The wilderness is no fun! It’s hot, it’s dry, it’s barren. Food is sparse, beauty is lacking, and danger is real. Granted, there are some hardy, adventurous folks who find delight in the challenge of hiking or camping in the wilderness, but even for them, it’s only enjoyable because it’s temporary—very few would be inclined to settle in and live there.
So also for the people of Israel, after God delivered them out of Egypt, the wilderness was not their destination of choice. Rather, because of their disobedience and their lack of trust in God, they wandered and hungered and thirsted and complained for forty long years in the wilderness. It was not fun.
But God says something to his people through Moses, as they are about to leave the wilderness and enter the Promised Land. God gives them a different picture of the wilderness than perhaps how they were viewing it. They likely saw the wilderness as a punishment for their sinful grumbling and disobedience. But God tells them it was a test. “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.” (Deuteronomy 8:2, italics added)
Notice that God says he led them in the wilderness. God was present with them, intentionally leading them, not just through it but in it. And the purpose was to humble them and test them, to reveal what was in their heart.
That is what any kind of test does—it reveals. When I failed my DMV behind-the-wheel driving test as a 17-year-old, it revealed (much to my chagrin at the time!) that I was not yet ready to be driving a car on the road. I’m thankful (now) for that test—it’s possible that it saved my life or others’ lives by making me wait and learn further before driving on my own. Tests, whether in school or the workplace, reveal whether or not we have mastered the skills or material we’re learning.
Hardship. Suffering. Loss. Pain. Grief. These are all tests for us, like the wilderness was a test for the people of Israel. God leads us in them—though we may not feel his presence—not to punish us but to reveal what is in our hearts. Will we trust that his heart is good, even when we suffer like Job did? Will we hold tightly to Jesus in our pain, or will we seek relief outside of relationship with him? Does our loss or grief start revealing self-centered beliefs that everything should go our way? Do the everyday pressures and stresses of a life that is hard prove our determination to live independently from God?
Or…are we learning to lean on the wisdom of God when that unexpected diagnosis comes our way? Will we train our hearts to truly know it is well with our soul even when the “sorrows like sea billows roll”? Can we trust in the mercy and kindness of our Lord rather than running after empty escape or relief? Are we reminding ourselves of all that Jesus suffered on our behalf, in order to give us life and hope beyond this broken, sinful world? Tests also reveal the ways that our hearts are being transformed to reflect the glory of Christ more and more.
As God reminded his people of his faithful presence in the wilderness, he also warned them that the comfortableness of the Promised Land would be another test. Thus, he instructed them not to forget the Lord their God… “who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.” (Deuteronomy 8:16, italics added) May we who are in Christ also rest in that assurance that the hard things in our lives are given by God to do us good in the end.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:16-18)