How God Sustains You Through the Wilderness | Season 02, Episode 04 | Simple Truth Podcast

Does life feel like a marathon that you didn't sign up for? If so, I've got good news for you. God has got the water. He's got the shoes. He's got the strength and everything else you need to finish your race. You see, every marathon runner knows the race is not easy. There are hills. There are doubts. There are moments when your legs scream to stop. But marathon runners don't quit, do they? Instead, they rely on what sustains them. Their training, something to drink, the support from others along the way. In the same way, Christians need to rely on what sustains them through the wilderness. And that's God. You see, like the marathon runner, you don't avoid the race. You have to run the race. And God is not going to remove the wilderness from your life. There are important reasons, as we saw from our previous episodes, that you're in a wilderness season. Instead, he will sustain you through the wilderness. He will strengthen you and give you the endurance to keep going through and out of the wilderness. You might feel tempted to step out of the race and to take the easy way, to find comfort somewhere, to avoid the struggle, but stepping away only prolongs the race. You want to get to the wilderness finish line. God's plan is to equip you to run the full course, to grow stronger with every mile, and to transform you when you get to the end. So, if you're in a season as a Christian that feels long, uncertain, or difficult, remember, you're not running alone. God is with you, providing exactly what you need when you need it. The wilderness isn't a place to escape. It's a place to be transformed. By the end of this episode, you'll see how to run your race with endurance, trusting God to sustain you through every step, every challenge, and every mile. Let's talk about how God sustains you through the wilderness in this episode of The Simple Truth. Welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast, where we open the Bible to uncover simple, biblical, and essential truths that can transform your life. And now, here's your host, Ted Ross. Hi, my name is Ted Ross and welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast, your home for biblical truth clearly taught and freely given. Welcome to season 2 episode 4 on how God sustains you through the wilderness. Why does this episode matter? Well, as we discussed in previous episodes, the wilderness literally makes or breaks Christians. And getting through the wilderness will be one of the hardest things you ever do and one of the most important things you ever do. This episode should encourage you by showing how God is faithful and how God sustains Christians through the wilderness so you stop trying to escape what God is actually using to shape you. So fear doesn't cause you to quit before you get to that breakthrough. So you learned where real strength comes from. And it's not yourself, folks. So you can endure this season, this wilderness season, without losing faith or losing joy. So you come out of the wilderness established, strengthened, and ready to walk in your calling. As you may remember, Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness we saw in previous episodes. And when he came out, he came out in the spirit and power. Knowing how God sustains you through the wilderness, it honestly changes how you or I endure the wilderness. So keep listening. I think you'll find this really important. Let's have a quick wilderness experience recap. Remember that being a Christian means following Jesus's example. And just as Jesus was led into the wilderness, every Christian faces a wilderness experience as well. For Jesus, the wilderness experience, remember, was literal. He was literally in the desert. He was literally in the wilderness where he was tempted, he was tested and he was proven and then he emerged in power. For Christians, the wilderness is a season of life where God humbles us, tests us and refineses us. Remember, as we read in Deuteronomy last time, so that we live more like Jesus. The wilderness season transforms us by breaking old bondages, building Christlike character in us, aligning us with God's purpose, and preparing us for his calling and to walk in his power. So, you can see this is extremely important for you and for me. Like Jesus, we will come out of the wilderness in purpose and power. So, what happens in the wilderness season? As you may recall, it typically begins after committing to follow Jesus Christ. Things that were once easy become unusually difficult. Usually, hidden weaknesses or impure thoughts start to rise to the surface, starts to even be a little bit agitating and you start to see yourself getting pressed and tested and pushed. And that is when you really commit yourself to following God, to seeking God. And we're going to discuss in next season some of these five key habits that are important for you to be able to help build yourself up and really make the wilderness experience as easy as possible. Old sources of comfort actually get stripped away in your life. You find that reading, praying, and praising become daily necessities just to get by. In the wilderness, Christians often face hostility or opposition from others. The Bible would call that persecution. You often run into strong spiritual pressure or as the New Testament describes it, tribulation. You'd have intensified inner conflict. You'll run into temptations or discouragement. But be of good faith. Be of good cheer. This is something that happens throughout the world, everybody. This is what happens to Christians. It happened to Jesus Christ and it will happen to us. That's why this season on what is a Christian I believe is so important because quite often you may be experiencing just what I've been describing, but you didn't have a label to put on it. You didn't have a word or a name to put on it. So, I'm hoping teachings like this are very helpful so that you can say that's what the Simple Truth podcast was talking about. That's a wilderness experience. Here's how God will sustain me through it and I will encourage myself in the Lord. As it says, you'll also run into at times unexpected challenges in finances, relationships, or health. But God is faithful. He leads you into the wilderness to get you through the wilderness. Sustain. When we talk about the name of this episode and how God will sustain you in the wilderness, sustain is an important word. Sustain does not mean avoid. Sustain means to strengthen or to support physically and mentally. So when we talk about getting sustained through the wilderness, notice that when you're in the world, people often they'll work hard and they'll play hard to keep going. So they take these times of rest where they just totally separate. Maybe they try to go get a massage or they try to go sit in the sun or they do something to try to totally decompress. with God. What you often find that you are sustained while you do the work. So going through the wilderness is not something where you say, you know what, I'm going to call a time out. I'm just going to go ahead and step away from the wilderness and I'm going to get a massage and decompress and maybe I'll if you've got the money, maybe I'll go on a vacation on a trip and then I'll come back into the wilderness and I'll I'll check time in I'll check back in with God. I have never seen Christians experience the wilderness that way. So if you try to take how the world approaches, work hard and play hard to keep going, you won't find that works when it comes to getting through the wilderness. I've seen faithfully that with God, we are sustained while we do the work, while we do what God is calling us to do. The goal isn't avoiding the wilderness. The goal is going through the wilderness, conforming to the image of Christ, doing what God is calling you to do while in the wilderness, and being transformed by it. God doesn't remove the wilderness from us. He strengthens and he sustains us in it. Sustain is not escape. It's the support we need to endure and to get through. And like a runner, and we talked about a marathon runner in this opening, but like a runner, God trains us, strengthens us, and sustains us for the marathon. We have a photo here, an image of a marathon runner, someone who runs really long distances. And for a marathon runner, as you could expect, you don't have to run a marathon. I think we all can appreciate and sympathize that for a marathon runner, training is hard and training is uncomfortable. But every week they go out and they do it, don't they? But during training, every marathon runner knows that core support sustains them. water, food, shoes, the right gear, sleep. These are the kinds of things that sustain a marathon runner to run a marathon. So God doesn't remove the wilderness the same way a marathon runner doesn't remove the race. Instead, God sustains us through it. So we're sustained through the wilderness the same way that a marathon runner will be sustained through their race. You might be tempted to step out for comfort, to step away from the wilderness, as I was mentioning before, to call a timeout. Don't do it. It only prolongs the race. You know, I have been a Christian for some time, and I've seen a lot of different ways people deal with their wilderness season, and it is pretty common for folks to try to get some form of escape. I recommend it now. Don't do it. It only makes it even more difficult for you. You're going to come right back around again like the Israelites in the wilderness to that same spot and you're going to need to make the same decision. It's not going to get easier the more often that you do it. God is your support for the wilderness marathon. Let's see how that leads us to our next simple truth. When you are tested, God opens a way that you must take. Let's take a look at scripture. 1 Corinthians 10:13. In this verse, we're going to see that we should be confident in God. He's got you and he always provides a way out. 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Interesting. No temptation, no trial, no test, no adversity has overtaken you or me except what's common. The issues that you're running into, they may feel great. You might say, Ted, you don't understand the issues I have. These are unique issues. These are big issues. These are bigger than any issue anyone ever has ever had. First of all, Jesus had all the issues and he overcame them. But secondly, the issues that I face that you face, it's common. It's common. We all have flesh. We all have such intense desires at times for things that we shouldn't. Things that are going to want to steer us off that that's not God. These trials, these tests, these adversities, these are common to other people, folks. We live in a big earth. It's happening all over the place. It's common. It's normal to the human experience. It's not unique. That's what this verse is saying. It says, "But God is faithful. God's trustworthy. God's reliable." So often you and I, we've had parents or we've had friends, they weren't reliable and they weren't trustworthy and we got this idea in our head that God is something like our parents or our friends or somebody who heard us. God's nothing like those people. God is trustworthy. God is reliable. If he says it, it'll happen. And if you didn't even hear him say it, it'll still happen because God does so much grace and so much mercy on your and my life that he'll do things way above and beyond we could even think of because that's how God is. And it says that with every temptation, with every trial, with every test, with every adversity that you or I run into, God will make a way of escape, an exit, a way out so that we could bear it. But it's for us to get through that exit. That exit may require fasting. That exit may require more praying than you want to do. That exit may require more reading of the Bible than you want to do. That exit may require you to do something you don't want to do. But God will give you an exit every single time. So pray. So fast. So read God's word. So meditate on the gospel. Seek to be led by God's spirit so that you can find the way of escape in the wilderness. There's going to be many of them. And that you can bear it. To be able to bear it is to be able to endure the hardship, to carry the weight. Thank God. In first Peter 5, we look at this idea that now that you're walking like Jesus, the devil becomes your adversary, too. The devil was the adversary to Jesus and he's your adversary now also. So 1 Peter 5 verse 8-10. Let's take a look at verse 8. It says be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. It says, "Be sober. Be sober minded. Be alert. Be focused. Be aware. Be on top of things. Be vigilant. Be watchful. Be on guard. be paying attention because your adversary, the devil. Your opponent. That's what it means to be an adversary. Your opponent, the devil. I'm around a lot of people who don't like to lose. I'm around a lot of people who are competitive. Compete with the devil. He's your opponent. Be watchful. Be vigilant. Keep an eye out for him. You know, stay alert, stay focused, be on guard. Compete there. You know, don't compete in golf and baseball and basketball and all these other things. Compete with the devil. He's your real opponent. So, put that kind of energy that you'd put into golf or basketball or getting good grades or whatever it may be. Put that level of energy into dealing with the devil. It says that he walks around like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour, who he could swallow up, who he can consume, who he can overwhelm. When you're in the wilderness, you'll sometimes feel attacked on every side because the devil does not want Christians walking in power or fulfilling God's purpose. You can't learn how to fight without fighting. I know some of you might be MMA fans or boxing fans, but even if you've never seen a boxing match or an MMA fight, you think you understand the fact that without practicing fighting, you're never going to learn how to fight. God will allow the devil to harass you to a certain extent. So, you could learn how to overcome the devil and win. my terms, not the Bible's terms, the devil is a lot like a sparring partner, someone who's going to help you grow in the wilderness. It's amazing. The devil is not equal to God in any way, shape, or form. The devil is a created being. And God will allow the devil to get in your face, to harass you, to throw some punches. And God is allowing that in the wilderness because God is looking for you to learn how to fight. God wants you to overcome your flesh and the devil. And so take advantage of the sparring partner, take advantage of this fact, you know, put your strength on and go ahead and fight the devil. It's a spiritual war out there, folks. And so as you're being challenged, as you're being harassed, take up your armor and fight. We'll get to that in a future episode. And it's not just you. Overcoming flesh and the devil in the wilderness is a shared experience. Many succeed. So will you. 1 Peter 5:9 it says, "Resist him." That's the devil. Steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Resist, oppose, withstand the devil, steadfast, be firm, be solid, be unshakable. It says the same sufferings, the same afflictions, the same hardships, the same pressures. Again, it's common to people we saw in the previous scripture. These sufferings, folks, they're shared. They're experienced by fellow Christians around the world. I know it's tough. I know we often want to think that somehow we're different or that we're just some unique case. We're not. We're not unique. We're not different. Many people have experienced what you and I have experienced and many people have overcome it through obedience to God. Let's join them. Verse 10. Verse 10 is going to talk about the idea that the wilderness will equip, settle, and perfect us for our purpose. So 1 Peter 5:10, but may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you have suffered a while perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. It says that after you have suffered, after you endured, after you deal with the hunger and the frustration and the the attacks and the persecution and the tribulation and wondering if God's still there and all these things that you can experience in the wilderness after you've endured it for a little while, God will perfect you. That means to be made thoroughly complete, to prepare you. God will establish you. That is to set you firmly, to make you immovable. God will strengthen you. That is to make you strong. And God will settle you. God will lay a foundation for all the things to come. That's good. I want to be perfected, established, strengthened, and settled by God. That's what I want and that's what you should want. That means we're converted. That means we're becoming the people God designed us to be to fulfill our purpose to walk in his power. It's a wonderful place to be. That's where Jesus was, who, by the way, is our example. Don't be surprised by the wilderness. It's following Christ, right? It's the Christian path that we've been talking about. First Peter 4 12 and 13, quote, "Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing has happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory, Christ's glory, is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. It says here, 1 Peter 4:12, don't think it's strange. Don't be surprised. Don't be astonished concerning those fiery trials, right? All this pressure that comes in, especially in the wilderness, as though some strange thing has come to you, right? Instead, verse 13, it says, "Rejoice. Be glad. Be joyful." You're sitting there with that pain and the suffering and the temptations and and you don't know what to do or where to go. Thank God. Humble yourself. Submit to God. Obey God. Be glad. Be joyful. It says that we partake. We share in. We participate. We have fellowship in Christ's sufferings. Thank God. The fiery trial that you and I experience, it's evidence that we're on the Christian path, that we are sharing in the suffering and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians who go through the wilderness feel so much better and happier. Why? Because you are close with God. Your habits are changing and you overcome the desires of the flesh. These are the things that have been making you miserable, folks. So much issues that have come in your life, they have come through our sin and our shortcomings. And in the wilderness, God starts confronting those sin and shortcomings and starts demanding that you obey him and it will convert us. And then we can start letting go of all these shackles. Remember in episode one, it says to Jesus said, "Take my yoke for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I love that. Thank you, Jesus. James 1:12, it says, "Blessed is the man who endures temptation." Sounds like the wilderness to me. For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. It says, "Blessed, happy, welloff." It implies God's favor and God's approval. I like that. I want God's favor. I want God's approval. And I want God's favor and approval in your life, too. God bless you. It says, "Blessed is that person who endures temptation. To endure is to persevere, to be steadfast under pressure." Yes. Show some strength to have this resistance coming against you and you hold still. You hold firm. You believe in God. You trust and you rely on that gospel. You say, "Jesus died, was buried, and rose again the third day for this temptation in this trial." Love it. And it says, "For when uh for when he has been approved, he's been tested, tried, or found genuine." Back to that expression again, "He will receive the crown of life." This is a victor's crown. It's a symbol of victory and honor was often given even with the Olympics. It says that and it's eternal life in God's presence. So that person who endures temptation has been approved. They've been tested and tried and found genuine. And that person who endures receives this symbol of victory and honor from God. And they get it here in this life. And they get eternal life in God's presence. Basically, your endurance shows your love. Don't just say you love God. That doesn't really mean anything. Show that you love God. Endure temptation. Endure suffering. Do the right thing. You're going to get blessed for it. And God is going to give you this victor's crown. Sounds wonderful. James 1:13. And here we're going to talk about how in the wilderness we're not being tempted by God. These are actually our own desires. So James 1:13, let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. Verse 14, but each one, you and I, is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. It says, "Let no one say they're tempted that they're tested, tried, or examined by God." God cannot tempt you with evil. He's not going to tempt you with bad or harm or worthless things. That word means it says, "But each one who is tempted when they are drawn away." To be drawn is to be dragged away. That expression is like prey caught in a trap. So when we are tempted, you and I, we're like prey and they're trying to trap us and we're trying to get dragged away to do that thing, that embarrassing, humiliating, terrible thing that we may really like. We're being dragged away to it because it's the desires inside of us. You don't need to be dragged away. Jesus died so that you didn't need to be dragged away. You have the power of God in you. You've got the spirit of God in you. God is on the throne and he has placed inside of you all the power that you need and put to death your old man. So don't be dragged away. You're dragged away by your desires, your longings, your lust, your impulses. God did not call you to live according to your impulses and your lusts. He called you to obey him, to be led by his spirit, to do his will. And it's a fantastic thing. And in it, you'll have peace and you'll have happiness. You'll have strength and health. And you'll have the money you need to survive. you'll be able to do so many great things in your life because God didn't call you into poverty or call you into sickness or to call you into, you know, being unable to assist or help anybody. He called you into strength, into righteousness, peace, and joy. That's what God called you into. It says that you are brought in by your own desires and you're enticed. You're lured away. You're deluded. It implies the idea of a baited hook or a trap. that sin disguises itself as something to be desired after. Much like Adam and Eve, but sin's not to be desired after. It's disgusting. And the effect of sin is terrible. So instead, it says, don't say that God has tempted us. God didn't tempt us. We tempt ourselves. We have desires inside of ourselves, and God is looking for us to obey him during temptation. And it will change us. It'll convert us. It'll make us people that we'll actually be very proud of to be honest and make us to be the people that can walk in the purpose and the power of God. And that's a wonderful place to be. Not everyone gets through the wilderness, but I'm confident you will. Let's take a look at that. Be warned, spiritual experiences don't mean successful Christian life. 1 Corinthians 10:es 1-5. So verse one, moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all of our fathers were under the cloud. All passed through the sea. He's describing the Israelites. Verse two, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Verse three, all ate the same spiritual food. Verse four, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So Paul is referencing the Israelites in the book of Exodus, right? leaving Egypt, passing through the Red Sea, right? To go into the wilderness to then be led into the promised land. So God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and they passed through the Red Sea. Miraculous. They were led by a pillar of cloud and fire. They ate mana from heaven. Can you imagine food from heaven? And they drank water from a rock. This was a miraculous wilderness experience. Many of us have seen miracle after miracle in our lives. We have miraculous wilderness experiences. But more than God's miracles, you need to humble yourself and need to believe God. So 1 Corinthians 10:5, but with most of them, this is the Israelites in Exodus, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. They didn't make it, folks. They didn't make it. That's tough. I want you to make it. We need to make it. But they didn't make it. The Israelites in the wilderness, they experienced a great spiritual beginning. God delivered them out of Egypt. It was miraculous. Much like Christians today, God will have this huge spiritual beginning in many people's lives. The Israelites were God's chosen people. like Christians today. The Israelites saw miracles like Christians today, but most of their quote bodies were scattered in the wilderness. They never made it into the promised land. They died in the wilderness and they never fulfilled their purpose. They were complaining. They were disobedient. They were unbelieving. Much like Jesus provides us an example in the wilderness on how to do it right. The Israelites provide us an example of how to do it wrong. You must humble yourself and you must believe the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection to get through the wilderness. Folks, it's not just some guarantee that God is just going to drag you along. All you have to do is keep going and don't quit. Hebrews 10:38 says, 'Now the just shall live by faith. But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. It says, "Now the just, those who God declares right, those who are approved by God, those who believe God, they're they live by faith. They live by their belief, by their confidence, by their conviction to trust God." It says, "But if anyone draws back, if anyone withdraws, retreats, cowers, shrinks away," this is very related to the wilderness, folks. If anyone runs, runs from God's wilderness, runs from what God wants from them. Verse 39, it says, "But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul." You will do it. You won't draw back. I'm confident that you won't draw back. You will get through the wilderness. Many have done this before as we saw in the scripture before, and many will. And you are one of those many. It says here, "We're not those who draw back. We're not those who withdraw, retreat, cower, shrink away. But we're those who believe to the saving of the soul. They're drawing back to perdition. They're drawing back to destruction, to ruin, to loss. But we're those who believe that we have belief, confidence, conviction to trust God. And we do it to the saving, that is the acquisition, the possession, the security of our soul. The wilderness experience is a season in the life of a Christian where God humbles us, tests us, and refineses us. And he does it to strengthen our faith, lead us by his spirit, overcome the works of the flesh and the devil. You could use this expression to break old habits to prepare us to walk in God's power and purpose. The wilderness experience, right? Remember things that were once easy become difficult and your issues surface, right? You face opposition. Bible calls it persecution. You face pressure. Bible calls that tribulation. These things happen in the wilderness. You'll be placed in situations where you must humble yourself and believe God. And in doing so, your soul will be transformed. Who you are, your personality, how you operate, the way you walk, the way you do things, it'll be transformed. Jesus was led into the wilderness to be humble, tested, improved. We saw that in Luke 4. We saw that in Deuteronomy. And so are we because we're followers of Christ. We are Christians. So as we ask this question over these two episodes of what is a Christian? This is an important part of it. Christians are led into the wilderness to get through the wilderness. You will be tempted to run from the wilderness. We saw in the book of Hebrews, you're going to be tempted to draw back, to cower. You will be led to some difficult places during your wilderness experience. You will question God. You will wonder if you had it better before God. The Israelites did. They said, "We had it better back in Egypt. What are we doing out here?" You may wonder that. You will be tested in relationships, finances, children, parents, you name it. You'll be tested. But trust me, more important than trusting me, trust the Bible, trust God. You're in an excellent place. If you are experiencing these things, you are in an excellent place. The only way out of it is through it. And you come out with power and purpose. Remember, the only way out of the wilderness is through the wilderness. You don't back out of the wilderness. You don't go sideways. You don't dig under the wilderness. You don't climb over the wilderness. You go through the wilderness. That's why God put you there. And when you come out, you come out with power and purpose. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Simple Truth Podcast. In this episode, we saw how the wilderness is not a mistake. It's a necessary season in the life of every Christian. God intentionally leads Christians into the wilderness to humble us, to test us, and to refine us. Just as he did with Jesus and other people throughout scripture, God sustains you in the wilderness not by removing all the difficulties, not by making everything easy, but he sustains you by strengthening you to succeed through difficulty. Temptation, pressure, opposition, these are real things. But God is faithful. He sets limits on what you can handle and he always provides a way of escape to endure and overcome. Like we saw in first Corinthians earlier in this episode, this is not unique to you and you are not alone. This struggle is literally shared by Christians everywhere. That's why I could teach on it as a podcast topic. What feels personal and even isolating is actually common to the Christian walk. That's why we could find scripture about it. And many before you and before me have endured, have grown stronger and fulfilled their purpose through it. Remember, the only way to fail the wilderness is to quit the wilderness. If you keep trying, God will perfect, he'll establish, he'll strengthen, he'll settle you by his ability, not because we're just great people. and he'll prepare us to walk in purpose and power on the other side. Just like a marathon runner isn't spared the miles, God doesn't always remove the difficulty from us. But he'll faithfully supply what you and I need to endure the difficulty. You may feel tired. You may feel stretched. You may even feel like quitting. But the same God who called you into this season is the God who is sustaining you through this season. He is strengthening your faith. He's shaping your character. And he's preparing you for what lies ahead. So keep running, keep trusting, keep leaning on God for your strength, for your provision, and for your endurance. You are not running alone. And you are not running in vain. If you enjoyed today's episode, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone else. Maybe someone else who's experiencing the wilderness. In our next episode, we talk about how to find your purpose in the wilderness. In other words, what is God's purpose for your life and how do you start walking in that purpose? You are not going to want to miss that episode. It has been a real pleasure talking about the Bible with you. I pray God bless you and God keep you. Until next time. Thank you for listening to the Simple Truth Podcast. For additional episodes, visit us at www.simpletruth.org