DT 8:2Remember 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. 3He 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. 4Your clothes
did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5Know then in your
heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. 6Observe the
commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7For the LORD your
God is bringing you into a good land--a land with streams and pools of water, with springs
flowing in the valleys and hills; 8a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees,
pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack
nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. Lord Jesus, I
know I am a sinner. I ask you to forgive my sins. By faith, I give you my sins, my failures and lifestyle
and by faith I receive your righteousness into my life. I open the door of my heart and invite you in.
Please be my Lord and Savior and I will live my life for You and follow Your will. Thank you for
forgiving me of my sins.
WHAT IS GOD UP TO WHEN WE GO THROUGH TRIALS?
Does it not cause you to wonder why God who loves His people would send trials into their
lives? Daniel was a man of God but he went through tests that were hard on him. He could have
lost his life more than once. It was not a result of sin in his life but something that came from
God. Though we cannot see His hand in our afflictions, we can fully put our trust in His love for
us. As we see, here the Israelites have been in the wilderness for forty years. It was years of trial
for the people of God. It came from a result of unbelief. What can we learn from them when we
go through trials? You see God puts these stories in the Bible to help teach us how to live for
Him. So let us look at three lessons we can learn that will help us in our day.
1. THE CHARACTER OF IT.
A. It was long. God kept them for forty years which show the patience of God. It seems much to
our dismay that God has time to wait.
Noah- 120 years, Abraham-25 years, Jacob-21 years, Joseph 17/30, Slaves in Egypt 400
years, Judges 400 years, captivity 70 years, 400 silent years. I know that you and I have asked,
“How Long?” God knows and He knows when the time is up. Even Jesus asked this question
B. It was bitter . Look at vs. 3, causing you t o hunger. God could have prevented this but He
wanted to teach them to trust Him. 2 Cor 12:9 "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that
Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in
hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” I would pray that God
would give us a hunger for His word that would bring us a revival. Many times it has been the
hearing and hungering for God’s word that brought revival.
C. It came because the people refused to believe. They did not enter because of unbelief. It is
unbelief that takes away our receiving the blessings of God. I need all the blessing I can get every
day. When we doubt God and his Word, we cease to be what we need to be for him. Some from
the Bible- Thomas, Rich young ruler, Lot’s wife.
D. It came under the leading of God. Most of us would have let these people just die for their
disobedience but God did not. Vs two says He led them. It has been I am sure for all us times
when we did lay hold of that which God wanted for us and we have found that God did not
forsake us but led us to where he wanted us to be. He is faithful all the time. For forty years He
led them by a cloud by day and fire by night. It is today we have the leading of His Holy Spirit.
2.THE COMPASSION DURING IT. What was it that they had during those forty years that were of
God and not of their own doing?
A. There was bread from heaven. Every day they enjoyed from God food dropped out of heaven.
Now can you envision feeding 2 million people every day? God sent it down from heaven. There
was enough for everyone. To me this also speaks of the Word of God that we need each day.
1. It is the work of the Holy spirit to illumine the Word of God so it means what it should to us.
A prayer from the Bible says, “The eyes of heart may be enlightened.”
2. Christians need an anointing which is the ability to receive, understand and apply spiritual
truth. There are no great saints when it comes to understanding scripture. God desires that all
His children know the Word and apply in their lives spiritually.
3. Remember the antenna that we used to use for our TV? The problem we did not receive the
station was because we did not have the antenna pointed in the right direction. With the Word of
God, there is not a problem with the signal being strong but if our hearts are not pointed in the
right direction we will miss the message. “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things.”
“You commandments make me wiser than all my teachers.” I have found that I can leave off
reading my Bible as a daily doing and think it has not affected me. I know that because I did not
fill my mind with His message I filled it with other things and they are not wonderful things.
B. It says their clothes never wore out. Little is much when God is in it. Little boy’s lunch. The
robe of Jesus’s righteousness that comes on everyone when they are born again never wears out
though it is tested much. The world did not give it to me and the world cannot take it away. The
last verses of Romans 8:31-39 tell nothing can separate us from the love of God.
C. Their feet were taken care of. Forty years and there was no foot disease. I have had foot
problems but if I had been with these people no foot problem and i used them for walking for
forty years. God is able to preserve the feet of His children in their going out and their coming in.
"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." It is only if we turn aside from the walk of
faith that we that we start limping.
D. God’s presence stayed with them where ever they traveled. If you look a the route they took
you will find they wandered around in circles. Yet God stayed with them. Paul and Silas
performed a miracle and fnd themselves in jail. They sang and prayed. John was left on an island
to die and here God gave Him a message we still read today. God’s presence is needed in the
Christian’s life. "I am a child of God.’ "Fill me with your Spirit today God."
3. THE CALLING OF IT. God has purpose in every trial and we see three things here in these
verses;
A. He wants us to learn to relie or rest in Him completely. Do you ever get up out of your chair
when you get home for the evening and check it over to see if it is OK since you sat down? If we
walk with the Lord we will love to do what is right and to love mercy. God’s choice is to dwell in
the heart ofthose who are heartbroken and downcast. When God puts us in a humble place it is
there He can provide his heavenly blessings not known to the natural man.
B. He wants to know what is in the heart. When going though the furnace of trial it reveals our
true character. Job went through much and proclaimed that God was God. If God loves you it
tells us in the Bible He will discipline us and that means sometimes to send us through a trial.
C. He wants to teach us."Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of God."
1. In the beginning we see a verse that says the earth was formless and void. Does your life at
times seem formless and void? The next verse says, “Let there be light.” We need the light of
God’s Word every day as they needed bread.
2. You need to ask God as you read His Word that He may illumine it. When you are tuned into
God’s Word in this way it will make sense to you and your understanding will be enriched. If you
are not in His Word every day, you are not in a tune with Him all day.
3. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the
flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. "
So we would conclude by sayig if it takes affliction and adversity to make us realize our great
need of His Word the help of the Holy Spirit let it come for God will pour out His blessing on us
and do you realize that if you are not blessed something is missing in your life.
