September 21st

Read: Neh. 9:19-20; Phil. 3:13-14; Isaiah 48:10; Zech. 13:9

In Arizona we live near a wilderness called the Sonoran Desert. It has claimed the lives of many who have attempted to cross it from Mexico into the United States. Such a wilderness was faced by the children of Israel daily for forty years. It was forty years of hardship and struggle for all of them.

I have never faced such a physical wilderness, but in the spiritual realm I have lost my way so that God had to search me out and set me on His paths again. Each time the end of the experience has found me blessed with a closer relationship to Him. There is always a blessing when God does His work of tempering us.

WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE
When wilderness experience
Never seems to end
And desert paths lead nowhere
As on your way you tread,
‘Tis time to activate your faith
And believe that ’round the bend
Lie pleasant valleys waiting
Only a bit ahead.

For God has been preparing
Your heart for all He’s planned.
This tempering in His furnace,
This strengthening of your soul,
This proving your endurance
Beneath His guiding hand
Will be a blessing in the time
When Spirit takes control.

For when you reach oasis,
The folks who are gathered there
May just be starting on their trek
And looking with dismay
Out across the wasteland
Into the sun’s hot glare.
Then you share your experience
And try to point the way.

Prayer: Dear God, Thank You for Your continuing work in my life as You try me in order to bring forth Your gold. Help me to submit to You early in each lesson.