Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 25:1, Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
There are those times in life, and our walk with the Lord, that we stop and ask ourselves, “Can things get any worse?” David, who was on the path to becoming Israel’s next king, could have very easily gotten discouraged and just “thrown in the towel”. Even though Saul had stopped pursuing him for the time being, he knew better and chose to return to his stronghold (1 Samuel 24:22). Here, we read that the one person who was David’s greatest supporter had died. After mourning with Israel over the death of his friend Samuel, David returned to the wilderness. The Wilderness of Paran is where the Israelites wandered for their refusal to trust the Lord to give them the Promise Land, after God led them out of Egypt. David, as we know from reading his Psalms, suffered much while running from Saul. There were instances when he drowned in his own tears, and cried out to the Lord in distress. There were even moments when he chose the wrong thing to do, as we saw in earlier devotional messages, because of his distress. However, no matter what the Lord allowed him to endure, he always ended up praising the Lord because he knew the Lord never forsook him, even during his time in the Wilderness. The fact of the matter is that none of us are immune from “wilderness moments”. As God’s children, we will find ourselves living through times when everything and everyone seems to be against us, and when nothing seems to work in our favor. We suffer hurts, emotionally, maybe physically, and become discouraged spiritually. Sometimes, those discouragements come because of our own decisions, other times they come because of other people’s decisions, and they even seem to just come out of nowhere. Regardless of the source, there is one thing that we can be certain of, God is in those “wilderness moments” and He never leaves us nor forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5-6). All the while Israel wandered in the wilderness, in spite of their rebellious attitude at times; God took care of them and met all their needs. Deuteronomy 8:4 tells us, “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” Deuteronomy 29:5 also reiterated, “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet.” We may see the wilderness as a place of suffering, but in reality the wilderness is a place where we find comfort. Just like God took care of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, it also served as a reminder to David that God was His Comforter in this sorrowful time in his life. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness and God allowed David to wait almost 15 years before he become king of Judah, running from Saul a good portion of that time. It was not until some years later that he became king over all Israel. If any of us are currently living in the wilderness, we may not know how long we are going to remain there. We may feel like we are ready to break and just cannot live one more day in our circumstances, but we can be assured of this: God will take care of us in the wilderness and be our strength. The wilderness is a good place to find comfort and intimacy with the Lord. It is not just a time or place of suffering; it is a time for growth and learning who the Lord is in our lives. It is an opportunity to learn how to trust God in the darkest of times. The bottom line is that oftentimes God leads us through the wilderness to get us to the place He wants us to ultimately reach. Let us not waste the wilderness moments, and let us not prolong our time there by refusing to trust the Lord. Instead, we must put our eyes on Jesus as He leads us through it, and trust Him to do whatever necessary so that we grow and finally get to the place where He will be glorified most in our lives. In the end, it is all about Him and how He is glorified in all He allows us to go through. The wilderness does not always have to be a place of sorrow; it can also be a place of hope.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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