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!