Don't Die In Your Wilderness

There was a moment years ago when I was so overwhelmed by a situation I couldn’t change.

I wasn’t fixing it. I wasn’t healing from it. I was just…sitting in it. Replaying it. Carrying it. Letting it define my thoughts. And in that place, I felt God speak something so clearly to my heart:

“Don’t die in your own wilderness.”

At that time, I thought that is a good thought and even spoke about it but after going through a recent bout of intense fear and anxiety. I realize what the Lord was really telling me. It’s all a choice to stay in the wilderness. We don’t have to stay there. Sometimes we create the wilderness in our own lifes just like I did. We are stuck and don’t have to be stuck.

The Wilderness Isn’t Meant To Be Permanent

When you read about the Israelites in Numbers, you see something heartbreaking:

They were delivered…but never arrived.

The carcasses of you who complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, YOU SHALL BY NO MEANS ENTER THE LAND WHICH I SWORE I WOULD MAKE YOU DWELL IN. Numbers 14:29-30

Not because God failed them, but because they were stuck in a mindset of fear, hurt, unbelief and complainging.

They kept circling the same place, and what should have been a temporary season became their entire story.

What My “Wilderness” Looked Like

Mine didn’t look like sand and heat.

It looked like:

Replaying conversations
Carrying hurt I couldn’t fix
Thinking about the situation but not taking it fully to the Lord
Feeling stuck, even though life was moving forward
I wasn’t physically stuck…

But mentally and emotionally? I wasn’t moving at all. I was dwelling in the wilderness.

The Danger of Dwelling

There’s a difference between thinking about it and maybe even praying about it and LAYING IT AT HIS FEET. God will meet you in your situation but He never asked you to build a home there.

Ye have dwelt long enough in this mountain. Deuteronomy 1:6

We are never meant to dwell someplace God is wanting to lead us out of. It’s time to move on from this mountain.

How We “Die” in the Wilderness (Without Realizing It)

I don’t mean physical death, I mean spiritual death and that is way worse.

It looks like:

Losing joy
Losing hope
Not praying
Expecting the worst
Feeling spiritually stuck
Constant complaining
Negativity

You’re alive…but not living a life more abundantly

5 Steps to Get Out of Your Wilderness

1. Acknowledge where you are. Be honest: Am I dwelling here? You can’t leave what you won’t admit

2. Praise Him. Instead of looking at your wilderness begin to praise Him through it. You will notice a massive shift in your spiritual walk. He is worthy of our praise no matter the situation.

3. Give it to God. Some things are not meant to be carried by you. There are burdens you were never designed to hold on to. Especially ones you cannot control, fix or fully understand. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting” means to throw it fully releasing it into God’s hands, not holding onto it in pieces. It is a decision of trust. I can’t fix this, I can’t carry this but God can hold this.

4. Choose forward, even if it’s small. Even making small decisions to move forward is forward motion. Never stay in one spot spiritually. ALWAYS be moving forward with God.

5. Trust that God still has “promised land” ahead. Just because you have dwelt in this wilderness to long doesn’t mean that has to be the end of your story. Philippians 3:13 reminds us “forget those things which are behind.” You must believe that God has a promise land outside of this wilderness.

Your wilderness isn’t where you are suppose to stay. It’s suppose to be a place you pass through. Don’t die there. God still has more for you ahead.