire that they would be transformed from an oppressed people into a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a special treasure unto God. In the wilderness, God spoke His promises into the lives of these beleaguered people.

Often people refer to the difficult times they experience in life as being in a wilderness place, a place where living life is a challenge. It may be the result of a tragic loss, a conflict, a deep disappointment, a betrayal, a failure. We don’t like these wilderness places in our lives, but just as it was for the Israelites, it is in the wilderness where God can speak to us with clarity. It is in wilderness where God’s Voice is not muted by the distractions and busyness of our lives. In the wilderness, the incidentals, the inessentials fall away as you seek to hear His Voice─the Voice that speaks peace into your life, strength into your spirit, and healing in your soul.

No one craves a wilderness experience, but it provides us with opportunity to hear God speak in a life-changing, faith-strengthening way!

Aside published on March 23, 2022 | | 2 Responses

Examine My Heart

He was the greatest king in Israel’s history, known as a man “after God’s own heart.” A remarkable quality to possess. His name was David─a king whose words of praise glorifying God in the book of Psalms continue to be read and cherished. But David was not perfect.

In the latter half of his reign, when his army was victorious on the battlefield, his realm secure, his treasury full, David committed a grievous sin. He committed adultery with the wife of one of his army commanders. When Bathsheba became pregnant and his cover-up plan failed, he ordered Bathsheba’s husband sent on a battle mission, which led to his certain death.  David was frantically trying to hide his sin from the people, but no sin is hidden from God! So, He sent the prophet Nathan to confront David.

David’s response? “I have sinned against the Lord?” (2 Samuel 12:13)

No excuses, no justifications, no shifting of blame. His prayer of repentance in Psalm 51 reveals that David not only confessed his sin but expressed his desire to turn back to God with a faithful heart.

“ . . .  Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within.” (Psalm 51:10)

David models for us what genuine repentance looks like─confession and change!

Mercifully God responded to David’s repentance with forgiveness. Yes, there were consequences that resulted from his sin because sin always has consequences, but God mercifully remained with David in those consequences.

Yet as I reflected on this time in David’s life, could all the pain and sorrow his sin caused, both to him and to those in his life, have been avoided? What if on the day David was strolling on the rooftop of his palace and saw Bathsheba bathing, he had had heeded the words of another psalm─another prayer he penned? A prayer that would have led him to dealing with a sinful desire before it led to the act of sin!

“Search me, O Lord, and know my heart, . . .  see if there is any wicked way in me . . .” (Psalm 139:23-24)

This word “wicked” comes from the Hebrew word “otseb.” It means wicked, but it also means pain and sorrow. This is why other translations of these verses read: “If there be . . .

    • any hurtful way in me.” (NASB)
    • any grievous way in me.” (ESV)
    • any offensive way in me.” (NIV)

Yes, David’s sin was a source of pain and sorrow in his life and the lives of those around him, but it also “pained” God. Sometimes we fail to realize that not only does God hate sin, but it offends God, it grieves Him, because sin causes a separation from Him.

From David’s failure, we learn an important lesson about repentance. We need not just to repent of the sins we have committed, but to be open to the daily examination of our hearts by God. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of thoughts we are embracing, desires we are nurturing that grieve God, that offend God and can lead to the action of sin. We need to heed the words of wisdom we find in the book of Proverbs:

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov. 4:23 NIV)

How much pain, sorrow, and difficult complications could be avoided in our lives, if we embraced the truth of this proverb by daily praying this Davidic prayer and responding with genuine repentance.

“Search me, O Lord, and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:24)

Aside published on January 31, 2022 | | 3 Responses