God's Unfailing Love: Even In The Wilderness

God's Unfailing Love: Even in the Wilderness

TnT- Prayer - July 8 2025

Nothing demonstrates God's love more than His faithfulness to us in spite of our failures. Israel's wilderness experience shows us that even when fear keeps us from His best, God never abandons

I. WHAT FEAR DID

Fear Drove them out of Egypt

Exodus 14:10-12 (KJV) - " 10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?"

NLT - Exodus 14:10-12"10 As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the LORD, 1 land they said to Moses, "Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, 'Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!"'

• Fear drove them OUT of Egypt (fear of Pharaoh's army)

God hardened Pharoah's heart so that he would chase after them.

• Exodus 14: 4 "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them;

Fear kept them OUT of the promised land (fear of giants)

Numbers 13:32-33 (KJV) - "And they brought up an evil report of the land...there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers"

Il. God's Response: Faithful Love, Not Abandonment

Numbers 14:33-34 (KJV) - "And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years...After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years"

Deuteronomy 31:6 (KJV) - "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

• God sentenced them to 40 years in the wilderness

• But He never left nor forsook them

• He led them in circles until they died - but He led them

Ill. The Wilderness: A Place of God's Provision

Deuteronomy 8:4 (KJV) - "Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years."

Nehemiah 9:21 (KJV) - "Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not."

• For 40 years: clothes didn't wear out, feet didn't swell

Psalm 78:24-25 (KJV) - "And had rained down manna upon them to eat...Man did eat angels' food"

• Daily bread from heaven

• Water from rocks when they needed it

IV. Annual Opportunities: God's Persistent Grace

According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Israel "no doubt revisited annually" their stations during the 38 years of nomadic life. This suggests that every year they may have had opportunity to approach the Jordan River and cross into the promised land.

Deuteronomy I :6-8 (KJV) - "The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount...behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land"

• God's invitation remained open

• Each annual circuit was another chance to trust Him

• His love persistently offered what fear had refused

V. He Never Gave Up on Them

Psalm 106:44-45 (KJV) - "Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry: And he remembered his covenant for their sakes, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies. "

Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV) - "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."

"His compassions fail not"

"New every morning"

Even their children got to enter the promised land

VI. The Application: His Love for Us

Romans 8:38-39 (KJV) - "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Hebrews 13:5 (KJV) - "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."