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Volume 33   Number 46 Nov 15, 2009

        Many saints in both the Old and new Testaments endured a time of trial waiting for God to bring them out of a difficult situation. Such ordeals are not uncommon for the saints of today. These “wilderness experiences,” or times of disappointment and failure, or even just the pressures of living, can bring doubts that victory will ever come our way. I would like to talk about some things to think about as we learn to endure these times of waiting.
        The first thing to remember is that the sovereign, controlling hand of God over our lives has not been relinquished. Even in the midst of failures and mistakes, God directs our lives with providential care. He rules and over-rules all that happens in this universe.
        The Lord speaks through Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 46:10: “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”
        This eternal plan of God is not only for the earth and its governments but also for individual personal lives. God reminds us in Proverbs 19:21: “There are many plans in a man’s heart; nevertheless the Lord’s counsel–that will stand.”
        God has decreed His eternal plan from the foundation of the earth. This is known as His ordained or providential will. For the most part, this is hidden from us, but there is also a revealed or known will that He expects us to obey. Unfortunately, for various reasons, we fail. We worry that we may have missed God’s best or even His plan altogether. But being out of the revealed will of God does not necessarily mean that God is out of the picture. God’s view of situations can be different from ours. He may see our weaknesses and failures as instruments for His eventual planned victory.
        Take the example of Moses. From one viewpoint, he failed at his calling and had to flee Egypt because of an act of murder. Exodus 2:11-15: And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw on one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand...Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian.
        However, the writer of the Book of Hebrews says regarding Moses in Hebrews 11:27: “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” God saw Moses’ failure differently than he did. Even in the times of disobedience, God may be more involved than we think.
        A good example of this is the story of Joseph and his wicked brothers. In their jealousy and deceit, they sold Joseph into slavery and led their father into believing that Joseph was dead. When Joseph was reunited with his family, he comforted his brothers by saying: “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life...So now it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:5-8).
        Even though Joseph’s brothers did evil and would be held accountable for their actions, God’s invisible hand was bringing out His purpose for their future. You never know what God is doing in working out His divine plane for His glory and our ultimate good.
        Another thing to remember is that the wilderness experience can be a time for enlargement. The psalmist says in Psalm 4:1: “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness; You have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.”
        The word enlarged means “to be or grow wide or large.” In times of pressure (distress), we are enlarged to receive more of God’s nature. Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, drew on this when he told them that God was enlarging both himself and the Corinthians by painful trials to receive more understanding and love toward others and to be more dependent upon God.
        2 Corinthians 1:3-11 TLB: What a wonderful God we have—He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does He do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us.
        You can be sure that the more we undergo sufferings for Christ, the more He will shower us with His comfort and salvation. But in our trouble God has comforted us—and this, too, to help you; to show you from our personal experience how God will tenderly comfort you when you undergo these same sufferings. He will give you the strength to endure.
        I think you ought to know, dear brothers, about the hard time we went through in Asia. We were really crushed and overwhelmed and feared we would never live through it. We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God who alone could save us, for He can even raise the dead. And He did help us and saved us from a terrible death; yes, and we expect Him to do it again and again.
        In order to receive what God has for us, we must be willing to yield to His planned way out of the situation. God’s plan for our rescue may be different from what we envision. Bear in mind that sometimes God doesn’t duplicate His methods. Trust God’s judgment as He makes the decisions on how to bring you out.
        We are like Rehab in the Book of Judges who was a prisoner of hope as she was waiting in the city of Jericho for her rescue. We can feel like someone trapped in a situation of emotional, physical, financial distress, walled in with no escape from our failures, sins, difficulties, and confusion. We have no control over the situation, living on the edge, knowing that just one knock on the door from the enemy can spell our end.
        However, we are reminded by God that in these times of difficulty to keep our hope on things of the Spirit and not what we feel or see in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
        What we see going on around us with our natural mind and reason may appear convincingly confusing. But in the unseen, invisible world of the Spirit, we are being kept by the blood, the Word, and the Spirit of God.
        God can do great things. More than we can even imagine. And like Jacob, when reunited with Joseph, who at one time thought Joseph was dead, in the end said to his son: “I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!” (Genesis 48:11).

Rev. Ken Cole