The Reason for the Desert - The Preparation

The latter part of verse 3 tells why the preparation was needed: "...to teach you that man not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Do you see this? The whole purpose of their desert - and often of ours - is so that we relax our grip on the material things of this world and hold tighter to God. On first glance, this might sound like God is being very possessive. However, this is not the case. God is trying to wean us from the pervasive dangers of materialism for good reasons. Firstly, because wealth is deceptive. It deceives us into thinking it is permanent, it is what we need, it will make us happy. It is none of these things (Psalms 39:6; Psalms 49:10; Psalms 49:12; Proverbs 18:11;Ecclesiastes 5:10) ! Wealth is also a source of great temptation to turn against God (1 Timothy 6:10; Deuteronomy 31:20). Do you see what God is doing here? He is teaching them not to rely on their wealth or their material situation or possessions, and instead to rely on Him. He is teaching them that He has to be the Lord of their life because nothing else is good enough. Nothing can take His place. God knew that their hearts would be turned by the wealth of the Promised Land and He is taking action to prevent it. The action He takes, though, is somewhat controversial nowadays: Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Deuteronomy 8:5 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/deu.8.5.NIVUK The word translated as 'disciplines' here means 'to chasten, admonish or instruct' and can carry with it the idea of physical punishment, not just a 'telling off'. It's sometimes also translated as 'to punish'. What can we understand from this? That God reserves the right to use painful means to turn us into who He needs us to be. For our modern Western culture that is shocking. The idea of corporal punishment of any form is thoroughly offensive and regarded as abusive. The very thought that God, a God who is love, could use it is absolutely anathema to many Christians. But should it be? ‘Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal. Job 5:17‭-‬18 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/job.5.17-18.NIVUK My son, do not despise the Lord ’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Proverbs 3:11‭-‬12 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/pro.3.11-12.NIVUK Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honoured. Proverbs 13:18 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/pro.13.18.NIVUK The writer to the Hebrews has words on discipline that might surprise us (Hebrews 12:4‭-‬13). He wrote to Jewish Christians who were actually being persecuted - through no fault of their own - by their own people and by the Romans under Nero. It was written to encourage them to keep going and keep the faith. Think of this for a moment: the writer uses the idea of their persecution being an act of discipline from God to encourage them to keep faith in Him! But how can that be? The reason why comes in verse 7: Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? Hebrews 12:7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.12.7.NIVUK The point is that when suffering comes we should not approach it as something unusual or negative. His belief is that God is using this suffering to make us better, in the same way a parent uses discipline to remove harmful behaviours from their children for their good. This is why Paul states this in Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.8.28.NIVUK Did you see that? "In all things..." And what does that mean? It means that God - our God - is working in all things - good things and bad things - for our good, all the time, no matter what. You see, it's here that we are not at all helped by an incredibly narrow interpretation of Scripture. James 1:17 says this: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/jas.1.17.NIVUK Okay, so the good and perfect things are the things that make us happy, and the bad and imperfect things are the things that make us sad, right? So that means that all comfort comes from God and all suffering comes from the devil, right? There are people in Scripture whom we look up to as being really spiritual that would completely deny that shallow interpretation. Job, for instance (Job 2:9‭-‬10). Or how about the prophet Jeremiah (Lamentations 1:15; Lamentations 2:1‭-‬8). Both of these spiritual men identified the source of their suffering. And yes, it may have been for different reasons. In Jeremiah's case, the Israelites were suffering for their own sin and he knew this all too well. Job, however, was not suffering for his sin because he had not sinned. Yet at the heart of their faith was an appreciation that the Lord was at the heart of it and that caused them no issues at all. In fact, Jeremiah was able to pen these surprising words: The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord . It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust – there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. For no-one is cast off by the Lord for ever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. Lamentations 3:25‭-‬33 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/lam.3.25-33.NIVUK "It is good for a man to bear the yoke [of suffering] while he is young." It is good! But it hurts! How can it be good? The reason is simple: because God is acting as a loving father through the discipline of suffering to bring about His good purpose in our lives. Consider this: we have been taking our daughter back to the Philippines since she was 13 months old. During one of those early visits, while she was very young, we were on our way home when she saw a poor woman begging by the side of the road through the car window. A few hours later, as we were putting her to bed, she started to cry uncontrollably. We wondered what had gone wrong. The only words she could say through her sobbing and tears were "That woman..." I had exposed my daughter to poverty. It hurt her. She was in tears. It hurt me to see her that way. But I was so, so proud of her. My little daughter had a social conscience. My little daughter was upset because someone else was suffering. Maybe you are one of those people who believes that young children should be wrapped in cotton wool and be sheltered from the realities around them; that their lives should be full of theme parks and fairy tales and other such fantasies. Escapism has its place. Fun is essential in life. Any exposure to reality must be age appropriate. But we have never tried to shield our daughter from life as it is. At times we felt it was necessary to lead her into the desert, and I would say that it was the loving thing to do. There is no greater act of faith, and no greater resilience in times of trouble, than that of believing that God is good no matter what. You see, if God is good then His intentions are good. If His intentions are good, then He will use whatever we are going through for His good purpose. If that is all true, than can our situation ever be bad? If we can look at our situation through the eyes of faith in a sovereign and a good God, then we will always have hope. When Moses died and Joshua was set up as the new leader of Israel, God spoke words to the man He had called. Here is what He said: After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord , the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the River Jordan into the land I am about to give to them – to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Joshua 1:1‭-‬3 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/jos.1.1-3.NIVUK 'Moses my servant is dead'. Really? Did Joshua not know? I mean, how could he miss it! The entire Israelite community had mourned for him for thirty days! As funerals go, you'd need to have been living under a rock to miss that one! So why did God feel the need to remind Joshua of it? Because here is one of the biggest sources of pain and suffering that we will ever encounter: that of saying goodbye and moving on. Essentially God was telling Joshua that the time of mourning was finished. He should dwell on it no more. Yes, it was painful. Yes it was difficult. But the new phase in his life was starting and he had to be ready for it. Could it be that God sometimes puts us into the desert to make us realise that a phase of our life is over and that a new one must begin? Could it be that the pain that we feel is the scalpel of the Divine surgeon cutting from us something that may have helped us before but is hindering us now? Remember the passage we read earlier from Hebrews about how God uses discipline? This stands in complete contrast to what Paul says to the Romans about those who disobey God (Romans 1:24‭-‬28). Three times he says four words. Three times! And what are they? "God gave them over". What does this mean? It means that God allowed them to continue to do whatever they liked, but they would also face the consequences of their own choice. I know that the circumstances we are in now might be painful. I know that they might be difficult. I know that we might long with every fibre of our being for a way out. But ask yourself this: would you rather God left you to your own devices? Would you rather He left you alone to face the consequences of your own sins and shortcomings? Oh, it's hard, so very hard, to be under the disciplining hand of the Lord! But it's so much harder in the long run without it. If you are struggling today under the Lord's mighty hand, I want you to see these verses, penned by the weeping prophet Jeremiah at the time of the greatest trauma the ancient Jewish people had ever endured - the exile: For no-one is cast off by the Lord for ever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. Lamentations 3:31‭-‬33 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/lam.3.31-33.NIVUK Do you see it? The Lord does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. He takes no delight in our suffering. He only puts us through the desert because He has to, because there is no other way, and because it is for our ultimate good, even if we don't understand why or how. So take heart, believer! You might be suffering, but God is still good and He will work His good purposes out no matter what.

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