The Deserts of Life

Writing about our times of Trials, troubles and tribulations those desert times that come to every person, Chuck Swindoll writes in his book about Moses the following.

It's dry. It's lonely. You feel dismal inside. But whatever your emotions may be telling you, the Bible says you're not alone. God is there. He encircles you. Cares for you. Guards you like the pupil of his eye. And he promises to guide you through that strange habitation with neither landmark nor path. You have not left him nor has he left you. In fact, he may be closer to you at this moment than he has ever been before.
Moses had a four-decade course study in the wilderness so that he might know how to lead a whole nation through the similar Wilderness.

Listen to what Moses told the Israelites as they were about to enter the Promised Land: "You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that he might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his Commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8:2.

Why does God lead us through the desert places? Let's get the answer from Moses, who had Advanced degrees from God School of the wilderness. It is so that he might humble us, that he might test us, and that the true condition of our heart might be revealed. Not that God might come to know you (he already does) but that you might come to know you. There's nothing like the desert to help you discover the real you. When you strip away all the trappings, peel off all the masks, and shed all the phony costumes, you begin to see a true identity, a face that hasn't emerged for years.

It will humble you. It will show you your strengths and weaknesses. It will help you discover yourself as never before.