The Gospel in the Wilderness
Lindsay Wilson // UGA Student & Worship Intern
One of the most wondrous things about scripture is that we can find our story within the greater story of the gospel. It is no coincidence that the Lord has had me reading the Old Testament this semester. Since January, I have read Genesis-Deuteronomy (that one year reading plan, iykyk.) In these books, we see the story of the Israelites in a season of living in the wilderness after the Lord delivered them from slavery. I’ve never understood what people meant when they would refer to their spiritual lives and say they were “in a season of wilderness,” until I recently went through my own.
When senior year began in the fall, someone told me “Senior year is crazy because you start out with so many unknowns, and throughout the year, everything becomes known.”
This could not be anymore true for me this year. Flashback to August, I was already anticipating all of the changes that were going to happen this year. I am a creature of habit and do not like change, so I was dreading the long-awaited challenges that come with graduating college. This year has been categorized by exhausted prayers, confused direction, and difficulty trusting the Lord with my future. However, God has been so good to me. I didn’t realize how much I needed to walk with Him in a season of uncertainty. Even though it has been one of the hardest seasons of my life, I have also been pushed to grow in my relationship with Christ in new ways everyday.
I have spent my days consumed by my circumstances. I bombarded the Lord with so many questions -
“Where will I go to grad school? Will I even get in?”
“Am I getting married soon? If so, when?”
“Where am I going to live next year? Am I going to have to leave Athens?”
“What happens if none of this works out?”
I’m sure you have experienced similar seasons of questioning God’s plans for you. There were some days where I felt extremely thankful for all that God was doing in my life, and there were some spent in frustration feeling like the Lord wasn’t answering. Looking back, I can see how the Lord was walking closely beside me as my Friend, Deliverer, and Provider. The Lord diligently worked through idols in my heart and returned my gaze upon Him. Idols such as knowledge of the future, comfort, and control were torn down with each glimpse of His sovereignty.
Reading through these chapters of scripture, I was encouraged over and over again by God’s grace when the Israelites were in the wilderness. He provided what they needed, listened to their prayers, and delivered them into the promised land.
And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that I may give them water.” Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—
the well that the princes made,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter and with their staffs.”
And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah that looks down on the desert. Numbers 21: 16-20
Just like I was questioning how the Lord would provide, the Israelites spent time wondering how the Lord would provide for them, or even why He was leading them through the wilderness. As I read this passage in Numbers one day, I saw how the Israelites missed the point of God’s provision. God provided a very basic need of theirs - water - and instead of praising Him, they praised the provision. God is right there, giving them water, and they begin to sing and worship the well instead of the God who gave it to them. They recognize the princes and the people as the source of the well instead of God. I was quickly convicted about how I was living the same way. I was desperately waiting on God to provide, and trying to manipulate my circumstances so that He would provide exactly what I wanted. Instead, the Lord began shifting my heart to praise Him, instead of just what I wanted Him to give me. The Lord has provided so much for me this year, and a lot of it looks different than I would’ve provided myself, but I am so grateful that His plans are better than mine.
Deuteronomy 2:7 says “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”
Every time the Israelites felt alone, they never were. Every time they felt like they didn’t have enough, they had exactly what they needed. It took me reading this for myself, for the Holy Spirit to reveal that this was true about me too. Each moment of feeling unheard by God, He was with me. Each moment of what I considered to be the “wilderness,” God was WITH me. How amazing is it that we have a God that is with His people! I lack nothing because Jesus has given me everything. Everything I have and don’t have is a result of God’s goodness to me. He is walking with me, constantly providing me with what I need each and every day.
We often think our circumstances need to change in order for us to be able to trust God or find joy, but in reality, we need a work of God’s grace to shift our perspective back to Him and allow the gospel to be enough for us. I hope and pray that as I graduate college and get married, as my circumstances continue changing, that the source of my life is the sure, unchanging gift of the gospel.
Christ died so that we could live. In His death and resurrection we find all that we need. As Paul says in Philippians 2:19, “God will supply every need of [ours] according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” As we celebrate Easter this weekend, let’s celebrate that this world does not determine our abundance, but our hope in Christ gives us abundant life for all of eternity.
Thank you Jesus, for this life that I don’t deserve but can live because of your grace. You are always good to me.
Lindsay is a fourth year speech therapy major at UGA, graduating in May! She is a worship intern and is went to Boston with Watty last summer! She is also involved in the Albers tribe on Mondays. She is passionate about the local church and seeing the way the Lord can use and minister to even the overlooked.
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