Remember the Wilderness

“And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” (Deut. 8:2).

Think back on a time in your life when you wandered in the wilderness. Perhaps you were without a job and as the months went by without a single job offer, you wondered if you’d ever find one. Or maybe you journeyed through the wilderness of physical pain. Your doctors ran test after test and you thought you’d never find an answer or relief. Maybe you journeyed through the wilds of grief, a journey that seemed unending. Whatever the journey, would you want to remember it? I don’t know about you, but such journeys I want to keep in the past. I want to forget they ever happened. But in Deuteronomy 8, Moses calls the people of Israel to remember their desert wanderings.

God’s people had wandered in the desert for forty years and they are about the enter the Promised Land. Moses describes their years of wandering as a time of testing and of discipline (vv. 2-3,5). During all those years, God provided for their needs. He fed them manna. He kept their clothes from wearing out. Their feet didn’t swell. They were never on their own; he led them by fire and a cloud. He brought them through the wilderness and to a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deuteronomy 8 is a warning for Israel as they exit the wilderness. It is a warning for them to remember who God is and what he has done. Because what happens when they forget? Pride and idolatry. “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (v. 17-18). When they forget who God is—the God who rescued them from slavery, who provided for them all their needs, the One upon whom they are dependent for all things—they exalt themselves. Such forgetfulness leads to arrogance, thinking they are the reason for their success.

Idolatry is second thing that happens when they forget the wilderness. “And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish” (v.19). Once they forget the God who delivered and sustained them, they then yield their hearts to false gods. It had already happened during their time in the wilderness. When Moses was on the mountain talking with God, the people had Aaron make them a golden calf to worship. As we know, they did not heed this warning for the Old Testament is filled with accounts of God’s people worshipping false gods. And as God promised in Deuteronomy 8, they experienced the punishment for it when they were taken into captivity.

On this side of redemption history, we too need to remember the wilderness. We need to remember how the Lord has carried us through past trials and temptations, through sufferings and hardships. We need to remember his provisions of grace. Not to wallow in it. Not to get stuck in the past. But so that our hearts won’t grow prideful. So that we won’t depend upon ourselves. So that we won’t turn to counterfeit gods and look to them for help and hope, deliverance and rescue. We need to remember the faithful love of our Father, who brings us through such wanderings in order that we would know him and depend upon him (see Heb. 12). He uses the wilderness to discipline and shape us—to transform us into the image of Christ. “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him” (vv.5-6).

Moses wants the people to remember God’s grace for them. In the next chapter, Moses points out that it is entirely because of his grace and his covenantal love for them—not Israel’s righteousness—that he brought them through the wilderness and into the land he promised: “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD” (Deut. 9:6-7). So too, God brings us through the wilderness and into the land of his goodness, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of his grace for us in Christ. We too are stubborn. We too rebel against him. We too turn from God to do our own thing. Praise him for his steadfast love and faithful grace!

In Deuteronomy 9, Moses recounts to the people how he interceded for them when they sinned and worshipped the golden calf (vv.18-29). His intercession is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, the One who would come as our perfect mediator. He too wandered in the wilderness, but in his wandering he never sinned. He didn’t give in to the devil’s temptation to pride or idolatry (see Matt. 4). In fact, Jesus responded to the devil with a quote from Deuteronomy 8: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). When we are forgetful—when we forget the wilderness and what God has done for us there—Jesus remembers for us. He stands before the Father on our behalf, interceding for us. And his righteousness covers us.

Let us remember our wilderness wanderings. Let us remember how God carries and provides and sustains by his grace. But above all, let us remember our Savior, whose own wilderness wanderings is credited to us.

Psalm 66: On the Other Side of Affliction

My husband recently bought me one of those exercise bikes that comes with a virtual coach. As you ride the bike, you watch a trainer on the screen who tells you how fast to go and pushes you to work harder. One particular trainer often relishes in the discomfort that comes from increased speed and resistance. She often says, “Isn’t this great? Don’t you just feel so good?”

Well, maybe?

I’m still deciding.

While some might appreciate the discomfort that comes from working out, we certainly don’t appreciate the discomfort, heartache, and sorrow that come with the afflictions of life. I know I don’t. I don’t see anything good in them. They are difficulties I avoid, resist, and run from.

But in reading the Psalms, I find another perspective on affliction. In Psalm 66, we find the psalmist leading God’s people in a chorus of praise to God. They exalt the Lord for who he is and what he has done. They remember his past works and honor his great name. They marvel at his power over their enemies. hen, inserted into this doxology, they praise God for his work in their afflictions. The psalmist conducts a chorus of praise to God for the afflictions he brought upon them:

“For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance” (Ps. 66:10-12)

The psalmist sees these afflictions as coming from God’s hand. We don’t know the exact circumstances of these sufferings and it may refer to multiple afflictions God’s people experienced during their history, but from the words the psalmist uses, they are significant. God’s people were bound and ruled over by tyrants. They were ridden down like animals. As silver is repeatedly put into the fire, so too were they repeatedly tested and tried.

Anyone who has endured lasting affliction knows how wearying it is. They know how hard it is to endure, to keep moving forward and not give up hope. They know how often they cry out for God’s deliverance and rescue. They know what it is to weep and lament. I know I do. And to be honest, I’m rarely grateful for the afflictions the Lord brings into my life. I don’t appreciate the struggle of refinement. And I certainly don’t sing praise to the Lord for it.

In this psalm, we see their affliction was brought about by the hands of God for their purification. Just as a father disciplines his son, God disciplines his children. He brings them through troubles and hardship to teach and train them (Heb. 12). The psalmist’s words are a reminder that God is not unaware of the suffering of his people and that he uses even the injustices of the ungodly against his people for their good. This reminds us of the well-known words of Paul, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). It also reminds us that we shouldn’t be surprised by hardships and affliction when it comes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet. 4:12).

The psalmist looks back on the other side of their affliction and leads the people in a song of praise to God for bringing them through their hardships and into a place of abundance. Their suffering did come to an end. But not just to an end; they were brought into a place of abundance. The Hebrew word for abundance here is revayah. It means “saturation.” Imagine so much goodness that it overflows! As John Calvin noted, “The truth conveyed is, that God, although he visit his children with temporary chastisements of a severe description, will ultimately crown them with joy and prosperity.” As believers, we know this joy and abundance both in this life, and ultimately, in the life to come. We experience this joy here and now as God showers us with grace upon grace. We experience it through the Spirit’s work in us as he encourages us with the truth of our union with Christ. We experience it through the means of grace as we abide in Christ. And these are all foretastes of the abundant joy to come in eternity where all afflictions will cease.

The psalmist then switches from a corporate prayer of praise to that of an individual one. The rest of the psalm focuses on his own praises to the Lord, where he reflects on God’s answer to his personal prayers. During his own sufferings, he made vows to the Lord, and on other side of that suffering, he fulfills them (vv.13-15). He then exhorts the congregation to learn from him, to hear his testimony of God’s faithfulness to him: “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul” (v.16). He reminds us that God listens to the prayers of the afflicted. Even more, God doesn’t just hear us; he pays attention to us, “But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer” (v. 19). What a good and gracious Father! Because of Christ, we can come boldly to our Father in heaven and know that he hears us. We can cry out for help and deliverance and receive his rescuing grace. Even more, we can know we are not alone in our sufferings, for our elder brother walked before us in suffering, enduring the ultimate affliction in our place.

Grace upon grace!

While I’m still undecided about how I feel about the burn and exhaustion I feel from riding my exercise bike, I trust and believe that the afflictions God brings into my life are for my good. While the trials and heartaches are not good in and of themselves, God uses them to make me more like Christ and prepare me for eternity with him. Psalm 66 reminds me of God’s goodness and grace in those sufferings, for as Hebrews encourages, God only disciplines those whom he loves (12:6). It also reminds me that praise is the appropriate response to God’s refining work.

As believers, may we exalt the Lord both in our hearts and corporately as we testify to one another of God’s abundant grace and faithfulness. How can you praise the Lord today for the work he has done in your own life?