WTFMT 46 ON 22 AUIG 2017

WILDERNESS TRUTHS FOR MODERN TIMES-46

TEXT: "And the cloud of the LORD was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp." (Numbers 10:34)

 

I. FOLLOW THE CLOUD

A. The first lesson to be learned is to follow the cloud. We must learn to follow what we know to be the direction of God.

B. Many of us spend so much time and effort in worrying about what we do not know, that there is little strength and opportunity left to follow God in what we do know. As we learn to walk in the known will of God, we will spare ourselves much trouble and anguish.

C. The second lesson to be learned is not to complain and question God as you follow. The children of Israel were always complaining about these wilderness stops. "Well, why did the cloud stop here? Doesn't God know that there is no water here, and that this is the wilderness?"

D. Why does God lead us into the wilderness? To kill us because there are no graves in Egypt? As they followed the cloud, they did not recognize the wisdom of God in leading them to these specific places. Therefore they did not recognize God's purposes in each stop.

E. If we do not learn the second lesson (learn not to complain) we will never see the meaning in "Paran." We will miss the beauty and glory in the wilderness and die of spiritual hunger and thirst.

F. Many believers are starving for God's glory and beauty, but do not receive because they have not walked in obedience to what they know to do and are always complaining when God takes us to His workshop (the wilderness) and begins to work in us. If God cannot teach us obedience, He can do anything with us.

 

II. DON'T MISS IT!

 

A. The brightness of the glory of God, the cloud, the burning fire by night, rested in the Wilderness of Paran. The tribes of Israel under this cloud. But one can live under the glory of God and never see it. Consider how many people missed the glory of God as Jesus walked this earth to teach and perform God's wonderful miracles.

B. Today some believers will miss the glory of God, in the wilderness. There are many things we would never want to miss. Holiday! Would we want to forego our vacation time? Payday? Who would want to miss payday? Christmas! Few believers would want to miss Christmas.

C. We want money, convenience, comfort, health, happiness! We want a nice home and car! When a Christian gives these things greater priority than the glory of God, we have come short of the glory of God. We will miss the beauty and glory in the Wilderness of Paran.

D. We will miss seeing the glory of God in our vision is fixed on our fears. Fear of the work of the Lord (possible humiliation and embarrassment) in our lives, in the wilderness, will keep us from looking toward the wilderness and the glory He wants to work in our lives. Let us not be afraid of the wilderness.

E. Seasons in the wilderness will become the occasions when God imparts certain divine meanings and revelations and richness to us. The wilderness will be the place of our greatest progression in God. God can not do must work on us in a time of blessing, even during church.

F. But He can take us into His workshop and work His nature and character in us. "For we are his workmanship . . . " (Ephesians 2:10) The Lord takes us into the wilderness and reveals His thoughts and intents of His heart to us, which are thoughts of love and joy and intending for us to walk with Him in victory and prosperity.

 

III. PARTING THOUGHTS

 

A. There are certain things which God can bring to us only as we properly relate to His glory in the wilderness. There are certain aspects of the work of God in us which must be accomplished in the wilderness and nowhere else.

B. These cannot be done in the Promised Land. They cannot be done in Heaven. They cannot be done in prosperity, alone. They cannot be done in health. Wherever they must be done, we must follow God to the place and respond to Him there in that place where He leads you too do the work in you He desires.

C. Certain aspects of God's care and character are seen only in difficult places. How can we know Him as Healer unless we become sick? How can we see Him as Provider unless you are in need.

D. Most of us will not render to God complete surrender and cooperation when we are in good times. Wherever we must be to have God accomplish His work in us, we must follow God to that place and respond to Him there. This was true for Abraham, David, Job, and Joseph and for us as well.