Finding Purpose In The Wilderness
Have you ever made pottery?
First, start with a hard lump of clay, add some water, and knead it like dough to make it pliable.
A skilled potter must place the pliable clay in the center of a rotating pottery wheel. Using their hands to apply a little bit of pressure to the clay while the wheel goes around and around, the potter shapes the clay into the pottery they are creating. As they smooth and refine the surface, the object slowly becomes their designed masterpiece.
God is the potter. You are the clay.
He forms you to transform you to be more like him.
You can’t fast-track wisdom or have instant spiritual growth (here are practical steps to build enthusiastic faith and eliminate distractions and obstacles hindering your spiritual growth).
Transformation is a slow process of preparation.
The Scripture says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
The wilderness is God’s pottery wheel.
The more I study Scripture, the more I see the wilderness as a process of preparation in the middle of hardship.
The wilderness may look like isolation, but it can be a place to discover God’s purpose for your life.
For Moses, the wilderness looked like shame and regret. Before he led Israel from slavery in Egypt, he was part of Egypt, a Hebrew raised in Egyptian privilege.
One day, he asserted himself as the judge, inserted himself into a dispute, and ended up murdering the one he found guilty. Immediately, he left his home, fled for his life, and wandered in a desert of isolation and discouragement.
In the wilderness, God met him through a burning bush to remind him that his past did not disqualify his future. God chose Moses to return to Egypt to rescue God’s people from oppression.
The wilderness was the place where Moses discovered his purpose as part of God’s plan of redemption.
D. L. Moody wrote this observation:
“Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody; 40 years learning he was nobody; and 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
The wilderness may look like a battle, but it can be a place to deepen your trust in God’s wisdom.
For David, the wilderness looked like opposition from enemies and death threats from the king he was chosen and anointed to replace.
In the loneliness, despair, and grief, David wrote songs and poems to express the emotional struggle of trusting God’s wisdom even when he couldn’t see his plan or fully understand his timing.
The wilderness was where David discovered the path to finding God’s strength through heartfelt prayers and genuine praise.
The wilderness may look like a prison, but it can be a place to fulfill a greater purpose.
For the Apostle Paul, the wilderness looked like being in a prison. He couldn’t visit the churches he loved because he was behind bars. Rather than pity himself, he decided to write them letters. Those letters are still teaching and speaking to us today.
In the wilderness, Paul discovered the time to write God’s timeless instructions for all people to know the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The wilderness is God’s pottery wheel, slowly shaping you into the person he created you to be, preparing you to become his masterpiece.
The wilderness is not wasted time.
Consider how the people of Israel wandered around the wilderness for 40 years. Some commentaries point out that the journey from Egypt to the promised land should have only been an 11-day journey, but their conduct took them 40 years.
I won’t speculate on why it took so long, but instead, focus on what was accomplished because it took so long.
God did not lead Israel through the wilderness on the shortest route.
In his transcendent wisdom, God chose the best route that led them to deeper obedience, which prepared them for a greater purpose filled with his abundant blessing.
What seemed like wandering in circles, day after day, week after week, were pressure points of everyday moments. They learned to trust God as they dealt with the needs of food and water, how they related to one another, and how they responded under pressure in the grind of everyday life. It’s the same for us today.
Every day moments are opportunities God uses to shape us. These moments will tempt you to complain or teach you to praise (discover how God wants us to use the gift of time).
“Don’t grumble,” Paul wrote, “as some of them did. Be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed the people of Israel” (1 Corinthians 10:10).
Complaining is focusing on what God didn’t do rather than thanking him for what he promised he would do.
If you are in a time that feels like a wilderness, ask God to show you how he is slowly shaping you into the person he created you to be.
Choose to participate in what he wants to do in you.