In Ezekiel 20: v 9-14 & 22…Three times in the same chapter God says how he wrought for his name sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen among whom they were, and in whose sight he made himself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
As we read this chapter, (Ezekiel 20) it recalls how first God made himself known to the house of Israel when they were in Egypt. This is a historical account which is a type of our personal experience when God revealed himself to us when we were in the world. The account continues to explain in verse 11 how God gave them his statutes, & showed them his judgments, which, if a man did he would live in them. The observance and obedience to these was to become a life style. Of course we understand that in the old testament we could not keep the law, but in the new testament, the gospel of Jesus Christ has been given, and the indwelling of Jesus in a believer is the one who fulfills that which God demands.
Even so, there is much to learn from the historical accounts of the children of Israel and how it applies to our present day situation.
Just as God brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness, the purpose was to get Egypt out of them! When a person has been saved from drowning in the sea, the next step is to expel the sea water out of them. We have been saved from the world when we become born again, but there is still a lot of the world which has to be worked out of us.
Thus God continues to work in our lives for his names sake that his name should not be polluted amongst the heathen.
Do I appreciate that the wilderness is not my final destination. My final destination is the Promised Land. A land flowing with milk and honey.
Don’t be deceived in thinking I cannot experience this until I get to heaven. Deuteronomy 11:9 quotes… ‘that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey’.
Deuteronomy 11:21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Gods purpose for the wilderness in our lives is, having brought us out of Egypt, now to get Egypt out of us.
Returning to the chapter in Ezekiel 20, verse 12 explains how God gave his sabbaths to be a sign between himself and the children of Israel, that they might know that he is the Lord that sanctifies them.
Brothers and sisters, let us not be numbered amongst those in Hebrews 3:18 who did not enter into rest because of unbelief.
I say again, the purpose of the wilderness experience in our lives is not to keep us in the wilderness but that we will have a change of attitude to that which God is using in our circumstances to change our heart.
Hosea 2:14&15 Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her, her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day she came up out of the land of Egypt.
If we read Joshua 7. we find there how Achan took of the accursed thing (v 21) and was then punished by death. Verse 26 explains how the Lord turned from his anger and the place was called the valley of Achor.
When the Lord reveals to us that the wilderness experience is meant to change our hearts attitude to one of worship in our difficult wilderness situations, we see that the valley of Achor which was the valley of death, becomes a door of hope as declared in Hosea 2:15, and I can sing in my wilderness and prove that the Lord’s plan for my life is to bring me to a Promised Land experience in my days on this earth.
May our prayer continue…I want to walk worthy of you, I want to talk worthy of you,
I want to number my days and walk in your ways,
I want to live worthy of you!