A Dry and Desolate Place

No one ever wants to be stuck in a dry and desolate place. It makes you feel helpless. But sometimes, for our good, that is exactly where we are led to.

Recall the children if Israel wondering in the wilderness. Certainly when they first arrived they felt apprehension because they were in a new unfamiliar place having just escaped a tragic situation. They were hungry and unable to provide for themselves. They were uncomfortable and found it hard to trust in the God who had just parted the Red Sea for them.

The interesting thing is that this wilderness experience really became a time of transition. There were people who died and never saw the promised land. God provided manna. Moses provided leadership. Some of the people tried to revert to idol worship. So much occurred in the wilderness that could not be taken into the promised land.

We can apply all of this to our own lives. There are reasons and seasons when we find ourselves in a dry and lonely place. We usually arrive at this place from a tragic experience; it could be the loss of a loved one or financial difficulties. Whatever delivers us to this place we must remember that the experience is only one of transition. In the words of my pastor from KC It won't always be like this.

There are some habits that need to die off of us while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must learn to rely on God as our only source while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must remember all that God has done for us while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must worship God for who He is while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must learn to trust God while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must make it up in our minds not to take any mess into our next season while we are yet in our dry and desolate place.
We must give up the spirit of fear and pick up power, love and a sound mind while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must learn to pray in our dry and desolate place.
We must learn to prefer others in our dry and desolate place.
We must obey God without thought of the reasons or consequences while we are in our dry and desolate place.
And finally, we must not be to weary to use our faith to scout out, fight for, and enter into our promised place.

Recall that the children of Israel couldn't just occupy the promised land. They had to fight. Some of the scouts came back saying that things looked too tough, that entering into the land that God had ALREADY given them was going to be impossible. But two reported back in faith, hope, trust and belief that if God said it, they believed it and that settled it.

Just because you may be in a dry and desolate place right now doesn't mean that your promise isn't still within your grasp. We stay in our dry and desolate place as long as it takes us to spiritually mature. Determine that you will use this time to learn what God wants you to learn so that you can occupy your promise.