The Wilderness (God so loves us)

September Study 2026

We’ll be looking at how God cares for His children while they are in the wilderness and in leading them into the wilderness in the first place.

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*Note: Like all my Bible teachings, my husband has seen these and gives me permission to share them.

 

Lesson 1

  1. The wilderness is our times when God gets us to Himself. My goal in this study is for you to see God’s good in the wilderness (really in all things) and to know God’s great, enduring love for His children.
  2. We don’t tend to think about the wilderness as being a good thing. Christians think of it as a time of hardship.
  3. Let’s look at the wilderness in the Bible and see what the wilderness is.
  4. We’ll start in the Old Testament. Read these verses. What’s going on in the story?
    • Genesis 16:5-10  
    • This is from the story of Abraham and Sarah not having any children, so Sarah gets the bad idea that Abraham could have a child with her maid. He does, but it doesn’t go well. The maid thinks she’s better than Sarah now and things fall apart. God tells Hagar, the maid, to go back and serve Sarah, but He also gives her a promise about her descendants. These won’t be the chosen children of Israel, but God will still give them a promise and keep it.
    • You can feel free to choose another translation from the menu.
  5. What role is the wilderness playing?
    • It’s where she flees. Why would she flee into the wilderness?
    • It’s where you go to get away from people.
  6. The fact that it is away from people describes why it’s called the wilderness. It’s uninhabited land. No one wants to live there.
  7. Is there anything going on in your life you wish you could flee from?
  8. Hear the Lord say to return and submit.
  9. Read 1 Peter 5:6. What are we to submit to?
    • God’s hand. What does that mean?
    • God is in control of our circumstances. Don’t run from them. Submit to what God is doing in your life. This is a main idea of this study. God’s hand is in the struggle, even behind the struggle. Don’t fight God’s purposes. They are good! We’ll be looking at all that as we go through.
  10. What do we have to do in order to submit?
    • Humble ourselves. What does that mean?
      • We need to not think we can save ourselves, rescue ourselves from our situation. We’re to look to God for our help and our “salvation.”
      • That means we pray for our salvation, not work for our salvation. That’s the whole thing with our salvation; it’s from God, not from us. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
  11. God met Hagar in the wilderness and gave her direction. See the Lord’s goodness. She fled into the wilderness by her own choice. God meets her there and redirects her. That’s the Lord’s keeping. We can trust Him to look after us even when we’ve run away. He maybe prepared a wilderness just for you, to meet you there, and to bring you back home.

Lesson 2

  1. We’re going to continue to look at the wilderness in the Bible.
  2. We’ll continue with the Old Testament. Read these verses. What’s going on?
    • 1 Samuel 23:14-18
    • Saul is jealous of David and wants to kill him. He knows that God is giving David the throne. He’s fighting against God trying to fight against David.
    • David flees into the wilderness to escape Saul. This wilderness is described as woods in the NKJV.
  3. What role is the wilderness playing?
    • It’s again a place of escape.
    • It’s a good place to go because it’s away from people.
    • But why aren’t people there? What do you think?
    • The wilderness isn’t an easy place to live in. There’s a reason it’s uninhabited.
  4. Do you have any “wilderness places” in your life where you feel alone?
  5. Do you think there could possibly be a protection for you in those places of wilderness in your life?
  6. In the last story we read, the story of Hagar, God meets her in the wilderness. Who meets David in the wilderness?
    • a friend
  7. God tells Hagar the truth, obviously. What does Jonathan tell David?
    • Jonathan doesn’t tell the truth, if you know what happens later in the story. It’s a partial truth. David will be on the throne. Jonathan won’t be next to him. Saul may see that God is giving David the throne, but he’s not accepting it.
  8. Satan works in mixture, half truths. Be careful who you listen to in the wilderness. God wants to get His people alone in the wilderness. Beware other voices where they shouldn’t be.
  9. Can you think of other voices that have tried to speak when you were standing alone in a trial, a wilderness?

Lesson 3 

  1. Let’s continue with the Old Testament. Read these verses. What’s the context of this story?
    • Exodus 17:1-7
    • God miraculously brought His people Israel out from Egypt including enabling them to escape their enemies by parting the Red Sea, which enabled them to cross safely and also swallowed up their enemies.
    • God delivered His people. Now they complain. They have no water.
  2. What role is the wilderness playing?
    • Here we see the wilderness as a place of lack. There is no water.
    • Thinking about our last couple of lessons, I think we could also say this is a place of fleeing. Fleeing their enemies led them to the wilderness.
  3. People, throughout history, have congregated by water. That’s where all cities started. A lack of water would be typical of many uninhabited areas.
  4. What do you think? Was it a legitimate complaint that they had no water?
    • People need water to survive. Did God know that?
    • Of course, He created people. He knows how their bodies work. He designed them. He designed them with the need for water.
    • He designed them to need water and then led them to a place of no water. Ever think about that? Did He understand the situation?
      • Absolutely! He was at work doing something bigger than giving them everything they wanted when they wanted it.
    • It was normal to feel the need. What wasn’t right was the complaining, not the needing.
  5. Complaining is always wrong. Do you know why?
    • It’s saying that either God’s not in control or that God’s not good. (Because if God is in control of it happening, complaining is acting like you would be a better God, would have done it a different way, as if you knew better. Because if God is in control and you are complaining about what is happening, you are saying He’s not good in what He chose for you.)
    • It’s heretical. Can you explain why?
      • If God’s not in control, then someone/something else has more power and control than Him, meaning someone else would be God Almighty.
      • God is good. God is love. It’s part of His definition! If He were not good, He would no longer be God.
  6. These verses end with us being told that the Israelites were testing God, by questioning if He was there.
  7. When have you ever questioned if God was really there?
  8. When do you think that’s okay? When do you think that’s not okay?
    • Before you know you know God is your God and with you always, then I think it’s okay and even good to question if God is there if you are seeking for Him to show Himself so that you can know Him.
    • But once you know Him and know you know Him, then we need to trust Him that He will be Himself, faithful and true, and keep His word to never leave us.
  9. If God’s not answering you, can you be meek and quiet before Him and trust He will answer and help and comfort and do all the things you are looking for and keep grateful with a resting attitude? Or, do you complain?
  10. What should you do when tempted to complain?

Lesson 4

  1. We’re going to continue to look at the wilderness in the Old Testament. Read these verses. What’s going on? What’s the context of this story?
    • Exodus 16:1-5
    • God just provided water. He had delivered them from the Egyptians. They are complaining again. They are saying they wished they were back in Egypt, where they were in bondage! They think that having their flesh satisfied in bondage is better than being free and going God’s way.
  2. Hmmm…can you apply that? Do you have anything that you know isn’t best for you but you want it anyway? It can be big bad things, that I’m not going to name, or it could be smaller things like indulging in snacks or streaming videos or playing digital games.
  3. I had to ask God to take away my desire to watch TV shows and movies. Even though I wanted to stop watching them, there was something in me that still was pulled toward them, especially when I was tired or stressed. God delivered me from it. My part was to want it gone and ask Him to change my desires. I cooperated and He did. I am so thankful. My life is better, but mostly my relationship with the Lord is a so much better. Way beyond worth it! Freedom is way better than bondage. Living in the Spirit is way better than in the flesh!
  4. Okay, back to the wilderness. What role is the wilderness playing?
    • It’s a place of lack again.
    • It’s also again a place of testing.
  5. What’s God testing to see?
    • God will see if they will obey.
  6. Does God know if they will obey or not?
    • God knows everything.
  7. So, why the test?
    • I think tests prove what God already knows, but also serve us in showing us what’s in our hearts. We can’t accuse God of not being just when we have proof of our selfish hearts!
  8. When are you tempted to do something you know you shouldn’t or to not do something you know you should?
  9. What would happen if you saw those moments as tests?
  10. Ask God to help you recognize those moments of testing. Choose NOW before you face those tough moments that you always want to choose to obey and that you never want to complain. Ask God NOW to help you make those right choices which are the choices you want to make.
  11. We can forget that’s what we want in the moment. When you aren’t facing the choice is the time to make the choice and to ask God’s help. You need God’s help! That’s humility, knowing you aren’t going to do it right on your own, but that with God you can!

Lesson 5

  1. Let’s continue to look at the wilderness in the Bible. Read these verses. What’s going on?
  2. What do we see happening in the wilderness?
    • Moses is just going about his business, doing his job.
    • It is a place where God meets His people.
  3. Why might the wilderness be a place where God meets His people considering what we’ve learned about the wilderness so far?
    • It’s away from people. God can get you alone in the wilderness to get your attention.
    • It’s a place of need, so people are looking for help.
  4. What does God give Moses in the wilderness?
    • He gets more understanding of who God is. He sees their misery and comes to the rescue. God revealed Himself. He wants His people to know Him.
    • He gets direction of how Moses is to relate to God (take off your sandals).
    • He gets direction. Moses is given a ministry, an appointment.
  5. When was a time where you felt like God showed up to meet you? Was it a time of need or a time where He had gotten you alone?
  6. Read Exodus 33:7. Moses goes to meet with God away from everyone else.
  7. How can you put into your life “alone” and “need,” so that you are making ideal conditions for meeting the Lord?
  8. Every day you should be finding a time and place alone with you and God. Give Him your attention, but don’t meet with Him to get from Him. Meet with Him because you love Him!
  9. When you have a need, look to the Lord for help. Don’t turn to the internet, the handyman, the credit card, another person, etc. Go to the Lord. He may use a natural means to fix the problem, but you let Him direct your path. And maybe you’ll get the miracle solution.

Lesson 6 

  1. What are some of the ways we have described the wilderness? (some answers: away from people, lack, complaining, where God meets people, hardship you don’t want to be in)
  2. Before we read the next verses, I’m going to tell you the context because it would be long to read. Elijah had his big showdown on Mount Carmel. He challenged the false prophets to bring down fire on the altar. They call on their false god all day and nothing happens. Elijah pours water all over his altar and sacrifice and calls on God to send fire on the altar, and fire comes and burns everything up. Then Elijah calls on the people of Israel to kill the false prophets. Elijah then prays for rain. There had been a drought for years at God’s word. God had told Elijah it would rain. Elijah prays until he sees the rain is beginning to form. The next chapter open with the evil king, Ahab, telling his evil wife Jezebel, what Elijah had done to the prophets.
  3. This is a longer reading, but read 1 King 19:2-18.
  4. How does this show any of the things we’ve seen about the wilderness?
  5. Is there anything new is this story about the wilderness?
  6. What was Elijah’s lack? We see God provide food and water. That’s not what I’m thinking about with this question.
    • Elijah is discouraged.
    • Elijah is missing truth. He thinks He’s the only one left (1 Kings 19:10).
    • Many Christians get in this trap of thinking they are the only “true” Christian, or “real” Christian, etc. It’s a lie.
    • God meets Elijah and sets his thinking straight. And God doesn’t listen to Elijah desperate prayer. He provides for Elijah. Elijah doesn’t have to ask for bread. God gives him what he needs.
    • God understands our angst, but corrects us in it. God still had work for Elijah to do and sent him to do it instead of leaving him wallowing.
  7. If you knew God prepared a wilderness for you to meet you there, would you want to go?
    • I would say the answer is not yes or no, but yes and no. Why?

Lesson 7 

  1. Let’s jump to the New Testament. Read about John the Baptist. What’s the context and what does it show about the wilderness?
  2. If the wilderness is uninhabited, why was John not alone in the wilderness?
    • John’s out in the wilderness preaching. That’s not where you go to preach. You preach to people, not wild beasts. The people had to go out to him.
  3. Does that tell us anything about how God uses the wilderness?
    • God had set him apart by sending him out to live in the wilderness. The people had to choose his message.
  4. Can you think of ways that the Lord has set you apart from others or from the things of this world? What are things you don’t do that “everyone” else does? What are things you do or don’t do that make you different?
  5. I have experienced this a lot in my life. Are there things the Lord keeps you from, from being one of the gang, from just joining in with everyone else? (That could even be at church.)
  6. What are some reasons God sets apart His children?
  7. Maybe you feel a conviction over watching certain things or going certain places and have to say no when invited. Don’t be sad. That’s a gift! The Lord has set you apart for HIMSELF!
  8. People may not invite you. You may feel left out of groups. Consider that it could be the Lord’s good gift to you! He doesn’t want you to be conformed to others. He wants you conformed to the image of Christ. He wants you to Himself.
  9. To be set apart is to be holy. When God sets us apart, He sets us apart from the world and to Himself. We want to be with God. He is life!
  10. Thank God for setting you apart. Ask for forgiveness when you have been upset at being setting apart. Make the choice to be made holy, to be set apart, to be removed from the world and joined fully to Christ. Ask God to do it. Surrender your life to Him. He’s the only one who can always truly and fully love you.

Lesson 8 

  1. Read about Jesus in the wilderness. What’s going on? What does it show about the wilderness?
    • We call this event The Wilderness Temptation. But before Jesus faces the devil, we see things we have seen elsewhere about the wilderness. It’s an isolated place. There’s a lack. Jesus could have fasted anywhere, but He goes out to a place without and goes without. Then we see the test.
  2. Who wanted Jesus to be in the wilderness?
    • God the Father wanted Jesus in the wilderness. The Spirit leads Jesus to this place no one wants to be. Our flesh doesn’t want to fast, let alone for 40 days. No one wants to face temptation and trial. That’s where God leads Jesus. Jesus wasn’t whining and complaining. He was fully submitted to His Father’s will and trusted His leading.
  3. What was purpose of the wilderness?
    • Satan comes to Jesus at an opportune time. It was a place of moving Jesus to weakness. That’s what the devil is looking for, weakness to exploit. God the Father was setting up His Son for a trial. He drew the devil in like He did with Job. God said to the devil, “Have you considered My servant Job?” It was God’s idea and so was this time of temptation.
  4. Why?
    • God sent Jesus into the wilderness. It was the Father’s choice. His time in the wilderness was a time of denying the flesh (fasting) and standing on truth in the face of temptations. It was a trial. It was a test. This was Jesus’ preparation for ministry.
    • One way this was a preparation for ministry was that Jesus had to conquer temptation so He could help us conquer temptation. (Hebrews 4:15)
    • We’re also told He learned obedience through what He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8)
    • We’ll be looking more at testing and preparation.
  5. The test shows the heart. Jesus showed His heart was faithful. He was ready.
  6. If Jesus, the only perfect one, had to be tested for 40 days to be ready for God’s purposes for Him, don’t be surprised if you have to go through it for years!
  7. What are some trials or temptations you have faced? What was the test? When did you pass? When did you fail?
  8. Don’t regret the failure. The Lord was Lord over those moments. He allowed it. He certainly has the power to supernaturally intervene. But He is working on our hearts. We need to understand our weakness so we look to our Savior. Thank Him for those moments and how He used them.
  9. Our good Father will bring us to points of weakness, even using the devil to do it, in order to bring us to Himself more fully, to bring us into more and more of the blessing He has prepared for us.
  10. Thank God for your weaknesses. They are points that should drive us to look to God to be our helper, our rescuer, our Savior.

Lesson 9

  1. Let’s look at another story that took place in the wilderness. Let’s look at what it says about the wilderness and about what happens in the wilderness?
  2. Read Exodus 32:1-7.
  3. What were the people experiencing in the wilderness?
    • Here there’s a confusion about what’s going on. Moses was supposed to be leading them, but they don’t know where He is. What should they have done at that point?
  4. They had a lack. They lacked their leader. They didn’t know what to do. When you don’t know what to do, do you know what you should do? You should definitely not make a decision about what to do because you don’t know what to do! You should go to God in prayer, in grateful, trusting confidence in Him that He is leading you and will show you the way and that you can wait on Him to do just that.
  5. They take matters into their own hands, take their own counsel, and corrupt themselves.
  6. The wilderness can be confusing because the things you are used to relying on are gone. That can be a rejoicing in watching the Lord come through with a daily miracle, or it can be a burden of trying to meet your own needs where there is obvious lack.
  7. Is there a place of confusion in your life where you don’t know what to do? (What should you do?)
  8. Aaron doesn’t help at all. He helps make things worse. When you hear someone in your family talking like they don’t know what to do, encourage them to pray and wait on the Lord and not just go ahead with what seems best.
  9. Is there something now you are waiting on the Lord for? Are you waiting or trying to meet your own needs?
  10. Do you have grateful trusting confidence in the Lord in the matter?

Lesson 10

  1. Let’s look at what another story says about the wilderness and about what happens in the wilderness.
  2. Read Numbers 21:4-9.
  3. What does this story say about the wilderness?
    • There was lack. There was no water and no food.
      • God was leading them through the wilderness. He went with them. He was present in the cloud that showed them the way to go and showed them when to stop. God led them to the place of no food and no water.
      • I want you to see that God wants to lead His children into the wilderness, but please know that He wants to lead them out too!
  4. What happens in the wilderness when there’s lack?
    • complaining, which is not trusting God
  5. This is a story of God’s children not trusting God in the wilderness. Many are destroyed in the wilderness. Some are saved.
  6. Why is the wilderness a place of failure?
    • When there is a lack, they didn’t look to God, didn’t trust God to save them. They wanted to take care of themselves, but they couldn’t. They failed by trying to rely on man when they couldn’t, instead of looking to God for help.
  7. When we fail a test, what should we do?
    • Everything should always turn you back to God. Go to Him. Always. For everything and anything.
  8. Why is complaining always wrong? (If you need help answering, look at lesson 3.)
  9. Why is God always trustworthy?
    • Because He is in control and always good!

Lesson 11

  1. Let’s look at another story and what it says about the wilderness and about what happens in the wilderness.
  2. Read Numbers 13:1-2 and 30-33.
  3. What’s the story?
  4. The Israelites send spies into the land that the Lord has promised them. Caleb and Joshua are eager to go. The other ten spies think they will be defeated. Why the difference of opinion?
  5. The ten were seeing lack. They lacked the strength to defeat them. Caleb and Joshua saw God’s promise. The ten were looking at the problem. The two were looking at the One who delivers out of the problem.
  6. The wilderness can be a place of lament or of excitement!
  7. God leads to the place of lack so that you will have to look to Him if you want to be saved in your situation. He’s teaching you salvation by grace alone through faith! He’s teaching you to work out your salvation. He’s giving you assurance of salvation. He’s proving your faith that will be more precious than gold to you.
  8. Do you have proven faith? When have you been saved in a situation by grace through faith? (You can hear some of my miracle stories on the site!)
  9. What promises of God do you find easy to believe? What promises do you find hard to believe? What’s the difference?
  10. Ask God for faith to believe that all of His promises are “Yes and amen” in Christ Jesus.
  11. Here are some promises of God lists: 25 promises, 7 Gospel Promises

Lesson 12

  1. Read or listen to Deuteronomy 8. This is Moses talking to the Israelites. Starting in the next lesson, we’re going to work through this chapter bit by bit. This is our overview.
    • What does he say was the point of the wilderness? (verse 2)
    • How did the Lord provide for them in the wilderness? (verse 3)
    • What did Moses know would happen when they came out and things were great? (verse 17)
    • Why was God sending them into the wilderness? (verse 16)
  2. God sent them into the wilderness to do them good in the end. He had a good intention for them. He was bringing about His good purposes.
  3. Everything we have is a grace gift, meaning undeserved and unearned.
  4. We must learn to think of everything as coming from God and being for God.
  5. What things in your life do you have a hard time as seeing as coming from God (ie. maybe you think you worked hard for them)?
  6. What things in your life do you have a hard time as seeing as for God? (Think about everything, time, possessions, money, energy, your future…are there things you wouldn’t be willing to give up for God?)
  7. All things are from Him and for Him – Romans 11:36 – Worthy of It All

Lesson 13

  1. What’s the wilderness?
  2. Why does God send His people into the wilderness?
  3. We’re going to look at God’s purpose of the wilderness. The wilderness is a place of lack. It’s a place where God is all we have to meet our needs.
  4. We’re going to work through Deuteronomy 8. Read Deuteronomy 8:2-3.
  5. What was the purpose of the wilderness?
    • God was humbling them, testing them, and teaching them.
  6. What does it mean to be humble?
  7. How was God humbling His children in the wilderness?
    • I like to define humble as relying on God. It’s the opposite of proud, which thinks highly of itself. The proud don’t think they need saving. They think they are good on their own. They think they have what they need. They think they can save themselves. They don’t think they need God. The humble don’t think highly of themselves. They know they lack in every way and need God to meet their every need.
    • God was humbling His children by putting them in a position where they lacked even the most basic necessities so that they would know they couldn’t meet their own needs.
    • If you know the story of Israel, you know that most don’t learn humility. They complain. They look to Moses to deliver them out of their troubles instead of turning to God. It leads to their destruction.
  8. How was God testing them and what was the point?
    • God was seeing if they would obey. He gave them manna and said just collect enough for today and don’t collect any on the Sabbath. Would they trust and obey?
    • When God tests us, He’s showing us what’s in our hearts. He knows what’s there, but our words and actions will display what’s in our hearts. When we see what’s in our hearts, it should turn us to repentance, to humility. It shows us our need of a new heart, of a Savior.
  9. What was God teaching them?
    • He taught them that man doesn’t live by bread alone but by God’s Word.
  10. Can you think of any times of God humbling you, testing you, and teaching you? What was He teaching you?
  11. Do you see your need for God in all things? Do you see your heart has no good in it apart from God? Have you learned that all you really need in life is Jesus? Where do you know you are missing understanding in those things?

Lesson 14

  1. We’re going to continue looking at Deuteronomy 8.
  2. We skipped verse 1 last time and looked at verses 2 and 3. Let’s read Deuteronomy 8:1.
  3. What is God asking them to do and why?
    • He’s asking them to obey because He wants the best for them! His Word is life! They will receive God’s promises by obeying His word. God is wanting His children to fulfill all their potential.
  4. Now read Deuteronomy 8:5.
  5. What is verse 5 about?
    • God’s discipline.
  6. What is God’s discipline?
    • While thinking of God punishing us may help us fear God and obey, I think for a child of God who loves God and whose heart is set on obeying God, it’s best to think of discipline as training.
    • Parents don’t punish. They discipline. They aren’t giving you what you deserve. They are training you in the right way because they want what’s best for you.
  7. We deserve hell. That’s not what God gives us. He trains us up in righteousness, trains us in the right way to go.
  8. Let’s pause there and look at verse 4.
  9. What’s it saying about God and His children?
    • God was taking care of His children the whole time.
  10. Who were these people He was caring for?
    • Everyone – all of His children, even the rebellious ones, the untrusting ones, the unbelieving ones, who were going to die in the wilderness
  11. Do you remember what God wanted to teach them?
    • That man doesn’t live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
    • Jesus says to His disciples that He had food they didn’t know about. He knew where His sustaining came from.
  12. What was God teaching His children over forty years of caring for them in the wilderness?
    • He provided for them every single day, not only in providing food and water, but in preserving the things they needed like clothing, and also preserving their bodies (feet not swelling). God was teaching them that He is all they need. We live by having God with us, not by getting the temporary things of this world.
  13. Is God all you need? Can you say to God, “It’s okay if you take it all away. You are all I need?” Pray until you can.
  14. Matt Maher The Cross Forever Speaks
  15. Christ Is Enough

Lesson 15

  1. We’re going to continue looking at Deuteronomy 8.
  2. We’ve made it through verse five, but verse six starts with a “therefore” a “so,” so we need verse five again to help us understand verse six.
  3. Read those two verses. What are they supposed to do and why?
    • They should obey God because He’s a good Father who will discipline His children.
  4. Is obeying God something you should ever be making a choice about?
    • You have free will. You can make choices. You can disobey, but if you are God’s child, He will discipline you to turn you back to walking in obedience.
  5. I can remember being in college, in my bed, reading my Bible, and coming to the conclusion that obedience was never a choice. You always had to obey.
  6. You should make the decision now that you will always obey if you know what to do. Ask God to help you know the right thing to do and do it. Tell Him that’s what you always want to do.
    • Jesus is our righteousness (2 Cor 5:21, 1 Cor 1:30). We can know and do the right thing, but we must rely on Him to do it. We will fail trying in our own strength.
  7. Why does God want us to obey?
  8. Read Deuteronomy 8:7-9.
  9. Thinking about these verses, why did God want them to obey?
    • He had good plans for them. He wanted to bless them. He wanted to give them good gifts. Disciplining your child is not what a parent wants to do. They want to see their children happy.
  10. Why does God want you to obey?
    • He knows the plans He has for you and they are for your good.
  11. Do you want God’s perfect plans for you?
    • They are perfect. Yes, that’s what you want! He’s the one who knows the future and everything about you and how He designed you and placed you into His grand redemptive plan.
  12. Ultimately, God is working to bring you home to Himself. Yes, we can be absolutely assured of our salvation, but assurance of salvation doesn’t mean sin all you want and go to heaven. It means your good Father in heaven will discipline you and train you up in the way you should go so that you will find your way to Him.
  13. Can you see God’s goodness in discipline? Can you see God’s goodness in telling His children to obey?
  14. John 14:15 (NASB) records Jesus saying, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Why is that true?

Lesson 16

  1. We’re working our way through Deuteronomy 8.
  2. We finished at verse 9. Let’s start with just verse 10; though, I think we might not get any further than verse ten.
  3. What’s the context of Moses talking about them eating and being full, being satisfied? If you need help answering that, here’s Deuteronomy 8:7-9.
    • He’s talking about when they finally enter into the Promised Land. They have waited so long and now they were going to finally have their own land and their own food and their own homes and their own fields and vineyards, etc.
  4. What are they to do when they are satisfied in their new land?
    • Give thanks. They are to praise God. They are to remember that it was God who gave them the land. They’re to remember that God brought them there and provides for them all that they have.
  5. Is there anything that you have that you feel like you earned?
  6. Is there anything that you have that you feel like you deserve?
  7. All things come from God. If you worked hard for something, God gave you the ability to work hard, the opportunity to work hard, the brain power, the physical strength/health, not to mention the blood flow and oxygen to live long enough to work hard. You aren’t alive today unless God gives you your life and allows it to continue.
  8. Thank God for things you feel like you earned and that you deserve. Acknowledge that you only have those things because of Him.
  9. We tend to talk like it’s easy to praise God when things are good and hard to praise God when things are bad. Why do the Israelites have to be told to praise God when things are good? What’s hard about it?
    • The Scriptures tell us that the problem is we forget about God when things are good. Maybe if we were worried about something and it turned out okay, we remember to thank God. Maybe if something had been wrong and it got better, we remember to thank God. But if things are good people tend to forget to turn their attention to God.
    • If we don’t feel the need for God, we can tend to not think about Him.
  10. The point every Christian needs to get to, if you weren’t led to Christ through humility, through an understanding of your deep need for salvation, is to understand your complete need for God in all things.
  11. You need God for your righteousness. There’s no good thing in you. Do you believe it?
  12. You have no good thing apart from Him. Do you believe it?
  13. Without God, you have no hope of heaven. Salvation isn’t getting forgiven so you can go to heaven. Salvation is a life given over to death so that the life of Christ can live in You. It’s the righteous life of Christ that has right standing before the throne of God. Jesus presents you to the Father blameless – IN CHRIST.
  14. Matt Maher, Lord I Need You
  15. Shane and Shane, Only There

Lesson 17

  1. We’re working our way through Deuteronomy 8.
  2. Last time we read verse ten. Let’s read Deuteronomy 8:11-14. What is it talking about?
  3. What are they being warned about?
    • Not forgetting God and disobeying
  4. What caused them to forget?
    • They became proud.
  5. Is there anything you are proud of?
  6. God is far from the proud. Pride is something that needs to be put to death in our lives.
  7. God has set me free from pride. I can talk about spending hours in prayer and Bible reading and Scripture memory with no feelings of pride. I can talk about Easy Peasy and how it’s grown and how it is used in ministry all over the world and not feel any pride.
  8. Like with anything, it’s God’s work, but our choice. I asked God to take away my pride. Actually, I wrestled in prayer over it. Not that I wanted to keep my pride, but I knew I needed to surrender to whatever means the Lord was going to use to do it.
  9. I didn’t have to suffer some big humiliation like I imagined that day. He showed me my depravity.
  10. I came to Christ as a kid. I never was a prodigal. I’ve been reading my Bible daily since I was ten by my own choice. I went to a secular college and to this day I’ve never tasted beer. I was “good.” But that life can breed self-righteousness, being judgmental, and pride.
  11. He got me free of my pride by showing me my sin. Every few days I would understand how I was “playing God” in some situation, such as complaining, which is acting as if I knew better than God what should happen! Wanting to be God, or as I say, “playing God” is the sin of the Garden, what Satan and Adam and Eve fell for. They wanted to be God. They wanted to see good in themselves instead of seeing God as the only good and all their good being from Him. (That’s the gospel – all our good is from God!)
  12. Every time God showed me something I’d be on my face in tears. When I understood that He could just keep finding ways I was sinning, I eventually asked Him to make it stop, telling Him that I couldn’t bear the weight of my sin. Then I was free. I knew Jesus did bear all the weight of my sin and got rid of it. I was free of it. Now I never have that swelling feeling of pride. I’m free. Jesus sets you free.
  13. Is pride something you need freed from? Ask Him to do it. Or maybe you know it’s something else: complaining, anger, jealousy, greed, unforgiveness, etc. Want it gone and ask Him to take it away. If deep down you don’t honestly want it gone, then ask Him to change your heart so that you want it gone. Then ask Him to take it away.
  14. Jesus came to take away our sins. The Lord will likely use a trial. Don’t run away from it. Run to God. He gives rest to those who come to Him.

Lesson 18

  1. We’re still working our way through Deuteronomy 8. Let’s read Deuteronomy 8:15-17.
  2. What does it say?
  3. What were they not to forget?
    • That God had shepherded them. God had taken care of them. He led them and provided for them.
  4. We mentioned some of these verses when we did the first overview of Deuteronomy 8. Why did God lead them through the wilderness?
    • to humble them
    • to test them
    • for their good – “that it might go well with them”
  5. Remember that pride was the danger. What is predicted that they are going to think when they prosper in their new land?
    • That they were prospering because of themselves, because of what they did.
  6. Why does God want to humble them?
    • Because He loves them! God is far from the proud but gives grace to the humble. We are saved by grace! We need God’s grace. We need humility.
  7. Read these verses on humility and pride. What do they both mention?
  8. They both mention submitting. One is talking about submitting to elders (leaders). One is talking about submitting to God. We don’t think what we need or what the world needs is found in us! We know everything needful is found in Christ.
  9. They are talking about humility. We don’t know everything. Satan wants you to think you’ve got this. God wants you to say I don’t got this, so I’m going to give it to you because I know you got this.
  10. Where in your life do you know “you’ve got this?”
  11. Work on recognizing that you don’t, that you need God. Confess that you’ve thought that you could do it on your own. Surrender it all over to God to take control of it.
  12. I was very scheduled and diligent. I “had this.” But I learned to surrender it all over to God. He didn’t want my diligence. He wanted relationship with me. He didn’t want all my accomplishing. He wanted my heart to choose Him.
  13. Now, I spend a lot of time just sitting with Him doing “nothing” but spending time together enjoying one another, not accomplishing, not doing, just being His.
  14. Take time to sit with the Lord just to be with Him, not get anything from Him, just to enjoy Him.

Lesson 19

  1. Let’s finish Deuteronomy 8. Let’s read Deuteronomy 8:18-20.
  2. What does it say?
  3. Who gives them their wealth?
    • God
  4. Why?
    • Because of the promise He made to the patriarchs of Israel (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)
  5. Why would God destroy them?
    • Not for disobeying, but for serving other gods
  6. Why?
    • Because He is life and other gods lead to death…they would be choosing death for themselves. God would destroy those in idolatry to protect those who weren’t. Leprosy spreads. Disease spreads. God loves His people.
  7. Thinking about worshiping other gods…how do we do that today? We still have idolatry. People say that there are four idols: power, money, honor, pleasure. We see all four in Deuteronomy 8.
    • v17 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ (power, money)
    • v12-14 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up (pleasure, money, honor)
  8. Christians can have idols in their ministry. Their ministry “success” can give them honor, money, power (they can get “a seat at the table”), and pleasure in it afforded them through the honor and money and power. Your family can be an idol. You can raise your kids to be “perfect” because it gives you honor for your “success.”
  9. Power can look like wanting to control things. Think about people calling themselves “control freaks.”
  10. Honor can look like wanting attention, approval, appreciation.
  11. Do you work hard to get more money? If the motivation is money, the heart is wrong.
  12. Do you seek pleasure, indulge in something when you get time for yourself?
  13. Think about which of these you most tend to fall to. What things in your life feed self in these ways?
  14. Surrender them over to the Lord. Put them on the altar and ask for His holy fire to come and either consumer and remove them or purify and consecrate them for His purposes, so that they serve God and not self.

Lesson 20

  1. Read Isaiah 43:19. I picked the NKJV for this one because I like the word “road.” It gives a clear image.
  2. What I want to focus on is the second half of the verse. God will make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
  3. The desert we can consider a wilderness. It’s an uninhabited place. These aren’t talking about two different things.
  4. We know that the wilderness is uninhabited. Why does no one live there?
    • Water is where all civilization grew up around. Without water, no one wanted to be there. But besides that, it’s not an easy place to live.
  5. What would it mean for there to be a river there?
    • There would be a life source, a provision and a place of refreshing all along the way.
  6. What would a road mean for a wilderness?
    • The rough places, the overgrown places, would be smoothed out.
    • It would mean that the wilderness would become a throughfare to somewhere else. People could travel there.
  7. So, thinking about what we’ve learned about the wilderness and what God’s doing in the wilderness, what would it mean for the Christian that God will make a road and a river for you in the wilderness?
  8. I see the road in the wilderness as “preparing the way of the Lord.” It makes a straight path and a smooth path. (I’m referring to Isaiah 40:4.) It’s also a place of hope in the promise. A road leads to a destination. There’s something worth traveling to on the other side and that road is what’s going to get you there.
  9. I see the rivers as making it not urgent to get out of the desert. There’s sustaining there. The river makes the wilderness habitable, the opposite of its definition, but only for the children of God.
  10. And because it’s habitable and because it leads to the Good we all want to get to as believers, it becomes a place of fellowship. We have fellowship with God in the wilderness and with others on a similar journey.
  11. If you are in a wilderness, do you recognize the road and river? If you feel like you are in a dry, rough wilderness, ask the Lord to show you the road and the river.
  12. Of course, the answer is always Jesus. He is the Way. That “road” in the wilderness is also translated as “way” in the wilderness. Be in Christ and you are in The Way. If you are in Christ, you are always going to be on “the road,” in the way You should go. Abide in Christ. He is the smooth, straight path. And the rivers is the Holy Spirit. Our strength is in the joy of the Lord and our joy is in His presence. If we are abiding in the Light, we will be continually cleansed by His blood, so we can continually be poured into – and out of – by His Spirit. Eyes on Jesus. He’s the way in and out of the wilderness.

Lesson 21

  1. Can God lead us in the wrong way?
  2. What are you making of God’s leading His people in the wilderness and to the wilderness?
  3. Let’s read another story from Exodus. This is right after the Red Sea deliverance. God leads them to lack. Read Exodus 15:22-27.
  4. Where was there lack? Where was there abundance?
  5. Did the last verse strike you? God led them to lack before He led them to abundance. He knew exactly where the abundance was, but that wasn’t the first stop. Why?
  6. What does God do when the water is undrinkable?
    • God delivers them. He shows Himself. He shows that He’s God and that He’s their God.
    • I wrote a book called “Peaceful Warfare.” The end of it is that what we need is to know who God is and that He’s our God.
  7. God was testing them. Would they remain faithful to the God who remains faithful? Would they obey?
  8. Do you ever think of yourself as being tested by God?
  9. What would happen if you considered every temptation to complain or fuss or fret or get upset or argue or get frustrated as a test from God?
  10. What should you do in those moments?
    • Get your eyes off of yourself! Get your eyes on Jesus. Say thank You. Ask your Father to take care of it and rest in His hand (or arms, however you like to picture it).
  11. Was God good leading them to the bitter waters when He knew very well where the beautiful springs were?
  12. Was God good leading you to the things you are tempted to complain about? Do you trust Him that He knows where the oasis is on the other side and will bring you there?

Lesson 22

  1. Let’s look at another problem the Lord led His people into.
  2. Read Exodus 14:1-4. And verse 9: “The Egyptians chased after them with all the forces in Pharaoh’s army—all his horses and chariots, his charioteers, and his troops. The Egyptians caught up with the people of Israel as they were camped beside the shore near Pi-hahiroth, across from Baal-zephon.”
  3. What’s about to happen? If you don’t know, keep reading the chapter.
    • The Israelites get trapped between the Egyptians and the Read Sea. God parts the waters and Israel is delivered and the Egyptians are drowned.
  4. Why did God lead them to that spot? Read Exodus 13:17-18.
  5. God brought them to that spot to protect them. From what?
    • God wanted to protect them from themselves, from wanting to turn back to Egypt.
  6. Egypt, for us, is “the world,” the things this world has to offer. Egypt is money, power, honor, pleasure, all those idols humans pursue in various forms, even in ministry.
  7. Before He took His children into battle, and He would, He wanted to show them His power to save. It looked like being trapped between a rock and a hard place. Literally, it was being trapped with no where to escape while an enemy army approached.
  8. How did God care for them in that wilderness by the Red Sea? Read Exodus 14:19-20.
    • God stands between Egypt and Israel. He brings darkness to the enemy and light to His people.
    • Even before the big Red Sea deliverance, God protected Israel. The enemy could not touch them. The Lord was a shield to His children. It didn’t matter what the enemy wanted to do and could do. The enemy had to submit to the Lord’s boundaries in the circumstance.
  9. God led them to the wilderness to protect them from themselves and protected from their enemies at the same time. What did the people think? Read Exodus 14:11-12.
  10. God’s heart was to protect them. God’s heart was to deliver them out of slavery. God’s heart was to bring them to a place of fullness and blessing, the “land flowing with milk and honey.” And they complained. They were upset. They were looking at their problems and not at their Deliverer.
  11. What do you do when you are in trouble? What do you do when you are between a rock and a hard place? What do you do when you don’t know what to do or which way to go? What’s your reaction?
  12. What should be your reaction?
  13. What do you do? You look at your Deliverer. You smile. You say thank You. You praise Him because He’s good and loving and perfect in all of His ways. You hold Jesus’ hand. You rest in Your Father’s arms. Shalom – resting, joyful, grateful, trusting confidence in the Lord.
  14. Hear the Lord ask you, “Will you trust Me?” Is there really any choice of answer to that?

Lesson 23

  1. Let’s look more at the Lord leading His people into trouble. Read Luke 8:22-25.
  2. Who is in control of the weather?
  3. Why would Jesus say they should cross the lake? (I’m not asking for story context. We’ll get to that. But why did Jesus do anything?)
  4. Why did Jesus go to sleep?
  5. Did Jesus know the storm was coming?
  6. I’ll do my best to answer.
    • Even if Satan was the one to stir up the wind, ultimately God is in control that this storm is going to come.
    • Jesus did what the Father was doing. He moved with the Spirit. He would only have suggested it because it was what the Father was doing.
    • He was tired and the Father didn’t give Him any other work to do right then.
    • I don’t think He had to have known. I don’t know how much the Father told Him ahead of time of what was going to be happening. I don’t think He needed to know. I don’t think it changes anything in the story whether He knew or not. I think He would have slept even if He knew the storm was coming and that He would have calmly rebuked it if He hadn’t known.
  7. So, why? Why would God put their lives in “danger?”
    • Because He is good and loving and absolutely perfect in all of His ways. That’s the answer to every why question with God.
    • Because He’s in control and devotedly cares for His children and is working all for the good of those who love Him and is bringing about His grand redemptive plan for all of creation.
    • Because He wanted to reveal Himself to the disciples. To know Him is eternal life (John 17:3). He wants us to know Him. We need to know Him. He shows Himself to us. They got a deeper understanding of Jesus that day.
    • Because it showed the value of who was on the other side. Let’s look at that.
  8. The context of this story is that they cross over and Jesus frees the man who is so demon possessed that he lives outside of town in the tombs. Then Jesus and the disciples cross back over the lake. They risked their lives to save one. That man was worth the trouble. (In Matthew the story has two men.)
  9. What are you willing to sacrifice to save a life? What keeps you from sharing God’s truth? What keeps you from sacrificial giving or going? Is a life worth it?
  10. Please ponder that before moving on, but I do want to add…Their lives were never in danger. Every trial has a boundary. Satan can try, but he can’t cross the boundaries set up.
  11. The disciples were afraid of dying. It wasn’t time for that. Satan wouldn’t be able to take their lives. God gets to choose the boundaries of a trial. God gives Satan permission to go after Job, but says that he must spare his life. God’s boundaries are always present in the trial. Look for them!

Lesson 24

  1. The story of Joseph takes up about a quarter of the book of Genesis. That’s about the same as the patriarch of the faith, Abraham!
  2. Since the story is so long, I’ll give the synopsis. Joseph is the second to youngest of the twelve sons of Israel (Jacob). He was the first son of the loved wife, Rachel. She has one more son and dies in childbirth. Joseph becomes the obvious favored son and his older brothers are angry about it. While they are off working, Israel sends Joseph to go check on them. Some of the brothers plot to kill him. The plan changes and they sell Joseph to some traders who then sell him into service in Egypt to an officer of Pharaoh. The Lord blesses all Joseph puts his hand to and he is put in charge, but then ends up in prison under a false accusation. The Lord arranges for Joseph to interpret the dreams of two other prisoners. Then two more years pass before Pharaoh has a dream and Joseph is brought out of prison to interpret the dream and is made ruler over Egypt, just under Pharaoh. He spends years in prison and years as a slave. In the end Joseph saves his family from famine and forgives them. The family is then welcomed by Pharaoh to enjoy the best of the land of Egypt.
  3. This is a different kind of wilderness. How could we relate the time in Egypt as a time in the wilderness, a place of lack?
    • There may have been other people there, but he was alone. He was without family. He was alone in his faith.
  4. We don’t see much complaining in this wilderness. The most we hear from him is saying to those whose dreams he interpreted, “But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.” (Gen 40:14-15 NKJV) 
  5. He tries to help his case at that point and maybe that makes things take longer. It’s two years after that point before God gets him out of prison.
  6. I have experienced the “trying to help” drawing out the trial longer. God doesn’t need help. We patiently endure tribulation.
  7. Read these scriptures.
  8. According to those verses, what should you do in tribulation? in trouble?
    • You humble yourself and pray with hope.
  9. We read that 1 Peter verse in lesson 1. Does it mean more now? Joseph had to wait on the Lord. What if he fought his way out of slavery, out of prison? What would have happened?
  10. He wouldn’t have been in position to save his family. He also saves the lives of the Egyptians. Many are saved because of one man’s humble righteousness.
  11. Getting yourself out of the hard spot isn’t victory. It will feel good at the moment, but it means you missed the opportunity. You just learned how to be your own savior. You just missed the Lord being your deliverer and lifting you up and setting you in high places.
  12. The story of Job ends with him getting a double portion of what he had before.
  13. Joseph’s story ends well. God wasn’t doing something to him. God was doing something for him. And God was caring for many others in the process.
  14. Are you willing to say yes to the Lord now, no matter the cost, for Him to use your life for His glorious purposes?

Lesson 25

  1. Joseph is an excellent example of coming through the trial in righteousness, with faith and integrity. He was tempted and stood up to it. He didn’t turn his back on God, didn’t blame Him for the trouble. He then is appointed to a position of wealth and power. Both wealth and power corrupt hearts. Joseph still holds fast to righteousness and faith.
  2. Joseph is still in the wilderness when he is in this elevated position. He is alone. He is alone in his faith. It’s a different kind of trial, but it’s still a trial of faith and righteousness.
  3. How were Joseph’s years in prison connected to the “blessing” of position and wealth?
    • He never would have been in that position of power without being near Pharaoh. God used his being sold as a slave to get him into the right place at the right time.
    • But God didn’t cause it to happen right on the day it was needed. Joseph had to wait.
    • God prepared Joseph’s heart to be able to be in a position of power. He was humbled first.
    • He had been the favored son. He had dreams of greatness, literal dreams. He had a fancy coat his father had given him. He had to learn humility. He was human. We all have to learn humility.
  4. It doesn’t have to take more than a decade. Peter learned in one night. He proudly declared he would never forsake Jesus. Then he denies Jesus later that night. He thought his flesh was strong and had to learn it was weak. God was preparing Peter for his position of power, his leadership of the church. He was the first head of the church, the first preacher in the church.
  5. God uses Joseph to save the remnant of Israel alive. That’s enough of a redemption to make the suffering worth it. But God does more. He’s working on Joseph’s heart.
  6. God puts Joseph in the position of being able to save or kill his family. He has to choose to forgive. It’s not easy for Joseph. He wants to know that they have repented. He wants to know if they are treating Joseph’s little brother, Benjamin, the way they treated him. They aren’t.
  7. God put him, very purposefully, in a position where he has the choice to forgive or harm his family. He forgives. God heals his heart. He heals the family. They obviously weren’t unified, in that they sold their brother. The whole family receives healing. This family is what the nation of Israel is built on.
  8. And this family that has been torn apart the whole time Joseph was gone is then protected and provided for in Egypt, the very place that had been the wilderness.
  9. What are some lessons you can learn from Joseph’s wilderness, from his trials?
  10. When you go through the trial, submit to what God is doing. He’s doing a work in you, not just through you. Give thanks in all circumstances, rejoice always, and pray. It’s not you who is going to figure the right way out. Wait on the Lord. He has the whole plan, not just the escape plan.
  11. And speaking of God’s good plan, read Genesis 37:34-35 which is Jacob after he is told that Joseph has been killed. His sons were lying to him. They had sold Joseph and put blood on Joseph’s clothes.
  12. Jacob laments God’s perfect plan for a couple decades.
  13. When you go through the trial, give thanks, rejoice, pray. There is a place for mourning, but not for determining to mourn for the rest of your life. We don’t hold onto negative thoughts and feelings. We forgive. We trust God.
  14. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
  15. Is there part of God’s perfect plan that you are lamenting? Give thanks for it instead. Right now. Then rejoice!
  16. And when you pray, pray with thanksgiving. That’s freedom for your heart. Give Him the trouble, thank Him for taking care of it, and rejoice that you have a God who cares, and who can and will deliver!

Lesson 26

  1. Let me tell you a miracle story that’s not on the website. We had leaking in our basement. I texted our contractor. We thought it was the pipe, but it was the seal around the pipe. The worker came, for free because it had been their reno, and re-caulked around the pipe. We waited 24 hours, tried it again, and it had gotten worse. It was spraying more. I immediately texted saying it was worse and immediately felt bad for having done so. I wasn’t relying on the Lord. I wasn’t looking to the Lord as my deliverer. I prayed he wouldn’t see the text or forget about it. He responded “okay,” but then we didn’t hear from again for weeks. That was fine. I didn’t want his help. I wanted the Lord to deliver. He did. After several days the leaking just stopped. (I don’t know exactly how many days. I wasn’t checking all the time. I only realized it stopped because I needed the bowl we were using to catch the water, so I swapped out the bowl and then several days later saw that it was dry.)
  2. What was the miracle? Was it more miraculous that it stopped after they had fixed it or that it got worse after it was fixed?
  3. I have a similar story on the miracle page, Water Pressure.
  4. The bigger miracle was the problem. God miracled the problem or ordained the problem to get my attention and remind me who is my help and rescuer. Obviously I need to be reminded of these lessons! I saw my mistake. Looked to Him. He delivered.
  5. Can you see problems as miracles?
  6. Can you see God ordaining your problems because He loves you so much and has training for you to make you more useful in His kingdom?
  7. Did God send the wind to cause the storm on the sea, miracling the problem so the disciples would get to know their great God and the great salvation He offers?
  8. Did God send the storm so Peter could get the chance to walk on water and learn more about His great God and our so great salvation?
  9. Does God set up the problem, set up the need, set up the lack, because He loves us so much?
  10. Read John 6:1-11.
  11. Did Jesus know He was going to a desolate place and the people would follow Him? He led them to a literal and figurative wilderness. He led them to lack. He sets up the problem to deliver out of the problem to show Himself.
  12. Why? Why does He want us to see Him? Why does He want us to understand who He is?
  13. To know Him is eternal life — John 17:3. Knowing God is our salvation. God wants to save us. Peter talks about our proven faith being more precious than gold. Why does God want us to walk in faith today?
  14. So we can have assurance of our faith for salvation. We know we have faith for God to save us when we see our faith proven.
  15. If you have never experienced God’s deliverance, will you have faith to stand against temptation, persecution? What if you knew the God who delivers is your God!? Would that make a difference when hard times come?
  16. What are your experiences of God’s deliverance?
  17. Where can you look to the Lord instead of fixing things yourself, letting Him be your Savior every day, not just after you are dead!?

Lesson 27

  1. How are you feeling about trusting God in the wilderness?
  2. How are you feeling about trusting God who leads you into the wilderness?
  3. Can you believe that God is good no matter what He leads you into?
  4. Do you trust that God is in control of your life? You still have to make your choices.
  5. Since I don’t know where you are at in all this, I’m going to give you the opening chapters of my book, Peaceful Warfare. It talks about God’s goodness being behind why there is evil in the world. The whole book is available to read online for free if you want more.
  6. You can read Perplexity and Complexity in the Background section at the top of the chapter list.

Lesson 28

  1. Here’s one last Scripture to look at the wilderness in the Bible. We’ll start with just one verse. This is from the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book of the Bible. The book is a metaphor, a description. It’s a prophetic book about what’s to come.
  2. Read Revelation 12:6. Before we go into interpretation of this verse, what do you think is the function of the wilderness in this?
    • The wilderness is a place of protection, safety, provision.
  3. Why is a wild, uninhabited place where no one wants to be found, the place of protection, safety, and provision?
    • There’s nothing there, so all we have is God. It’s where we have to rely on God. And since God is 100% reliable and trustworthy and faithful and able and good and loving, it’s the best place to find all that you need.
  4. If you were to think of this verse talking about the time of what we call The Tribulation, a time of trouble, what would the wilderness be doing? Ideas?
    • I would think it would be a place of preparation.
  5. God has always been preparing a people for Himself. He’s preparing a spotless bride.
  6. Let’s read one more verse from the chapter and briefly look at its interpretation.
  7. Satan is after the woman who God helps escape. Satan is mad, so he then goes after her children. Who are her children according to the verse?
    • true Christians – those who keep God’s commands and don’t deny Jesus
  8. We talked before about the wilderness as being a place of protection and a time of preparation. I think we see both in Revelation.
  9. God prepared a place in the wilderness for His children. He cares for them and provides for them there. But it’s a testing ground where we deal with God, so that we have proven faith when we have to deal with our enemy.
  10. Do you feel like you have been prepared to not deny your faith?
  11. Read Revelation 13:15-17.
  12. If there is ever a thing such as a mark that if you refused it you would be killed, could you refuse it?
  13. What if it didn’t mean your certain death, just that you couldn’t buy or sell? Could you refuse it and trust God to figure out a way to take care of you?
  14. Can you see that there’s a good reason to learn to rely on the Lord now?

Lesson 29

  1. The Lord had me read Isaiah 14:22 again and again and again over weeks. I’m going to give it to you in the New King James because that’s how I read it.
  2. Read Isaiah 14:22. Don’t worry if it doesn’t mean anything to you. I will explain what I saw in it, not necessarily a typical interpretation. We’ll go through the verse bit by bit.
    • “For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts…God is going to rise up against “them.” That’s Babylon. Babylon is what we call a type of the world and the world systems. God is going to come against the world and its ways.
    • “And cut off from Babylon…God is going to cut off from the world. He’s removing something from the world. Think of pruning a tree. A branch is cut off. The part of the branch that is now on the ground is dead, cut off from the life source. The part of the branch that is still connected to the tree is still alive, connected to the life source. God is the life source. He’s removing something from the world, but the world isn’t the part still connected.
    • …the name and remnant…God is going to remove His chosen people, the remnant, those He has preserved for Himself. (Preserved through the wilderness perhaps?) He’s also going to remove His name. The name of Jesus isn’t a word. His name is His nature, who He is. It’s His power, His character, His authority. God is cutting off Himself from the world. He’s taking away His power, His character. He will never lose His authority, but the world is going to be turned over to Satan to carry out God’s wrath in the end.
    • ...And offspring and posterity,” says the Lord. The fact that part of this cutting off is removing all future generations really led me to think about this as talking about the end times tribulation, not just tribulation that God’s people has repeatedly faced.
  3. Read Romans 2:5-10.
  4. Who gets trouble and distress? Who gets peace?
    • Trouble is for those who do bad. Peace is for those who do good.
  5. The verse says they were storing up wrath for themselves. How do we store of heavenly treasure instead?
    • By doing good, by caring for the poor I would say in particular, and even more particularly for Christian brethren who are in need
  6. If how you are spending your days shows what you are storing up for yourself, what is it?wrath? nothing? heavenly treasure?
  7. How can you be working each day to store up what you want in the future?

Lesson 30

  1. “Everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water.” (Numbers 31:23)
  2. What we see about fire in the Bible is that it purifies and consumes. I think we’re to put everything in our lives and everything of ourselves onto the altar and allow God to send His holy fire to consume it or purify it. It will either be taken away or consecrated for His purposes.
  3. I think being baptized with fire is talking about tribulation, trials, troubles. God uses the tribulation to remove us from the world, to remove what’s not of Him, to make us ready for His purposes. It’s what Jesus died for, to have a purified people, who do what is good (Titus 2:14).
  4. Going back to the verse in #1, what would this mean for the tribulation, that they couldn’t endure the fire but were clean by the water?
  5. What did you think when I asked, would you be able to refuse the mark? I don’t want you to fear tribulation or martyrdom. We fear God alone. We delight in the fear of the Lord because it causes us to choose what is good and right even when it’s hard because what we fear most is disobeying Him, dishonoring Him, rejecting Him, denying Him.
  6. It would be a danger to think, “I can just take the mark because He’ll forgive me.” That’s denying the character of God, His holiness and justice. Thinking like that, basically saying it is okay to sin, is a sure sign you don’t know God, and to know Him is eternal life. Consider going through my discipleship course if you can think that way.
  7. However, I want you to know the mercy and love of God. That which can’t endure the fire, He can purify with His water, with His Spirit, with His Word. We have a merciful and gracious and devoted Father. He knows our frame that we are but dust. He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin or punish us according to our iniquity. In Christ our guilt is removed and our sin taken away. Don’t worry about not being able to have faith to stand through whatever you might face. God is the giver of faith. In fact, He is the meet-er of our need. Always go to Him with your weakness and present yourself as you are. Your freedom in Christ is that you can’t. You can’t save yourself in any way. Hooray! That’s part of the good news. The other part is you have a God who is willing and able and wanting to save you. Go to Him always. Let Him be everything to you. Let Him do everything for You. And you’ll find that you won’t have to go to Him because you have become one with Him. You’ll live and move and have your being in Christ. He has the strength to withstand. And you have Christ in you.
  8. Let God do all the work. We don’t work for our salvation. God showed us in Israel’s wilderness wanderings that He will guide. He went with them in the pillar of cloud to show the way and to show when to go and stop. He showed that He will provide. Food was provided, but part of the provision was a lack of need, clothes not wearing out and being physically preserved, feet not swelling. And, God showed that He cared for them all. All those years of providing water and manna in the wilderness, He was caring for those who had rebelled against Him. There’s no criteria for being good enough to be cared for by God. We don’t earn our “salvation.”
  9. God is after your heart because He loves you. He wants to get you all to Himself because He’s best for you. He will cut you off from the world. You will have to let go the things of this world. He will cut off from your heart what’s not of Him. You will have to let go of unforgiveness and complaining. He will cut you off from looking for saving apart from Him. You will have to give up being self reliant. He wants you to know He is God and that He’s your God.
  10. He’s preparing you for the glorious future He has prepared for you in eternity.