Water In The Wilderness

Did you know that the word wilderness is used in the Bible nearly 300 times?  It really is!  When I read that I wondered why I had not really noticed the word there before. What are some words that come to mind when you think of a wilderness?  With me words like dry, barren, hot, rocky, unbearable, dead, morbid, abandoned, deserted, a wasteland, and place of immense darkness are all words that come to mind.   The dictionary describes it as a place that is un-inhabitable for humans and inhospitable.  I don’t know about you, but to me that doesn’t really sound like a place I want to be. Like most of you, I am pretty spoiled.  I enjoy having access to things like food, water, shelter, electricity, heat, air conditioning, and plumbing.

How could such a morbid and dead place be mentioned so much in the Bible?  Why would so many things happen in the wilderness?  The Wilderness is the place where God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17. It is where God gave Elijah encouragement and guidance in 1 Kings 19.  The Wilderness is where God told Aaron to take Moses in exodus 4:27. Its where God spoke to Moses, where Jesus was tempted by Satan, where the Israelites spent 40 years, where I was when God saved me and it is where God will save you too.  God, the giver of water in the Wilderness will meet you where you are and as you are in your wilderness to save you.

I know that many of you don’t know much about me.  I was raised in church, went to Sunday school and church every Sunday when I was growing up.  I was in the youth group, dropped a $10 or $20 in the offering basket from time to time, prayed when I felt the need and was in all the Christmas and easter plays.  I was raised knowing that God was the authority and that the way to heaven was through Christ. Jesus is The son of God and he died on the cross for our sins. I knew that Jesus rose from the dead 3 days later so that we could be forgiven by God and allowed into heaven.  I know that reading this some of you may be a little confused about how it is that God had to meet me in the Wilderness. How does a person who was raised in church end up in the the wilderness? 

The truth is that even though I grew up in church, the devil started working on me when I was really young. I can remember horrible nightmares as a child where I spoke with evil people, I was always sick as a child, teenager, and an adult, in fact the devil tried to kill me with Scarlet fever when I was in the first grade. By the time I had finished high school I was so over God. I ended up walking away from the church and blaming God for all of the things that had happened in my life. That is until God found me in the wilderness, but we will talk more about that in a few minutes but for now I want to talk about what The Bible says about Water in the Wilderness,

Grab your Bible and turn with me to Exodus 15: 22. It is our first example of God providing water in the Wilderness. We pick up in the scriptures after Moses has parted the Red sea and taken the Israelites into the wilderness.

Bitter Waters Made Sweet " So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them."

The scripture does go on from there, but I want to stop there since this is the part of the scripture that discusses God providing water to the Israelites in the Wilderness.   Moses cried out to the Lord after everyone complained and the Lord provided them with the water they needed to survive. Lets skip ahead to another example of God providing water in the wilderness.  This time we are going to start in Exodus 17: 1-6.

"Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.  Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?”  And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stoneme!” And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel”

Numbers 20: 10-13 says: "Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”  And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock."

Once again Moses cried out to the lord and God provided the water that was needed for his people. Yet the Israelites became weary and questioned Moses and the intentions of God. 

Have you ever heard the phrase “water alone cannot sustain”?  Not only did God provide physical water to drink, but he also sent his Son Jesus to provide us with the Water of eternal life.

Let’s talk about the Samaritan woman for a minute.  She was in her own wilderness.  She was in a town surrounded by people but was an outcast.  She surely felt alone, abandoned, and dead on the inside. Yet, God sent Jesus to meet her where she was and how she was. John 4: 7-26 says the following:

“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”  The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”  Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he."

My Wilderness: God met me in my wilderness.  In 2001, I experienced some of the most hurtful and horrible things of my life. I had my identity stolen by someone that I thought was my friend.  She took everything from me.  She had a driver’s license in my name, had stolen my checking account information, had her own checking account in my name, had gotten a couple of apartments in my name with my social security number, and had managed to get a ton of credit cards using my information as well.  This “friend” was going through a rough time in her marriage and told me that her husband was physically abusive to her.  Being a good friend, I offered to let her stay with me until she was able to get a place of her own.  She had not been in my apartment for more than two weeks when I noticed things were missing.  I did ask her about some items that I knew were out for sure that I could not find and she denied even seeing them. Then all my expensive stuff disappeared and so did she.  A couple of days after she dissappeared, I came home from work and found her on the floor in the kitchen unresponsive.  I immediately called 911. When they were asking me about her, they asked for her ID and insurance so I got into her purse to find it. To my shock, I found she had a driver’s license in my name.  As I continued to search, I found a bank account and checks in my name.  It just got worse from there so the EMT’s left without her information to take her to the emergency room. Once I finished a police report, I headed to the hospital to see if she was ok.  I know you are probably wondering why I would do that given what I found.  I was so naïve that I thought that there must be some kind of mistake, my friend would never do that to me.  When I got to the hospital, I found out that this woman had been in a car accident the night she showed up battered and asking me for help.  Instead of seeking treatment for her injuries she came to me with a story and asking for help.   The doctor then told me that she had been hurt in that accident and because she did not get medical attention she now had peritonitis. They were not expecting her to make it through the night. Less than 24 hours after they picked her up, she had passed away. 

Over the next few years, I lived a nightmare.  Back in 2001 they did not have many laws to protect people who had their identity stolen. If they did the police that I was dealing with and the attorneys that I had did not have a clue that they did. This woman’s husband was wanted in several states for theft and for fraud. He knew there would be trouble ahead, so he did not even bother to show up at her funeral.  I lost my apartment, found out I had two other apartments in my name and I had over 30 credit cards attached to my social security number. Her husband cleaned out my bank account while she was in the hospital. I lost my job because collectors kept coming in asking about money. I had collectors at my door, got sued by several companies, and was in such financial ruin that it took almost a decade to get things fixed.  I still have things pop up from time to time because of it, but luckily they now have laws that protect people.

One night when I had reached my limit, I was ready to just die, give up, and walk away from this life. In desperation I called out "GOD!!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!! PLEASE!!! I'm Sorry I just need help!!"

What I learned that night is that God was right there. He was in the Wilderness the whole time. Every step I took, he took with me. As we walked he was whispering "Child, dont you see me, I am here with you" When I called out to the Lord, he responded Just like he did with Moses and so many others in the Bible.

Many of you reading this right now are out in the wilderness.  What is in your wilderness?  Anxiety, Addiction, Anger, Isolation, Deppression Fear, Worry, Guilt, Shame?  Whatever it is God knows you are there.  He has been right there walking along with you.  You know what HE is waiting for?  He is waiting for you to cry out like Moses did.  Like I did! He is waiting for you! Cry out to the Lord! He wants to help you and he will never fail you!

Luke 11:9-10 says: "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

God won't leave you hanging! His word promises that if you seek him, you will find him. God may not answer you exactly how you expect, but he will never fail you!! Let him bring you out of your Wilderness.

If you are unsure of what to say or if you have not invited God into your heart the following is a prayer for you. Lord, I need your help! I do not know what to do and I am a t a loss for words. Your word tells me that you can make a way when there is now way. That you help the lost become found. I feel so lost right now. I know I have made mistakes and I am sorry that I have ended up here. I need your help Lord. Help me come out of this. Please forgive me for the things that I have done. God, I am giving you my heart right now. I beleive that Jesus was your son and that he died on the cross so that I could be forgiven for my sins. Please come into my heart and help me now Lord. Amen