Matthew 4:1
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Because Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted, we can be sure we will as well. The wilderness is a terrifying place – hot, barren and wearisome. There is no comfort there, and no familiarity to anchor us in our daily routines. All that is stripped away to lead us to focus only on our God to provide for us and lead us out of that fiery desert.
So just what are we likely to be tempted by in our wilderness seasons? Let’s take a look at the Word of God to get an idea of temptations we can expect to show up in our wilderness seasons.
1. To Worry and be Fearful Num. 13:32-33, 14:1
Numbers 13:32-33
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Numbers 14:1
1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
When we are under pressure in a wilderness season, whatever is dark in our hearts will rise to the surface. This often results in worry, fearfulness and other bad behaviors. In a wilderness season, our ability to provide for ourselves is usually taken from us and we become terrified as we watch our bills continue to come in the mail, but we don’t have any paycheck on the other side to pay them with. What will we do? How will we live?
Fear and sin are our two biggest hindrances in the wilderness seasons.
When the Children of Israel were taken up to the Jordan were taken to the Jordan and were about to cross over, most of the spies came back saying there were giants in the land, and they were nothing up against them. Everyone became afraid.
Solution: Find the verses that promise your provision and confess them. Study them and confess until you believe every last one of them.
2. To gossip and backbite Numbers 12:2, 14:2
Numbers 12:2
2 And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
Numbers 14:2
2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
One of Satan’s favorite tactics to get our attention off God is to get our attention on someone else’s faults or sin. After all, if we are looking at theirs, we aren’t paying any attention to ours.
Whenever we gossip, God will put us in a situation similar to what the person we’re gossiping about is in, and make sure we get the full effect so we can repent.
Gossip and slander are the devil’s work, not God’s, and we don’t need to be participating in them.
3. To Murmur and Complain Exodus 16:2-3
Exodus 16:2-3
2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
The hardest thing to do when everything in your life is going wrong is to keep your mouth shut.
When we hurt, we want others to know it. We don’t want to have to go through all that, but if we do have to go through it, we want to be sure everybody knows it.
Our murmuring is against God Himself, the Word says in Ex 16:8.
Never, ever say, nothing can get worse or what else can possibly go wrong. Because you don’t want to know.
4. To find an idol to focus on in our situation when God does not show up in our situation when we think He should have shown up. Exodus 32:1
Exodus 32:1
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Moses was up on the mountain getting instruction for them and didn’t come back down when they thought he should so they took matters into their own hands. That turned out to be a very bad idea.
When we are in a wilderness season, our comforts have been stripped away in order to get our attention on God. As the pressure increases on us, we humans we want something to comfort us – even for a few minutes or an hour, to help us get through that fiery desert; To give us some respite from the pressures we are under. And we feel like we deserve that too, don’t we?
No matter how miserable you are, you do not want to give in to the temptation to seek comfort in anything that is in opposition to God’s Word and when you are scared or hurting, the temptation is very great and the enemy knows that about you. He also knows what comfort you will be attracted to whether it is a person or drugs or whatever. Don’t play into his hands.
But God is faithful and if we will just hold on a little longer, He will show Himself faithful in our situations. No matter how scared or miserable you are in your wilderness is right now, you will make it much worse by getting into idolatry and you will actually PROLONG your wilderness season. We never want to increase our time in the desert.
5. To blame everyone else for our past mistakes Exodus 32:24
Exodus 32:24
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
Aaron blamed what he did on the gold and the fire. Blame only keeps us stuck where we are. We can’t change what we did but we do need to own up to it. God can’t help us unless we do, and we will stay right where we are. In the wilderness.
6. To trust in our own ability to provide over God’s
Exodus 16:19-20
19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.
20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.
We feel we can just save up enough that we won’t have to believe God for provision, but God will make sure all our reserves are quickly depleted when He wants to lead us into the wilderness to teach us to trust in Him.
We feel like if we have a job and a paycheck, we can take care of ourselves. We know from the recent past that our jobs can disappear overnight. Only God is 100% dependable. Jobs are temporary, as is our ability to work them.
God doesn’t need for you to have a job, an investment account or even a bank account to bring you provision. He is God. He can get the provision you need to you through any number of channels, from places and people that will shock you. Trust Him. He is God!
7. To faint in your mind and want to turn back to Egypt Numbers 11:5
Numbers 11:5
5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
I have a dog that is difficult to walk. She is interested in everything around her, which is good, but I’ll feel her pulling behind me and look back and her head is turned around backwards, so her feet won’t take her forwards. We can’t let our pasts pull on us when God is trying to move us forward or He will pass us over for promotion and choose someone else.
This is what Lot’s wife did as Sodom and Gomorrah was burning, she looked back. She probably wanted to go home and knew she never would again, but because she DISOBEYED what God was telling her to do, it kept her from moving forward. Looking back keeps us stuck. Now Lot’s wife is forever stuck in that moment of looking back, on that mountain.
When we’re in a really hard place, it is human nature to remember “the good old days.” We think about how much better everything was back then.
You know what? It wasn’t. And you are not going to go higher with God looking back at your past. It wasn’t better back then or we would have stayed there. It was different.
Keep putting one foot in front of the other, and moving towards what God has for you in the future. What He has is always better.
Wilderness seasons are full of temptations. And the pressure is on us from all sides. In the wilderness, God is trying to teach us about Himself. He is trying to teach us to trust Him. He wants us to know Him as our Provider, just like He was teaching the Israelites.
And if we will only believe, our manna will show up every day, too. And every time it does, we will be reminded of just how faithful our mighty God really is to His children who love Him.
