Years ago in the church we sang Scripture songs, happy clappy little tunes featuring Scripture verses. One I remember well went like this:

Fear not, for I am with you!
Fear not, for I am with you!
Fear not, for I am with you, says the Lord!

If you’ve been around the church a few decades, you can probably hear the tune in your head right now.

We sang the words loud and commandingly to each other, like cheer leaders at a school game, smiling, clapping, fist bumping the air. We pumped ourselves up with courage and, by singing them, embedded Scriptures in our brains in places that will still be available even when our aging memory banks are surrounded by a moat whose bridge has fallen in.

That was early Christian days for me. I didn’t know then what I know now: how often in coming years I would actually need those words because of where the Lord Himself was leading me. Like, into the wilderness. Strange places I would normally avoid, with unknown challenges. Places that threatened my comfort and sense of safety. Places like I find myself in now.

What kind of God does that?

The kind who wants to prove to you beyond all doubt, that He IS with you, and that you don’t need to prop up your heart and life with anything or anyone else. Who is ready and able to take care of everything you need. The God who has the power to carry you safely through anything.

When the Holy Spirit began leading the Israelites to their Promised Land, he did not take the shortest route, he first led them through the wilderness! Only later do we realize why: His goal was not to conquer the miles, but to conquer and possess their hearts. To say, Out here, it may be just you and me, kid, but that’s okay. I’ve got you.

Why does Holy Spirit lead you through places of testing at times?

Deuteronomy 8:2-4 holds our answer:

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

When the Lord brought his people out of Egypt he could have marched them straight to the Promised Land, but he didn’t. He took them off alone with himself to an isolated place in the wilderness where they could get acquainted. Where everything they usually cushioned themselves with was nowhere in sight.

What was God after?

God’s goal was to teach them how to relate rightly to him and to one another, before establishing them in their new land. Otherwise, he knew, the Promised land would eventually destroy them instead of bless them. Freedom and abundance can do that.

The life God offered them required them to know Him, rely upon Him with all their hearts, to love and worship him alone. God had to construct a home for himself in their midst before he could take them to their new home. The purpose was two-fold: to show His full commitment to them, and inspire their full commitment to him. So that, as much as could be possible in the days before the Holy Spirit was released on earth, they could know their God.

In fact, apart from a strong relationship with God in which they truly got to know and trust Him, they could never truly attain, much less KEEP the Promised Land.

The test — whether or not you will keep his commands — is actually God asking: “Do you trust me?”

Without wholehearted trust in God, everything he has to offer you becomes irrelevant, unavailable, out of reach.

Sadly, while the Hebrews gladly received God’s gift of freedom and salvation, they did not give themselves to knowing their God. The result was they never truly trusted Him, in spite of all the spectacular things He did. In the wilderness, they whined for their stuff, rather than look to God and say in faith, “Thank you for being with us. We trust we have all we need in you, and will wait on you to do what you do.”

The Holy Spirit leads or allows you (by your own choices or what others force upon you) to go through places and circumstances that test your heart. Situations that require you to choose, that reveal what you reach for, what you instinctively rely on and trust in to be okay.

Why this test?

To discover (1) how much you need God and (2) how much you can truly rely on your God.

Yes, it sounds in the Scripture above like the test is about obedience, but that’s because obedience is the fruit of trust. God is looking for evidence that you truly believe him, and obedience is the best evidence of that.

We are masters at avoiding wilderness. We love and stick to the familiar, because we are afraid. We fear we will discover stuff, like how weak we are. But God gets that, and here is His response:

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 41:13-14

Wait. Did God just call His beloved nation, worm?

Yes, He did. A tiny, puny, helpless worm.

We avoid the wilderness because we’re afraid to discover the fact that we are tiny, puny, helpless as a worm. I don’t think God is saying you are a worm, so much as acknowledging that you feel like one. Although, the truth is, we are basically helpless as a worm without God.

You can focus on that. Or you can look at the part where God says — to his beloved worm — “I will help you. I’m holding your hand, me, myself and I.”

Here’s what God wants to happen in the wilderness: that everything that might steal away your trust from Him, will fall away. He lets that stuff fail so you you will know and never forget, He is with you.

Don’t be afraid of the wilderness. The wilderness is a place of discovery, a place where you get to know God in ways you can’t discover on the safe shores of your comfy places. And knowing God, Beloved, IS the Promised Land, your true destination.