The Day of Trial in the Wilderness

Hebrews 3:7b, 12-13

"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness . . .’ Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." (NKJ)

We live in the day of trial in the wilderness. Each of us if we call God Lord and Jesus Savior, we live in that day of trial. We live in the wilderness. We know that our citizenship—our true home—is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). And so, this life, this day, we live in the wilderness.

And it is a trial.

Strong’s defines "wilderness" as a solitary, lonely, desolate place, being deserted by others, being deprived of the aid and protection of others. In other words, this is a place where we are not comfortable, where we are not at home. We are in a strange land and are considered strangers, outcasts, outlanders. We don’t belong here and many around us know that! They do what they can to make us feel that way.

And our response should be very different from what would normally be expected. One would think that an outcast should react with self-preservation at the least and angry attack at the most. Instead, we are placed in this foreign place to love those around us with the love that Christ Himself gave to us when He gave His life for us. Christ loved me when I was His enemy (Romans 5:8). His love was so vast, so overpowering that He could do no less than to die for me, than to take upon His pure body the full force of punishment for my sin. And now He calls upon me to love the world with that kind of love as the Holy Spirit Himself loves through me.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 NKJ).

While an enemy of God, He demonstrated not His holy judgment, but His love toward me. And now I’m called to demonstrate His love toward those around me.

We were strangers from God when we belonged to this world. Now we are God’s family and have become strangers in the world. We went from living in a comfortable place to now living in a wilderness. And sometimes in our discomfort in that wilderness, we attempt to make the wilderness into something comfortable. We think that if the culture around us or the political climate or the social morals fit our new lifestyle, that the wilderness will not be so bad. And yet, if we work to change the wilderness into something for our own comfort, are we perhaps wandering from God? Are we disbelieving that God Himself has the power to change people and places and circumstances? Have we given up on God and taken the "power to change" into our own hands?

I’m not saying that Christians should refrain from social or political activism. But when we lose sight of the fact that our mission is to share the gospel with people rather than to spiff up the wilderness, I believe that we lose sight of who we are and Who God is. When we think that our efforts to change the wilderness will do what God cannot do, then we become those who are departing from Him.

Every effort in my life should be toward the goal of sharing the love of Jesus Christ with those around me, with those who think that His love is meaningless and that His sacrifice wasn’t for them. Nothing else has meaning; nothing else matters.

© 2013 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.