God's Wilderness School
“And the word of the LORD came to him: ’Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.’"—1 Kings 17:2-4
To be used of God, we must graduate from God’s wilderness school. It is not a school that grades intelligence, ability, personality, or rank. It is based upon obedience and faith—obeying God’s command in faith to do whatever He desires or commands us to do. God had a task for Elijah and he had to be trained privately before he could be used publicly. God takes us as we are, but He doesn’t leave us there. It is not because of our accomplishments, background, degrees, or natural acumen that God will use us. It is because we have taken the time to be in His presence, to nurture the spiritual life. And the spiritual life can only be nurtured by leaving behind what we know: “Depart from here…” We must follow the command of God unequivocally, as Elijah did: “So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.”—1 Kings 17:5.
God always must call us from what we know before He will use us for His purposes. He takes us to the wilderness to strip us of our self-sufficiency, self-righteousness, and self-interest, and mold us into vessels ready for His use. As A.W. Pink, a Bible teacher from the mid-twentieth century, wrote,
“Every servant that God designs to use must pass through the trying experience of Cherith before he is ready for the triumph of Carmel. This is an unchanging principle in the ways of God. Joseph suffered the indignities of both the pit and the prison before he became governor of all Egypt, second only to the king himself. Moses spent one third of his long life at ‘the backside of the desert’ before Jehovah gave him the honor of leading His people out of the house of bondage. David had to learn the sufficiency of God’s power on the farm before he went forth and slew Goliath in the sight of the assembled armies of Israel and the Philistines. Thus it was, too, with the perfect Servant: thirty years of seclusion and silence before He began His brief public ministry. So too with the chief of His ambassadors: a season in the solitudes of Arabia was his apprenticeship before he became the apostle to the Gentiles.”—A.W. Pink, The Life of Elijah, p. 41-42.
God’s servants all go through a period of refinement, whether on the anvil to be honed, on the potter’s wheel to be hollowed out, or in the crucible to remove any impurities. God will use whatever instrument He sees fit to prepare His servant for His purpose.
The wilderness school has been God’s primary means of preparation for many of His servants. And He did the same with Elijah. With the nation of Israel at a spiritual all-time low, Elijah needed significant time to be prepared for the task God had prepared for Him.
Has God called you to be a student in His wilderness school? If so, know that God is breaking you down to build you up so that you may be of great use for His glory and His kingdom. Amen.
To be used of God, we must graduate from God’s wilderness school. It is not a school that grades intelligence, ability, personality, or rank. It is based upon obedience and faith—obeying God’s command in faith to do whatever He desires or commands us to do. God had a task for Elijah and he had to be trained privately before he could be used publicly. God takes us as we are, but He doesn’t leave us there. It is not because of our accomplishments, background, degrees, or natural acumen that God will use us. It is because we have taken the time to be in His presence, to nurture the spiritual life. And the spiritual life can only be nurtured by leaving behind what we know: “Depart from here…” We must follow the command of God unequivocally, as Elijah did: “So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.”—1 Kings 17:5.
God always must call us from what we know before He will use us for His purposes. He takes us to the wilderness to strip us of our self-sufficiency, self-righteousness, and self-interest, and mold us into vessels ready for His use. As A.W. Pink, a Bible teacher from the mid-twentieth century, wrote,
“Every servant that God designs to use must pass through the trying experience of Cherith before he is ready for the triumph of Carmel. This is an unchanging principle in the ways of God. Joseph suffered the indignities of both the pit and the prison before he became governor of all Egypt, second only to the king himself. Moses spent one third of his long life at ‘the backside of the desert’ before Jehovah gave him the honor of leading His people out of the house of bondage. David had to learn the sufficiency of God’s power on the farm before he went forth and slew Goliath in the sight of the assembled armies of Israel and the Philistines. Thus it was, too, with the perfect Servant: thirty years of seclusion and silence before He began His brief public ministry. So too with the chief of His ambassadors: a season in the solitudes of Arabia was his apprenticeship before he became the apostle to the Gentiles.”—A.W. Pink, The Life of Elijah, p. 41-42.
God’s servants all go through a period of refinement, whether on the anvil to be honed, on the potter’s wheel to be hollowed out, or in the crucible to remove any impurities. God will use whatever instrument He sees fit to prepare His servant for His purpose.
The wilderness school has been God’s primary means of preparation for many of His servants. And He did the same with Elijah. With the nation of Israel at a spiritual all-time low, Elijah needed significant time to be prepared for the task God had prepared for Him.
Has God called you to be a student in His wilderness school? If so, know that God is breaking you down to build you up so that you may be of great use for His glory and His kingdom. Amen.
I'm so thankful for your faithful devotions. I love your blog, and find it strikingly similar in theme to that of my own. Keep posting for the glory of God!
ReplyDeleteIn Christ,
Dakota