God In The Wilderness — Morning Devotions

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She says thank you, and he’s a bit curious because he’s been protecting this package for a number of years. So if I may ask, he said, what was in that package after all? So she stands there and opens the package and says, Well, nothing really, just a satellite telephone, a GPS, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds. And that was an actual TV commercial and I think it was a clever commercial, a funny one.

Faith and trust in the wilderness of life

It made me think that life is a bit like that. We can lose our way when all the time it’s there, a parcel. God actually offers a way for us to find fulfilment and purpose. If you’re a bit older, you might remember Barry McGuire, the American singer with his hit song in the 60s, the Eve of Destruction. When he was interviewed on TV by Mike Willacy, back in the US, he did the usual thing. He was drinking a lot and taking drugs, and one night he noticed a small book on a coffee table in a hotel room. He looked at the title, and it was Good news for Modern Man. He picked it up and thought to himself, Well, I’m a modern man. I sure could do with some good news. So he borrowed this book only to find that it was the New Testament, and he was quite astonished. And later on, we read about him that in 1971, he gave his life to Jesus Christ. He became a born-again Christian.

Well, he came back to Australia some years after that, and Mike Willacy interviewed him again. Well, Barry, he said, I believe you’re now on the Jesus wagon. And Barry McGuire said, I’ve discovered it’s the only wagon going anywhere. There are some people up and out, others are down and out, but wherever they are, they’re out, and the only way in is through Jesus Christ.

Well, from that day on, from Barry McGuire’s conversion, he has taken his music and his songs around the world in a different way to bring the message of Jesus, to bring people back from the wilderness of life, and I have a feeling there are many people in a wilderness type experience. King David from Psalm 25:8-9, he said, The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray.

He will teach the ways that are right and best to those who turn to him. You might have heard the story of Corrie Ten Boom, this courageous Dutch woman who was interred in a Nazi camp during World War II. She and her family had helped hide Jewish people from the German Gestapo. Well, during her time in imprisonment, Corrie Ten Boom endured some horrible situations. Her sister died in the camps, but throughout her suffering, Corrie Ten Boom, this very strong lady, never lost her faith in God because she defined faith as fantastic adventuring in trusting him. Each of those words F A I T H, having faith in Jesus Christ, and that’s really what I want to talk about that God helps us through the wilderness as we put our faith in Him.

Billy Graham talked about having faith, a simple faith, he said, it’s really as simple as a mustard seed, so small, he said, you can hardly see it. But if you will put that little faith, just a tiny bit into the person of Jesus Christ, he said, your life will be changed because Jesus will come with supernatural power into your heart, and Billy Graham in his simple way said it can happen to you. So that’s what faith in Jesus is all about. It means allowing God to direct our lives and trusting Him even in the wilderness time. And maybe that’s what you’ve experienced.

Let’s Pray

Well, dear God, sometimes we fail to see you in the ordinary things of life and in the hard times we can’t see you because we’re not looking. Give us eyes today to see you in all the circumstances of life. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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