“Remember all the way that the LORD, your God, has led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

The lesson and message of the wilderness

God is omniscient. Not only does He know everything, but He knows everything in advance. God knows the true disposition of our hearts. He knows who will betray Him, and who will abandon Him. When the trial comes, we are confronted with our own hearts, and we may be surprised to discover certain truths that we were not fully aware of.

Our reaction in the trial shows us where we stand. It is like a position indicator in our spiritual growth. It is an exam that reveals our hearts. Some, in the trial, will turn away from God. Others will draw nearer to Him than ever before.

“He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

If we do not understand the lesson, we will not understand the message. If we reject the lesson, we will not live the message. We must humble ourselves as we learn the lesson, and the message will reveal itself.

The message of the wilderness is that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Some people must go through all kinds of situations to finally surrender control to God and stop resisting. It is in the trial that we realize the sources of our lives.

What is your source?

In the trial, we are like a tree drawing strength from its deepest roots. It is here, in this trial, that we will naturally call upon what truly matters to us. Will we lean on God, or on our own strength? Will we seek another kind of water? Will we trust in man?

It is important to note that many events we call “trials” in our lives are only the result of our mistakes and our own choices. Sometimes we call a trial what results from our ignorance, lack of faith, character issues, or sin! We must discern the source of the trial: whether it is truly divine or purely human.

Israel’s attitude brought them into trouble. “And against whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?” (Hebrews 3:17). If they died in the wilderness, it was not because of God, but because of their own sins. “So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19).

The closer we draw near to the Lord, the easier it will be to believe in Him. However, if we believe He is the author of evil in our lives, we will distance ourselves from Him.

“Is Israel a servant, or a home-born slave? Why then has he become a prey? Was it not because you have forsaken the LORD your God when He led you in the way? And now why take the road to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or why take the road to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?” (Jeremiah 2:14, 17-18).

It is disastrous to let go of the hand of the One who leads us in the right direction! As long as we hold tightly to the Lord’s hand, we will stay on the right path. But many let go of His hand to drink from foreign waters that do not refresh!

“Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes flesh his strength, and whose heart departs from the LORD!” (Jeremiah 17:5).

Our attitude toward the various circumstances of our lives should teach us things. Yet, some learn nothing from the trial. They only sink deeper into their limited vision and understanding of things. They wrestle with themselves in quicksand, not realizing that the more they struggle, the deeper they sink.

When we trust in God, He reaches out and lifts us up, but when we place our trust in man, we drown. It would be a mistake to think that trusting in man means only trusting other people and not ourselves. No, we are included in “man.” It may be that we do not trust people, but rather our own thoughts and perceptions of things.

Humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and the trial of our faith.

There are times when the presence of the Holy Spirit comes upon us to humble us. We must distinguish between the humiliation of men and the work of the Holy Spirit, which aims for submission in humility. It is divine, spiritual. It intensifies to the point of making us bow the knee.

I have often experienced this “anointing of humiliation.” It comes upon me and compels me to pray and consecrate myself. It leads me to worship Jesus Christ and give myself entirely to Him. It drives me to surrender every corner of my soul—my desires, my intentions, my will.

In the fire, our foundations are shaken, purified, sanctified. It is in the fire that we choose “between life and death,” between our own choices and the Lord’s. In the fire, we surrender ourselves entirely to the Lord as a pleasing sacrifice to Him. Oh! God does not accept just any sacrifice, but He accepts the sacrifice of our lives surrendered to Him. He purifies our foundations to make us without spot or wrinkle, to glorify us in Him, to fill us with His glory, to fill us with His presence.

In the fire, death is replaced by life, pride is replaced by humility, spiritual laziness and selfishness are replaced by consecration, rebellion is replaced by submission. Oh! The fire of God! The fire of God is glorious and extraordinary, it is powerful and pure, it reaches our deepest being and purifies our desires. Call upon the fire of God in your life, but know that it will bring you to humble yourself, to surrender to God, to die to yourself. It will fill you with His glory.

“This greatly rejoices you, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ…” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Another biblical trial is the trial of our faith. In fact, the only fight we have to fight, apart from the one against our own will, is the fight of faith. The others have already been won by Christ for us. Persecution and the consequences of a life dedicated to God are biblical trials. The consequences of our mistakes are not biblical trials.

Peter, writing to believers scattered by persecution, declared that the trial of our faith was like a trial by fire. Under the fire of the pot, everything that is bad will disappear. Every bad source must leave our lives. We will have to decide to trust God and believe until the end, no matter what happens. It is here that we will see if our house is built on sand, or on the rock. We will see if we are rooted in Christ. We must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

The result of the trial should not be failure or downfall, but praise for the glory of God. Humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God is to trust fully in God. It is more than a mere desire. Desire brings nothing into reality. Desire alone is a beautiful hope, a nice wish, like saying “Happy New Year” to someone. It produces nothing.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

Trusting in God means renouncing our own ways of thinking, renouncing our “self.” It is to submit sincerely and deeply to Him. Our trust in God glorifies Him.

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).

As long as we have not truly humbled ourselves, sincerely, under the mighty hand of God, we will not see a change in the situation for which we are praying.

Regularly humbling ourselves is the key to a successful ministry and Christian life. Humbling ourselves is walking humbly before God. Humbling ourselves is allowing Christ to live in us.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: O God, You will not despise a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:19). We must reach this stage…

This text is an excerpt from the book “UNJUST LOVE” written by Jérémy Sourdril.

We invite you to read the following article “THE LESSON OF THE DESCENDANTS OF JONADAB (JR 35).”

THE TRIALS. THE TRIALS. THE TRIALS. THE TRIALS.