The Desert: God's Special Design for Your Spiritual Development, Part 1

Turn with me in your Bible to Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. Say, well, wait a minute. Didn't we finish Exodus chapter 3 last week? Yeah, we did. But it's my desire this morning, as well as my delight, to take you on a journey through the desert. I'm not talking about Palm Springs. I'm talking more along the lines of the Sahara or the Serenget. They remind us more of that great land of Of Midian. That's where Moses was on the back side of the desert. It was a dry, dusty, dirty en. And this morning, I would like to take you on a little journey to help you understand a little bit about the des.

Experience. It is a very difficult place. It's a very h place. It 's a very hot place. Some of you are exper your desert as we speak this morning. Others have already experienced a desert-like existence. Others have yet to experience their des. And yet, like all of God's children, God will place you. In that experience, in that situation, in order that he might bring you to a greater understanding of his character and his nature. This, as you might expect, is not a literal desert, but it is a place.

It is a situation that you will find yourself in if you have not found yourself in one. Already. Your sojourn there in the desert will take on a variety of forms. Maybe it's a situation where you have. Been physically laid up, maybe in your home or in a bed in a hospital over a period of time. Maybe your desert experience. Is a profound sense of loneliness over the loss of a loved one, whether it be a spouse or a sibling or a child. Or maybe your desert is an unfaithful spouse or an unresponsive Spouse.

Maybe your desert is experienced in the realm of failure at school or at work. Or maybe it's just a feeling of displacement, the fact being that you are all alone. There are no friends. There is no one else but you. Whatever form your desert will take, it will be a difficult time. But it's a place like Moses, all of us experience. One man said it this way: The desert wears many faces. It may be crowded with people, yet it is lonely. It may rain day and night without reprieve, yet it is barren. Flowers may bloom and trees may blossom all around you, yet it is des.

That is the desert. You say, well, on this Lord's Day, why would you take us back to look at the desert?

Simply this. It's because in those lonely, lowly locations of life, it's where our Lord begins to speak the loudest. It's in those places where God wants to develop you spiritually. That's why we've entitled this The Desert: God's Special Design for Your Spiritual Development. God has a special place for you. It's unlike any place you would ever dream of. But that location is a place that God has designed to deepen you as an individual. To mold you into the kind of person he wants you to be. In those lonely, dark, dirty, dusty places in life.

Where we are totally stripped of our self-resources, our independence, having to rely upon God alone, God will then speak as if in a megaphone. To help us understand His call and direction upon our life, God wants us to hear Him, God wants us to fear Him. He wants us to adore him, to love him, and obey him. The way he gets to us the most is through those desert-like experiences. In Exodus chapter 3, on the back side of the desert, is where we find Moses. Moses had been there for 40 years. Now you think about that.

forty years. That's a long time. And Moses' desert experience would last for years. Fortunately for us, most of our desert experiences don't last that long. But for Moses, it was a very long time. And God would come to Moses. When he was 80 years of age, after having been there on the backside of the desert for 40 years, and would speak very clearly and plainly to Moses, and he would hear the voice of God. And while we have told you that God will not speak to you in your desert through a burning bush, he will speak to you through his burning book, that you might understand his call.

Upon your life. So make sure that when you travel to your desert, you don't forget your Bible because God's going to speak to you through His Word. And in his conversation with the Lord of the universe, we realize something very significant about Moses. He is a changed man. He is completely different than what he was 40 years before this. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us what took place in that 40-year interval in Moses' life. All we know is that he was in Midian, present-day Saudi Arabia, there on the backside of the desert, a place where the sand.

is trackless, a place filled with rocks where the temperatures swell over 1 and 120 degrees on a regular basis. It's a very hot, hot place. And Moses would find himself there. He's a different man. And that's what the desert does, it changes us. It redirects us. It breaks our self-will. It shatters our independent spirit so that we might become the dependent people upon Almighty God. Moses was a great man. Moses was the greatest of all men, but God had to break him from his independence to make him dependent upon the almighty God of the universe in order for God to use him in a substantial way.

The same thing goes for you and me. No matter what our education, no matter what our background, no matter how great we might think we are, God says, I need to shatter your independence from me to establish your dependence upon me in order for me to use you as I choose to use you.

Took God 40 years in the life of Moses, but he was a new man. This morning, I want to look at the desert experience.

Next time we're together, we'll look at its design. What is it designed to do? But just this morning, we want to look at the desert, and I've spelled out the word desert for you, and that's the way we're going to look at it this morning.

My wife asked me this past week: well, did you spell it with two S's or one? I thought for a moment and I thought, well, I spelled it with one. Is that right? She said, no. Think about it. We'd much rather experience the desserts from God than the desert from God, right? And so, we want to look at it this morning by spelling the word desert out and helping you understand the characteristics of your desert experience.

It will take on various forms. It will last for different lengths of time for each of you, but they will have certain characteristics to them. Here is the first one: it's the letter D.

It is a desolate place. A desol place. The Bible says in Exodus chapter 3, verse number 1, now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.

And he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness. That is the back side of the desert. This was a very desolate place for Moses. He was in a dry wasteland. It'd be one of those places where you'd be traveling, and of course, as I talk about this, I picture myself traveling between here and in Arizona, and those long open roads between here and there. It's one of those places where you would get out and look at and say, Wow, man, I'm sure glad I don't live here.

And think about it. Moses had come from Egypt. He was a big shot in Egypt. He was just not a normal citizen in Egypt. He was next in line to be the Pharaoh. In Egypt. I mean, every time he went into the street, he had the Egyptian paparazzi following him wherever he went to take his picture, to talk with him. Oh, Moses is in the streets. Let's go listen to the great warrior. Let's see what he has to say today. I mean, he was a very popular figure. He's on the back side of the desert. He has been here for 40 years.

And the only people that are going to listen to him are a bunch of sheep who are very unimpressed with Moses' educational background. Feeling alone today, feeling displaced today, that was Moses. It was a place of desolation. You know, God takes us to the desert. Allows us to experience a land of desolation for one reason. And that reason is because we are so dependent upon other people. And God wants us dependent upon Him. We're reminded of those words of our Lord: Moses being in this place, this land of desolation.

As lonely as he was here, he would be lonelier, leading two million Jews out of bondage. So God had to prepare him for that. He wants you to realize that amidst the fact that everyone else is gone and it's only you, there's no one to hang on to, God says, You have me.

I am all you need. The problem is, we don't believe that Jesus is all we need. We think we need Jesus plus our spouse, Jesus plus our paycheck, Jesus plus our friendships, Jesus plus these things. You don't. You think you do, but you don't. Jesus wants to be the priority, the one and only person you depend on, no one else. The desert is a desolate place. Number two, it is an established place.

It is an Established place. Every physical desert has a specific location on the globe. Every spiritual desert has a specific location that only God knows about. God doesn't tell you where it is. God doesn't tell you when you're going to experience it, but God has already gone before you and will make sure that the place is prepared specifically for you. It is an established Place. We know that because the writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 these words about Moses. It says in verse number 27, By faith he that is Moses left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.

For he endured as seeing him who is un. By faith, Moses left Egypt. By faith, we know that Moses understood what God said about what he should do next, and God would lead him from Egypt. Exodus 2 tells us that he would flee to the land of Midian. God gave him an established place to go. God had designed the backside of the desert for Moses to be. Moses didn't know how long he was going to be there. God did, though. It was 40 years. God has a place for you and for me. And one of the most difficult things about the desert experience is to realize that God, listen, God put you there.

Now, we might not like that. But that's what God does. He puts you in the desert, the place of desolation, because it's a place. of supreme design specifically for you. Your desert will be different than mine. Mine will be different than yours. But as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, there is an appointed time for everything under The Son. The Bible says in Psalm:, In faithfulness thou hast afflicted me.

It is an established place. It is a desolate place. Number three, it is a silent place. A silent place. You ever been to the desert? Next time you go to Arizona or that direction? Just take one of those back dirt roads off the main freeway. Drive out a mile or two. Stop your car and get out and sit in the sand for about 10 minutes and listen.

What do you hear? Nothing. In fact, it's so silent, it's almost as if you are completely deaf. You can't hear a thing. There's nothing to hear. And there's a reason for that. And that is because God wants there to be no distractions when He speaks. None. He wants you to be able to clearly hear what He has to say for you at that time. You know, we live in an age where we get into our cars and we immediately turn on a tape or a C D or the radio because we don't like the silent noise. We go home and we turn the TV on, or we always have to have some kind of noise in our house because we don't like silence.

There used to be a day where. where people used to jog and just all they did was was jog, but now they don't do that. They have their little fancy headphones on. They have to listen to music and they don't even hear you coming, let alone see you coming when you're driving down the road. They're so in tune to what they're hearing. Silence is a lost art in America. And yet the desert is a very silent place. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 46, verse number 10: Be still and know that I am God.

Without the still times of life, there is no knowing God. Over in Abac chapter 2, verse number 20, it says, The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent. Zephaniah 1, verse number 7, says that be silent before the sovereign L. We read those words, we hear those words, but for the most part, we're not a silent people. So, what does God do? God takes us to the desert in order for us to experience silence, quietness, still. So that when He speaks, there are no distractions. So that when He speaks, we can clearly hear what He has to say, and then, of course, be with ex.

Listen, Moses would learn in the quiet solitude some very significant lessons in the backside of the desert. He would have to learn to stand alone because there'd be no one else standing with him. As we go through the life of Moses, as we embark. Further in our study of the book of Exodus, we'll see where he's left all alone. Even his own brother and sister are against him at one point in Numbers chapter 11. They speak out against him. They speak out against his marriage. And Moses would learn something from his desert experience.

For the most part, we are weak spiritually. And peer pressure just rips us apart and tears us down and breaks us down. And yet, God wants you to stand strong for Him. Every man and woman of God in the Bible. Took a stand and stood strong for God. But most of us are so afraid we're going to lose our friendships, our relationships. Our family members were so afraid we're going to turn somebody off. We succumb to every kind of pressure, and no longer do we stand strong alone. The desert will equip you for that.

Next, the desert is an essential place. D, it's a desolate place. E, it's an established place. S, it's a silent, still place. E, again, it is an essential place. The reason the desert is essential is because God needs to perfect his people. The reason the desert is essential is because God needs to purify. His people. The reason the desert is essential is because God wants His people to produce fruit over and over again. And the only way that happens is through the pruning process. Is through the fiery furnace, is through the discipline process.

See that? That is the essential nature of the desert. That's why we have it. God wants you to look like Him. God wants you to act like Him. God wants His children to follow Him. God wants His children to reproduce themselves. So he knows that there are certain things that will cause that to happen, that will expedite the process. And that is through discipline. It is an essential location. Next, it is a rugged place. Ever been to the desert? Very rugged, very hard. Very hot. It's not a very comfortable place.

It's not a place you would like to go and just hang out for 40 years, as Moses did. And yet, The ruggedness of it is part of the process. The desert is a place where the lips get burned, the skin. Gets scorched and the throat gets dry physically. Spiritually, it's a very rugged place to be. Because it takes a toll on you physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, so that spiritually you can be the kind of person God wants you to be. You see, our Lord makes it rugged because He needs to remove our resist and our rebellion.

We don't see ourselves as resistant to the plan of God, nor do we see ourselves as rebelling against God. But in the depths of our nature, we have a hard time doing what God says.

We have a hard time leaning on God. We have a hard time following God. We would like to say, you know, I could go to church every week. I could hear a few sermons, memorize a couple of verses, be involved in Bible study and everything, be okay. But that's just not the way it happens. I wish it was that way. If it was, I'd be preaching that sermon today. But if it's not that way, if you read through the Bible, every great man and woman of God faced A des place. They faced a silent place. They faced a rugged place.

They faced an established, essential place for their own spiritual development. Every one of them. Not one of them is exempt. Not one. That's why they're here. Hebrews 11, the hall of faith, right? Looked at all those guys, all those ladies. So, how long will you be here? That's the last letter, T. It's timeless. There is no specific time frame. For some of you, it will be a few days, others a few weeks, others a few months, even a few years. For Moses, it was 40 years. 40 years. I'm 45 years old.

I'll soon be 46. He was on the backside of the desert almost as long as I've been alive. See, we forget about that. We read the narrative in Exodus 2 and Exodus 3, and we go right from chapter 2 to chapter 3 and think it was the very next day, or the very next week, or the very next month. It wasn't. It was 40 years. And yet, God never tells us how long our desert experience will last. Why? Because He wants you to trust Him through it. And trust that the time he allows you to be there is the time you need to be there.

He wants you to understand that. Now, Moses, when he went into his desert, he was 40 years of age, right at the prime of his life. When he was strong, virile, effect, and for the prime of his life, he became nothing for 40 years. So that when he was 80 and God appeared to him, for the next 40, he'd be used in a mighty, mighty way for the Lord God. And Moses would be used in such a tremendous way, he would become Israel's greatest leader. The breadth of your desert, the length of your desert, is only known to God.

But listen, the time. is just as important as the test itself. And that's why the length can only be determined by God Himself. You know, because of our microwave age, because of our use of cell phones, and because of The speed of computers nowadays. We ex inst intimacy with God. We expect maturity in a moment. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. You can't learn to have a purposeful, driven life in 40 days. I had to throw that in there somewhere, sometime. This doesn't happen that way.

It's a lifetime experience. One author said it this way, God doesn't mass prod his saints. He hand -tools each one, and it always takes longer than we ex. And that's true. But notice, Moses wrote one psalm, and in that psalm Chapter 90 of Psalms.

Verse number 15, he recorded some very significant words, and this is what he said: Make us gl according to the days you afflicted us. Make us glad according to the days you afflicted us. Listen, and the years we have seen trouble. Moses in that psalm would help you to understand the end results of the desert. What is that? Gladness. Everybody wants to be glad. Everybody wants to experience the blessing of God. We just don't want to, we don't want to do what it takes to get there. And the bottom line for all of us is to realize that this man, Moses, was fabulous.

Fabulous. After his des experience. In fact, out of all the chapters in the Bible that speak of the life of Moses, There are only two chapters that deal with the first 80 years of his life.

The rest of them deal with the last 40 years. You know why? Because he didn't do anything significant for the Lord in the first 80 years until after his desert experience.

Think about it that way. And look how God used one man who was committed to Him in such a powerful way. That's what God wants to do with you. That's why the desert is God's special design for your spiritual development. Let's pray.