"Facing Frustration" Series

“Facing Frustration”

Wilderness Pt. 2 – by Pastor Nick S. Panico

(Rom 8:28-29 NKJV) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. {29} For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

I. Our pre-determined destiny is to be conformed to the image of the Son of God

A. Before time began, God determined that all those who would come to love the Son of God, would eventually be conformed into His image

1. This idea of being conformed into the image of God means that God would use various circumstances in our lives to transform our inner heart – attitudes…

a) Once the attitudes of the heart are changed, the behavior will change

b) The goal – that our heart attitudes will reflect the beauty of Jesus Christ, and our behavior will resemble what He would do in the situations we find our selves in life.

B. The process to bring about this transformation – the “all things” of Romans 8:28

1. As God weaves the tapestry of our lives, He weaves into that tapestry – blessings and mountain top experiences, and wilderness experiences

C. The wilderness experience is a time of leanness

1. It is the difficult road

2. It is a time when your usual support and provision is removed from you

3. It is a time when your human effort cannot measure up with the need around you

4. The Wilderness is a time when you cannot easily see the hand of the Lord in and around your circumstances

5. It is a place where it seems as if the Lord is not hearing your prayers

6. It is a dry place, spiritually speaking

7. It is a place of great pressure – pressure with a purpose

D. A wilderness experience can take on many forms in our lives

1. It may have to do with your health

2. It may be a relationship issue – in your marriage or with your children

3. Maybe it’s job related

4. Or having to do with financial issues

5. Sometimes your wilderness has to do with a lack of direction…

E. No matter what your wilderness experience looks like, there are some temptations which you most likely will face on your journey through

1. I believe it is the decisions we make on this journey through our wilderness that effects how long we stay in and what we look like when we come out

F. Last week we dealt with the temptation of FEAR

G. Lets look at the next temptation – Ex.15:22-24

I. Facing Frustration

(Exo 15:22-24 NIV) "Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. {23} When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) {24} So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?""

A. For three days they walked in the desert with no water

1. There is no more powerful drive and need that that of thirst

2. You can go weeks without food…

3. …But only days without water…

4. Water is a matter of life or death

B. Finally they come to Marah, and they find water…

1. Can you imagine how excited they were when they saw the glimmering pools of water?

2. Deliverance from their problems seemed at hand.

3. …and then as they attempted to satisfy their thirst, they find the water bitter…

4. It’s not that the water just had a bad taste to it…

5. It was undrinkable brackish water that would not quench their thirst but only make it worse.

C. The water was a picture of what was in their hearts all along…

1. All along this trip in the wilderness the bitter water was there

2. They focused on their lack

3. They were angry about what they had to leave behind, even though it was bondage

4. The bitterness was a heart attitude, and came because of their frustration over their circumstances.

D. Watch out for the temptation of frustration

E. Frustration

1. a deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs

2. Once frustrated a person often becomes embittered

3. Bitterness seeps into the heart attitude of the person frustrated

F. This heart attitude can be heard…

1. “I don’t deserve this”

2. “God, why did you allow this to happen to me?”

3. “Where are you anyway?”

4. “You don’t really love me, if you did you would never allow this to go on.”