It Blossoms in a Desert Experience - Designed

God has to bring us to the point in which we submit ourselves to Him in total dependence upon Him for all things. You see, the desert experience Is that element that takes us from our independence from God to establish our dependence upon God? The psalm said it this way: Psalm 119, verse number 67. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep your word. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. I did my own thing. I went here, I went there, but now, because of affliction, Now I keep your word.

You see, there's something about affliction, there's something about adversity that drives me to keep the word of God. That without that difficult period, that des experience, I won't keep his word near as hard or as dearly as I should. It was Watchman Nee who said, Anyone who serves God will discover sooner or later that the great hindrance to his work is not others, but him. That 's true. The greatest hindrance to your marriage is not your spouse. It's you. The greatest hindrance to your ministry at church is not because things aren't organized.

It's you. The greatest hindrance to you being used of God, being effective for God, is you. It's your self-reliance. It's your self-confidence. It's your self-love. It's your Your own person desires, those things keep us from being all that God wants us to be. And so God has to shatter all that, all that stuff, He has to bring it down. This is probably the most crucial set of messages that you'll ever hear, not because I'm speaking them, but because God's got a lot to say about the desert experience.

Why? Because it transforms the way you see God, the way you see yourself, and how God wants to use you in the lives of other people. And so, my prayer for you and for me too is that we would really come to grips with some of the greatest truths in Scripture. And how God uses a certain tool, and we're going to talk about this in weeks ahead, that tool to fine-tune. Our lives. And maybe you find yourself in the desert today. Maybe you've already passed through a desert experience. Maybe you've lived a life of ease.

It was Theodore Roosevelt who said it's a bad thing to live a life of ease. And we'll talk about that as well. But the desert experience is where your walk with God begins to blossom. Happy with Peter? Happy with Moses? It happened with David. It happened with every great man and woman of God in the Bible. If it happens with them, It's going to have to happen to us too if we want to be able to walk in intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ. So, tonight, what I want to do is I want to look at an illustration.

And then I want to give you some instructions. Two points. The illustration is found in Mark chapter 4. One is an illustration centered around obedience. The other one centers around disobedience. And I've chosen them because they help us understand That the desert experience occurs whether we are obedient to the Lord or whether we're disobedient to the Lord. Okay? So, you can't use the excuse, well, I'm going to walk with God and I'm going to honor Him and therefore I never have to face the desert.

No, that's just not the way it happens. You say, well, if that's the case, then I'm just going to live in disobedience and live as I want. Well, you know, you're still going to face a desert experience. So you can't get around it. It's going to happen. Jesus has a lot to say about storm theology. It's in Mark chapter 4, verse number 35. And on that day, when evening had come, he said to them, Let us go over to the other side. The first thing I want you to notice is the scene.

Jesus has had a busy day. It began with blasphemous accusations by the Pharisees. His mother and his brothers came to him and attempted to take him back because they were embarrassed by the way he was acting. And then he went down by the sea to teach a series of parables, one spiritual lesson after another. And finally, evening came, and Christ was totally exhausted.

And so he comes to the end of the day and tells his men, Let's push out. Let's go to the other side of the lake. Now that's important. But he takes his men from the lecture hall to the laboratory. He's been preaching, and now it's time for the practicum. It's time for them to live out the lessons. And so, in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, they push out to see. These men are not disobedient to the Lord. They are obedient to the Lord. They are following the Lord. They're doing what He says. Okay?

Verse number 36. And leaving the multitude, they took him along with them just as he was in the boat, and other boats were with him. Now It says in verse number 37, and there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling Up. If you read Matthew's account, it says, Behold, there was a great storm. The word used in Matthew 8, 24 is the word seism, where we get our English word earthquake. This was not just a normal kind of storm. The disciples had no way of knowing that that storm.

Would be the vehicle for teaching them about God's love and God's power. That's important. Because when you're caught by surprise, is it not true that the last thing on your mind is God's love and God's power? It's how can I handle this? What do I have to do to get out of it? How do I smooth things over? But this storm was a key element in helping them understand the power and love of God. That's the storm. And remember, please remember that God's word is not a record of what he did as much as it is a record of what he does.

Please remember that. So read on with me. Verse number 38. And he himself was in the stern sleep on the cushion. He was asleep, talks of Christ's humanity. He was tired, he was worn out. But it also speaks of his dependability. He had complete trust and confidence in God the Father. The other twelve didn't. They were awake. They were scared, spitless. They didn't know what to do. So they go and they come to him and they awoke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Now, this is important.

These are the expert fishermen. These are the masters of the sea. These are the men that spend their whole life dealing with storms, wind, and rain, and waves. And they go to the carpenter. For assist, they go to Jesus for help. I like what one author said when he wrote these words: In desperation, they cried, We're drowning out here, wake up! Amazed at such apparent indifference, the disciples were not so much convinced that Christ was God as they were merely hoping that he was God. But that was where God wanted them.

Sometimes the Lord has to make us desperate to get our attention, doesn't he? They had run out of human resources. Now they needed a divine so. They hoped that the miracle worker who could heal sickness could also handle the sea. They had fear mixed with faith. If they would have had total faith, they would have been like Jesus, confident in the Father's care. Is it not true that when we find ourselves in the storms of life, we think that sometimes Jesus is asleep? And we cry for him to wake up. We cry for him to hear our call.

And we want to know why he doesn't intervene. Why does he allow us to go as long as it has? The psalmist said this in Psalm 10 and verse 1. Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? Lord, why is it you're never around when I need you? Is what he's saying. I need you, where are you? You ever said that? Of course, you have. So you go from the scene to storm. To the stillness. Verses 39 and following. And being aroused, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush!

Be still. And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. What a way to get their attention. Hush. Be still. The other gospels tell us that immediately everything stopped. The rain, the wind. The waves, it was over. These men are waterlogged. They're drenched. And they're standing knee-deep in water. And all of a sudden, it's over. It stops. And Jesus asks this question: Why are you so timid? Why are you so cowardly? Why are you, you of all people? You who have seen me do what only I can do.

You who have seen the miracle and the works of God. Why is it you, of all people, are cowards? And then he says, How is it that you have no faith? Read the text. Is there an answer to the question? There is no answer. They give no answer, do they? Christ just leaves it open-ended. Then it says in verse number 41, and they became very much Afraid. Now they were cowards when the storm was there. They were tremendously afraid now that the storm was over. Why? A greater fear came upon them because a greater force stood before them.

That was the Lord God of the universe. What's more fearful that a storm outside your boat is the Savior ins the boat? They realized it. And they said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Who is this? They did not gras God's omnipotence. The desert experience. It was short-lived for these men. But God had to teach them a very important lesson that they would not have learned otherwise. Now turn back with me to the Old Testament, to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 29.

Jeremiah preached for forty years to his people. He preached, giving them God's promises and God's warnings. Yet he lived to see Jerusalem and his beloved temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's army and his people taken captive into Babylon. And so when you come to Jeremiah chapter 29, Jeremiah writes. The people in captivity, a letter. He has to write them a letter to help them understand what they need to do. And he tells them something very interesting because they're in captivity and they will be there for 70 years.

And he tells them that they have to be a testimony to the idolatrous pagans that they live with. I find that very interesting that it says, Look, in the midst of your captivity, in the midst of your adversity, you've got to realize that you're a testimony to the pagans. God has placed you where you're at. You're not there by chance. You're not there by happen. You're not there by coincidence. You're there because of your disobedience, that's for sure. But note, it's God who has placed you there. They needed to understand that.

But, friends, we've got to be careful that when God decides to discipline his children, he does it because they are his children, not because they are his enemies. And if he does do it because they are his children, Hebrews 12 tells us that he's got a plan to bring them into perfection. He's got a purpose for everything. Note that whenever you find yourself in a difficult situation, there will always be people who rise from within to give you false information about what God's doing in your life.

False prophets arose from within, saying, No, it's really not that bad. They prophesied about peace. When there was no peace. They prophesied that the captivity will not really last 70 years. It's only going to last a short while, two years at the most, they would say. And Jeremiah says, don't listen to him because God said how long it would last. But inevitably, False prophets arise and they will tell you things about your situation and about your condition that are not biblical. And you got to watch out for them because what they tell you, you'll like to hear.

But what you need to hear is what God says. So God speaks. For thus says the Lord, verse 10. When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good wor to you to bring you back. To this place, the place of captivity. Let's talk about that for a moment. God says, 70 years of captivity, 70 years of adversity.

Not an easy time. They will encounter difficulties. They will ask many questions. And sometimes they will lead to discouragement, and sometimes they will lead to hopelessness. And sometimes you'll find yourself saying, There is no light at the end of the tunnel. You ever been there? I mean, most of us are not even 70 years of age, let alone live in captivity for 70 years. Most of us find ourselves ent in a desert experience for maybe a couple of weeks, a couple of months, maybe even a couple of years, sometimes longer than that.

But we find no light at the end of the tunnel. It's all black. It's all dark. But God says, I've given you a promise.

And when things look like they are unred, you must believe in me. When the place of adversity comes, like those men in the boat we read about earlier, we wonder where God is, don't we? During that 70-year captivity, During the silence of God, it would amplify the people's anguish. But just because God is silent does not mean that God is still. God is still actively involved in what's happening. And we need to understand. That it's God who designs the place of adversity or the place of captivity. It was Thomas Watson who wrote these words.

Aff work for good as they are the means of making the heart more upright. The heart cleaves partly to God and partly to the world. God takes away the world that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity. Correction is a setting of the heart right and straight. As we sometimes hold a crooked rod over the fire to straighten it, so God holds us over the fire of affliction to make us more straight and upright. Oh, how good it is when sin has bent the soul awry from God. That affliction should straighten it again.

God wants to straighten us out. God knew that it would take 70 years to straighten these people out. Jeremiah 1:1 tells us exactly what they did. They were involved in idolatry. They were involved in worship the things that their hands had made. And they. Put God in with all the things they worship and made Him part of what they worship. And God says, You can't do that.

I 'm a jealous God, there are to be no rivals to my affection. And I'm the only God you were to worship. And when you begin to worship other gods, and when you begin to put things on equal par with God, and you begin to put God down and put those things above God, beware the place of adversity, it's coming. You see, we think that if we don't follow God or don't listen to God, that we can be immune from the place of adversity, my friends. If you're God's child, you will be involved in affliction. And note this.

If you belie that if you live in disobedience and don't follow the Lord and affliction doesn't come, it's probably because you're not a child of God. Think about it. Because God's not going to let his children go astray and let them keep on going the way they want without saying, hey, wait a minute, come back here. How long do you let your child go off down the street and say, hey, wait a minute, ho, you can't do that. You come back over here. And if you want to go down that road, don't go down that path, my brother, because if you do, there's going to be discipline in this house.

We do that as parents, right? We love our children. How much more so does God love us? Bew if you have not found the place of affliction because God has not chastised you as one of his children. Beware. Because you see, God cares about his children. And God is patient. And God is long-suffering. And sometimes God lets us go for a long period of time. But sooner or later, he's going to bring us back because we're his children. He says, You can't do that. You're one of mine. There is to be no rival for my affection in your life.

But from the place we go to the plan. God's got a plan. It's always good to know God has a plan, right? Well, He's got one. He tells us in verse number 11. Back in Jeremiah 29. He says these words: Jeremiah 2, verse 11: For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. God says, I know the plans.

Emphasis, I know them. Guess what? You don't. I got the plan, and that plan is for your welfare. Now, you know as well as I do that when you discipline your children. You got a plan. It is for their welfare, right? And they're looking at you like, well, I'm not quite sure that my well-being is at stake here, Dad. But it is. Because your plan is to correct them and mold them into the kind of people that will bring honor to God, right? So God's got a plan, just like you've got a plan for your kid, God's got a greater plan for you.

He says, I know the plans that I have for you. I know them you don't. We can never understand the mind of God, why he lets the adversity go as long as he does. Why I find myself in the middle of the desert, parched, without any opportunity to get out for such a long time, I don't know. But God says in Isaiah 55, verse 9: As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts and your thoughts.

But that's the way God is. That's the way He works. He's got a plan, and He wants to let us know what the plan is, and He tells Him. Plans for your prosperity, plans for your welfare, plans for your peace, plans for your completeness, plans for your well-being. To give you a future and a hope. The only hope that we have is based on the blessed hope of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was Fanny Crosby who wrote these words: All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy, who through life has been my guide?

Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here faith in him to dwell, for I know what'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. Can you sing that? Can you say that? It was Charles Swind who said that one of the marks of spiritual maturity is a quiet confidence that God is in control without the need to understand why He does what He does. That's maturity. The quiet confidence to know that God's in control. Without ever wanting to know why, there's no need to know why, because he is the God of tender mercies who loves his children.

Paul would say in Philippians 1:6, being confident of this very thing that he who hath performed a good work in you will bring it to completion. God began a good work at salvation in your life, didn't he? He's going to bring that to completion. And so, whatever experience he's going to take you through, whatever place of adversity he has to place you, He will do that because he has a plan. Why? Because I got a purpose. Know what the purpose is? The purpose is intimacy with me. See, that's what God wants.

That's what He's always wanted all along. He wants His people to walk in intimacy with Him, to seek Him, to long for Him, to love Him, and to stick with Him no matter what. That's what He wants. That's all He wants. That's all he wants. That's all he asks. He goes on and say, verse 12: Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. And I will be found. By you, declares the Lord. That's all Jesus wants.

He wants you to seek him diligently. Search for him. And when you do, you'll find him. But it only happens because of the desert experience.