The Desert: God's Special Design for Your Spiritual Development, Part 2

There's something about the desert experience that causes my spiritual pilgrimage to blossom unlike anything else. It's something about the desert that God speaks to me as God would speak to Moses. And in our study of the life of Moses, we've taken just a few moments to look back at Exodus 3 and Exodus 4, having already gone through them. To help us understand what God was doing in the life of Moses for those 40 years in the land of Midian. What God did in his life, transformed his life to make him usable for God.

And God made him into the greatest leader Israel has ever known. Why is that? It's because the desert is the place that Burns out shallowness. We tend to be very shallow, superficial people. And what breaks us down and what deepens us as individuals is the place of suffering, the place of affliction, the place of great difficulty and hardship. The desert experience destroys those mechanisms that we set up in our life to somehow make us look like we're spiritual. God doesn't want us to look like we're spiritual.

He wants us to be spiritual people. Richard Halvers, the former chaplain of the U.S. Senate, who died a number of years ago, wrote these words. He says, in one respect, at least, a man is like a horse. He is not really of much practical use until he's broken. A wild horse out on the mesa may be thrilling to watch, but he never carries a rider or pulls a load. All his energy, strength, speed and beauty are wasted until he is broken. A man is that way too. He may be quite exciting and attractive when wild and untamed, but he doesn't pull a load.

He needs to be broken for harness. He may hold great promise, pure pedigree, intelligence, strength, and drive, but until he is broken, all these qualities Are dissipated. He's right. Moses was a great man. He was a man well educated. He was an intelligent man. He was a strong man physically. He was a man persuasive with his words, but he was a man that needed to be broken. And the only way God was going to do that was to drive him to the back side of the desert for 40 years to break down his self-resistance, his self-reliance, his independent spirit, to make him dependent upon his God.

And that's what the desert does, unlike anything else. And so he does what it takes to make us that way. Our Lord, sinless, spotless. But his sufferings were the proving ground, were the testing place in which his obedience became fu grown. We who are not sinless We who are sinful need to have our obedience full grown, need to come to a place of perfection. How does that happen? Through the desert experience, through the times of suffering and difficulty. If it was necessary for our Lord. Who is absolutely perfect?

How much more so is it for those who are children of God to go through difficult times and hardship? Intimacy with God blossoms in the desert experience. We've told you that the desert is God's spe design for your spiritual Development. It's called the desert, like it was with Moses. And we told you, number one, that the desert is a desol place.

It's also a place that we said was an established place, a desolate place, an established place. That is, God has established a specific place. For you. For Moses, it was Midian. For Moses, it was the wilderness. For Moses, it was the backside of the desert. Modern-day Saudi Arabia. So we saw where the desert was a desolate place. It was an established place. And number three, it was a silent place.

Unless we are still, unless we are silent, the still small voice of God will not be heard. And so God drives us to the desert. We also told you that it was an essential place, an absolute essential. place. We told you there were three illustrations in the scripture, one in Hebrews 12, one in James 2, and one in John 15, all telling us about the essential nature of the place of the desert. And I'm going to go back to that in a moment. Because we didn't cover it in great detail last time, but I want you to understand the implications of the essential nature of the desert.

And then we also told you that it was a rugged place, it's dry. And then we said, That it was a timeless place. That is, we don't know how long we're going to be there. It was a long time for Moses. And we trust it's never that long for us. It wasn't any shorter than God wanted it to be. It was the exact time for Moses. And to add to that, it was the time that would coincide with the nation of Israel as they would cry out for a deliverer. So, before we go on to point number two, which is what ex God has in mind for you when you go through this des experience.

There's something he wants to produce in you, and we want to cover those things. But before we do, I want to take you back to the essential aspect of this to help you understand why this is so important. And the Bible in the New Testament gives us three clear, clean illustrations that point out to us why this is so important. So if you have your Bible, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12.

Most of you know this passage of Scripture. But if you're like me, every time you study it, you learn something new. And so, this morning I want to share some things with you that maybe you might not have ever heard before, and that will help shed light in terms of what God is doing in your life. Hebrews chapter 12, we'll pick up the narrative in verse number 5. And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. Forgotten? Do we forget things? Absolutely. He says, You've forgotten What had they forgotten?

Proverbs chapter 3 my son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor faint when you are reproved by him for those whom the Lord loves he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives You know, it's easy for us to forget about that, isn't it? We don't want to remember the scourging of God. We don want to remember those things. We want to remember the good things. So we tend to forget. You ever regarded lightly the discipline of the Lord? How do you do that? How do you treat it as if it's not important?

Several ways. One is by complaining. That's right. You begin to moan and groan about the fact that things aren't going as well as they used to go. That maybe my health isn't as vibrant as it was, or my financial condition isn't as secure as it used to be, or my marriage isn't as strong as it used to be. Things just aren't going like they used to, and I begin to gripe and complain and moan and Grown, and therefore, we begin to treat the discipline of the Lord lightly in our lives. One way is by complaining, another way is by criticizing.

Criticizing. Criticizing God for his plan and methods. Criticizing God because he doesn't do for you what you think he needs to be doing for you. You've been in that situation, right? All of us tend to think that we deserve better than what we're getting. We deserve some kind of accolade, some kind of appreciation from our God. After all, we've given up everything to follow Him, to serve Him, to live for Him, and at least He should give some good things to us. And when bad things happen to us, we begin to criticize God's plan.

And therefore, we regard lightly the discipline of the Lord. And the writer of Hebrews says, You've forgotten that exhortation, and that is, do not. criticize. Do not complain about the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him. We can complain, we can criticize, and we can collapse under the reproof of our God. And the writer says, don't faint, don't quit. Don't fall by the wayside. You know why? Because Satan becomes the victor if you do that. He wins a little battle in your life.

Don't let him do that. Remain strong. In fact, The writer of Ecclesiastes said it this way: chapter 7, verse number 14. In the day of prosperity, be happy. Well, that's easy, right? But in the day of adversity, Consider, God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not discover anything that will be after him. So the writer of Hebrews says, listen, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten the exhortation that says, Don't regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint under the weights of the reproof.

Don't do that. Why? He tells you. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. Those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines. Every one of them. Listen, an und child is an un ch. Did you know that? You know, over the years, many of you know that I've had the opportunity to coach baseball on the collegiate level as well as the high school level. Just recently, in the last couple of years, I've coached at the T-ball level. That's a whole different ball game for me. And so last year and this year, because my son Cade was involved in baseball.

And getting off the ground, he asked me if I'd coach his team. And so, under great duress, I said, sure, I'll coach your team. Not knowing what I was getting myself into with all these little rug rats running around. And, you know, coaching these kids and listening to them as they talk to their parents. Is un to me. Unbelievable. Undisciplined children. And of course, you know me, I a disci. Hey, you're going to play for me. This is what you got to do. This is what you got to wear. This is how you got to wear it.

This is what you're going to look like. This is the way we play baseball. You want to play another way? Join that te Team over there. You're going to play for my team. This is how it's going to happen. And these kids aren't used to that. They're not used to it. But someone's got to pull them in. Someone's got to rein them in. And sure enough, you see these kids talking to their parents. I am not going to do that. Demanding from their parents. And I listen and I watch these parents. Well, you know, this is the way he is.

Really? That's the way he is? No, that's the way you are. It's not the way he is, it's the way you are. Listen to what the Bible says in Proverbs 29, verse number 15.

A child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother. And I've watched these mothers bring their children to practice for two years now.

And these children get their own ways and their parents are put to shame. Not only for their own mother, but for their own family. It's so sad. But I want you to notice something.

Notice what the text says. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges. What does it say? Every son whom he receives. Who's that? That's every Christian. There's nobody left out. Nobody is exempt from discipline. There isn't one child that's really, really good, and the other ones who get lots and lots of discipline, and that guy gets looked over or bypassed. No, he scourges every son. And of course, the word scourge means to beat with a whip. It doesn't mean that Christ takes a whip and he beats us.

It talks about the severity of the discipline. It talks about the difficulty in the discipline. Because it deals with every single son, not just certain sons. And God says, You know that I love you because I discipline you.

Your children know that you love them when you discipline them. If you don't discipline them, their only conclusion will be, my parents just don't care. They just don't care. God cares. In fact, it says over in Isaiah 63, verse number 9: In all their affliction, he was afflicted. God says, when you're afflicted, I'm afflicted.

When you're in pain, I'm in pain. When you hurt, I hurt. That's our God. That's how he L to what it says. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Is there a father who doesn't discipline his son? Where is he? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Doesn't mean that every moment of every day you're being disciplined and scourged, and the severity of that is getting greater and greater.

No, that's not it at all. It's just that God is working in your life. And if God is not working in your life in the realm of discipline, in the realm of shaping you and molding you, you have one conclusion. That you don't know God because you're not his son. Now, read on. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we what? Respected them. You see, we have parents today who want their children to like them. Wrong. They need to have their children res them. And the only way respect comes is through discipline.

Only way. The right of Hebrews says, why do we res our God? Because he disciplines us. If he didn't discipline us, we wouldn't respect him. Same way with earthly fathers. If they don't discipline us, then we don't respect them. We bring shame to them. We tell them what we're going to do as children. We set the agenda. We run the show, and every child needs to have the show run for them because that's the way God has designed it. Now read on. Listen to this. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits?

Should we not rather be subject to our Heavenly Father, to the one who rules over us? And then he says, What? And. What's the next word? Live. You want true life? You want a great life? Then you subject yourself to the discipline of your father and you will have a great life. You will. And yet he couples that with this. For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them, but he disciplined us for our good, that we may share his holiness. He wants us to be just like him. Just like them.

All this has been for the moment seems not to be joyous but sorrowful, yet to those who have been trained by it afterwards, it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness. Isn't that good? He wants us to partake of his holiness. He wants us to be just like him. Why do we discipline our children? Because we want them to somehow be like us. There is a reason parents don't discipline their children because they don't want their children to be like them. Think about it. So they don't discipline them, hoping the toilet is different than they are.

But the reason we discipline our children is because we want them to be just like us. We want them to adopt our characteristics. We want them to follow in our footsteps. And our God says, I'm going to discipline you because I want you to be a holy person.

Be holy. As your Father in heaven is holy, be perfect, Matthew 5:4, as your Father in heaven is perfect. You see, God wants us to be just like Him because you see, the holier we are. The more useful we are to Him. God wants to use a holy vessel, right? So God brings the discipline in to shape us, to mold us, to make us just like Him so we can be better used of Him. That's how it works. That's what the writer of Hebrew says. Great food for thought as we understand the essential element of the desert experience.

Second passage, just one page over. James chapter 2. Excuse me, James 1, verse number 2. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing or the proving of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance. Have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James says there's going to be trials, and the reason you have trials is because you're lacking in something. Therefore, you endure them so that you can grow in your walk with God, so that you are not lacking in anything.

You see, the reason trials come in various shapes and various forms is because there are things that we lack in our lives. And the greatest thing that we lack is a constant dependency and leaning upon our God. And so he says this. Consider it joy, all joy, when you fall into various trials. Knowing this, that the pro of your faith, your faith needs to be proved genuine. Did you know that? It needs to be proved genuine. The testing of your faith. Why does my faith need to be tested? Why does God test my faith?

Why did God say to Abraham in Genesis chapter 22, Now I know, Abraham, that you fear me? Is there something God doesn't know? No. Abraham needed to know that God feared him. 2 Chronicles 32, verse number 31. It was Hezekiah who was tested by God. So that he would know what was in his heart. Who would know? Hezekiah would know. God already knew what was in Hezekiah's heart, but Hezekiah needed to know. Our faith needs to be proved tr and genuine. So their trials come to prove the genuine Character of our faith.

Remember Matthew chapter 13? The rocky soil? Seed fell upon the ground. And when affliction and persecution came, that seed fell by the wayside because they had no root. To grow. The faith was proven not genuine, but the believer, the child of God. That tested faith, listen, prod end. It produces end, steadfastness. It's important to note that trials don't bring mat. Instead, trials bring fortitude, perseverance. In order to produce maturity. You see? James says, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials, knowing this, that the proving of your faith.

Is going to produce something. It's going to produce steadfast endurance, the ability to keep on keeping on. Jewelers have what they call a water test. They use it with diamonds. They put a diamond in water. Because when a diamond is in water, the brilliancy of that diamond is clearly seen. And yet if it's a If it's a bad diamond, if it's not a genuine true diamond, then there is no luster in the sparkling of that diamond. They put it in water. And with a true diamond, it just shines forth great.

It's the water test. You get the false diamond, the fake diamond does not. Now ladies don't go home and Throw all your diamonds in the water and say, Oh, honey, you gave me a fake diamond, I want a real one. You know? But the bottom line is that The test proves the genuineness of the diamond, same way it is in the realm of the spiritual. The test proves the genuineness of our faith. And that produces endurance. And that end has its perfect result. There is a ripening that needs to take place, a maturing that needs to take place in our lives, so we become complete, lacking nothing.

And, folks, we all lack something. We do. And yet, the fruits of the Spirit need to be accentuated. One more, that's John 15. Turn there with me, if you would, please. We must hurry. Christ says in John 15, verse number 1, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. This is the pruning process. It's a word used in extra-biblical Greek language to talk about how you remove all the weeds from the soil in order for the soil to. To produce. It's used of the cleansing of the grain. Christ says, Look, there's a cleansing process you need to go through.

And pruning is always painful. And yet, in order for you to produce more fruit, in order for you to be a productive Christian, the pruning process is absolutely essential. To your ability to reproduce spiritually. So important. And so, whatever form it comes in, whatever God uses, whatever. Tool or technique He uses in your life to prune away all those things that are keeping you and distracting you from being completely fruitful and productive for the sake of the kingdom, God needs to remove. Those things.

And for the most part, they're very painful things because they're things that we hold dear. They're things that we truly want to have, that we think we need. And God says, You don't need them.

You need me. And those things have become a distraction to you. They have kept. You from producing for me, and I'm going to remove them. I'm going to strip you clean so that you can be used in a vibrant way for the sake of the kingdom of God. That's why the desert is so essential. Listen.

Don't you want to live a purified life? Sure, you do. Don't you want to live a productive life? Sure, you do. And God says, this is how it's going to happen.

This is how it needs to happen. So let it have its perfect work so that we may be complete in lacking nothing. And the things that we're not to lack are the specific design that God has for you. And we'll talk about those next time. Let's pray.