Coming Out Of The Wilderness

COMING OUT OF THE WILDERNESS

Deuteronomy 32:10 “He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

Desert = “to speak” Location, Vocation and Education.

Deuteronomy 8:2,3 “And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.3 “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

Transition is defined by Webster's Dictionary as "The period of passing from one condition, form, stage, activity, place, etc. to another condition, form, stage, activity, place, etc.

There are numerous transitions in the Bible, two major transitions that took place. The first is found in Deuteronomy 34, Joshua 1, and Joshua 3. The second is found in Acts chapters 1 and 2. In both instances, a major spiritual transition took place that took God's children from one realm of living to another realm of life. In both instances, an old transition was ended, a waiting period occurred and a new transition took place. In both instances, the mission on earth for the individuals involved was finished in order for a new purpose to begin, but the impact, power, and the anointing remained.

From Moses to Joshua; From Wilderness to Promise Land.

In Deuteronomy 34, we see in the first four verses where God took Moses upon the mountain to allow Moses to see the Promise Land, but not enter it. It was because of Moses' disobedience of striking a rock with his staff instead of speaking to the rock to yield water that caused God to punish Moses by not allowing Moses to enter the Promise Land. Here, we see the old generation and thinking come unto it's timely death and a new leader and a new generation getting ready to take what God had promised them. In the remaining verses within chapter 34, we now see that Moses had died at 120 years old with his physical health and vision still intact. It is in these scriptures that we discover that the Lord buried Moses to the point where nobody knew where Moses was buried. I find this very interesting that the Scriptures explicitly state that Moses was buried, but nobody knew where he was buried.

Even though the Scriptures does not state why God buried Moses in this fashion, I feel deep within me that the reason God buried Moses in this fashion was to break a spirit and mentality of nostalgia and yearning and worshipping the past. Just as Moses died and Joshua took over, old movements of God come into pass and a new move of God comes shortly thereafter. It was God's will for Moses to enter the Promise Land but Moses failed the test. In the Promise Land a new work and a new way of God's sovereign move was going to take place. Moses showed by striking the rock for water instead of speaking to the rock to receive water that Moses was not open to new moves of God. We see this today in the modern church. Where these followers of God in the past movement (in some cases, they follow the move itself instead of the God that brought the movement), do everything to preserve the music, messages, mentalities, methodologies, memories and ministry of their great men of faith, they have forgotten that they were once the Joshua generation that took a risk by entering into a promise land that the Moses mentality before them could not enter.

After Moses died, Joshua and the Israelites went through a grieving and mourning period for thirty days, it was in this time of transition where Joshua took over and the Israelites remembered and laid to rest the works of Moses and prepared themselves for the new work of Joshua.

Lessons learnt these forty years in the wilderness are found in the spiritual principles taught by the number 40

1. Realize we have an open window of heaven and look for the sign from the Lord that your wilderness is ending. First mention: Genesis 8:6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven and then a dove. He waited until he saw the sign of land that he needed.