WTFMT 84 (FROM HGM ON 27 OCT 20)

WILDERNESS TRUTHS FOR MODERN TIMES-84

TEXT:  "And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer."  (Genesis 21:20)

 

 I.   A DWELLING PLACE

 

     A.  Ishmael and his mother Hagar found a dwelling place in the Wilderness of Beersheba and later in the Wilderness of Paran.  Away from their earthly help and provisions away from Abraham.

 

     B.  Why not live in the Wilderness of Beersheba?  Where God can meet you there.  There is a well of water there that never runs dry.  Do you want to leave go elsewhere?  If so, there is a great risk you take to leave the well on your own initiative, to take your own direction.

 

     C.  You can only take with you what you can bear or carry.  What you have been strengthened with while you were drinking at the well.  You have only this bottle of strength.  If you go out from this well you most certainly will come into far worse predicaments. 

 

     D.  But here in this place, you have the Well (God).  You cannot take the well (earthly water) with you.  (Some try)  But you can stay with the well.  Don't insist that the Shepherd follow you; follow the Shepherd.

 

     E.  Beersheba became for Ishmael a dwelling place.  He was brought there.  He made the necessary adjustments to that situations which was quite different from the conditions in Abraham's tents. 

 

     F.  After his experience (the need, the meager supply, the revelation, the provisions), he made an adjustment.  And in this place, a new, strange and desolate place, Ishmael lived under the blessings of God.  The second key was used, that is, adjustment was made and further discoveries followed.

   

     G.  We too are able to live in the wilderness.  God is there; revelation is there; provision is there.  What else do we need?  Must we insist upon having a rose garden without thorns?  Do we want to set up some other type of situation which is more to our liking?  

 

     H.  Rather than attempting to change our situation, we change.  All that we NEED is now existing, where we are.

           "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"  (Matthew 6:26)

God knows what we NEED to grow physically and spiritually.  He has a plan for our nourishment and growth. 

 

     I.  If He personally feeds birds, whom His Son did not die for, how much the more does He care for us.  How much the more, He knows what we need to take into our body, mind, and spirit to be able to soar like an eagle in the heavenly with him.

         "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

 

     J.  He knows those things that we NEED in our lives that will make us to become a runner that can run and not become weary.  Those things that we NEED to strengthen us to be able to walk mile after mile down life's many roads without fainting.  Receiving strength to mount up, to run, and to walk comes out of waiting on God where you are.

 

     K.  All too often we want to mount up and run off to some other place on earth, and even in God, without receiving the strength and vision to move, the direction/focus, and even the purpose/plan. 

 

     L.  Wait upon Him to feed you, to strengthen you, so that you will be strongest enough to move when He give you the command to move.

 

 II.  PARTING THOUGHTS

 

      A.  Do not press forward with your desires to alter your circumstances, believing that your NEEDS will be met through such means.  Adjust to what God is feeding you.   Enjoy the banquet table He has spread before you in the wilderness.

            

       "Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?"  (Palms 78:19-20)

Yes, and more God can provide to His children in the wilderness.  More than a bottle of water and bread.

 

      B.  Let this place, where ever you are right now, not another place, become for you a dwelling place.  Live there until the Shepherd takes you elsewhere.