The Wilderness

Hello, and welcome to the Salt Church Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this week's message. Join us as we explore God's Word providing practical teaching for day-to-day living. The message you are about to hear was recorded live at our Sunday morning worship experience. If you would like to learn more about Salt Church, please visit us at saltchurch.

org. We hope that you are encouraged by today's message. And last week we talked about the valley, how we enjoy Him on the mountaintops. We can enjoy Him on the mountaintops, but we get to know Him intimately when we are in the valleys. And today I want us to experience God in the wilderness.

And the wilderness is different than the valleys because the time in the wilderness is a lot longer than the valley. Those are times where it seems dry and we seem desperate at times and it seems like a long, long, long season. And wilderness is usually a metaphor used for trials, for hardships, for wandering in Scripture. And when people are asking, how long am I going to be here? How long will this particular season last?

I am not sure what to expect next. I am not sure where my life is going to go. I feel like I am just trapped here. I have been in this job forever. I have tried to get to the next level.

I have filled out applications for promotions and this and that. And I feel like I am just still stuck here in this job. I could go back to school, but I cannot get loans right now. Or I am afraid that I will have to go in debt to go back to school. But it could get me to a better place, but I just feel stuck.

Or I still am in an apartment and I am renting and I have been doing that for years. I want to buy a house. I want to move on with life. When am I ever going to get out of this? Or another example is, you know, maybe you are dating someone and you are like, I am waiting for them to propose.

I am waiting for them to move on. I wish he would just take the next step. I feel like I am ready to get married and it is just not happening. Should I move on? Should I stay with them?

Whatever it is. And we always feel like when we are in the wilderness that we are getting nowhere. We are kind of trapped. We are kind of stuck. Life is secular.

It just keeps happening. We are spinning our wheels. Am I ever, God, going to get out of this? And then, as a result, we begin to pair ourselves to what others' lives are like. Right?

We look at somebody else. Well, they have been able to make this, you know, accomplishment. Or they have been promoted three times and they are, you know, 15 years younger than me. And we often do that and it just makes matters worse. Right?

When we compare our lives to others. And we often feel stuck. We feel paralyzed. We feel afraid when we are in the wilderness. What does that suggest?

That you are afraid. That you are lost. That you are without direction. You are without hope. And it is just a downward spiral.

And your life is a struggle. You don't experience joy. And I believe the Christmas season brings a lot of this in. Because if you are in a place like this. And you are seeing and you are comparing.

And you are looking at other people's families. Other people's households. Other people's lives. We do a comparison analysis. And it just takes us down that road.

Down that road in the wilderness. How do we experience God in the wilderness? When you look at the wilderness in the Bible. They are often followed by mountaintop experiences. Usually there is a.

Enjoy God on the mountaintop. How powerful he is. How awesome he is. You know. And everything is going right in my life.

We have this God moment. And then the valley comes. And then the wilderness. The landscape of the wilderness continues. And continues.

And continues. And continues. And continues. The wilderness experience. In fact.

Jesus. Is a prime example of this. He was baptized by his cousin. John the Baptist. What happens on that.

On that. In that scripture. The father. Comes down. Or there's.

Or his voice says. This is my father. This is my son. Who I am well pleased. Listen to him.

The Holy Spirit comes like a dove. And just. This miraculous. Powerful moment. And then.

Immediately. He's led. Into the wilderness. For 40 days. To be tempted by the devil.

To fast. And pray. And to seek God. The wilderness experiences. Happen.

And often. We. When we're in mountaintops. We. The switch can happen.

Real quick. Maybe. Things are going well. But a friend of yours. Has betrayed you.

All of a sudden. Maybe a business partner. Has betrayed you. And you're dealing with. The struggles.

Of trying to. To. To. To separate. That relationship.

And. And if somebody you trust. Maybe you're in a marriage. And. And.

There was infidelity involved. And you. You were. It was a great marriage. And you just.

I never saw it coming. And. And. It often leads us into the valley. And then.

Into the wilderness. And. And. I hate my job. The pressures of my money.

My financial situation. All these things can come into play. And bring us. To. To.

This wilderness state. It can happen just like that. Just like that. But the one point. I want to make.

One point. One. One thought. I want to bring. To your attention today.

It's just kind of. This is kind of a one point. One thought message really. And I want you to bring. Bring.

I want. I want you to really. Gather this statement here. It says. Your deepest need.

Becomes. Your greatest gift. When it drives you. To depend on God. Your deepest need.

Becomes. Your greatest gift. When it drives you. To. Depend.

On. The savior. Of your soul. God. And we see this example.

In Elijah. We're going to. We're going to study. Elijah today. One of the greatest.

In my opinion. One of the greatest prophets. In the bible. Very very powerful man of God. Very very close to God.

Walked with God. And in the old testament. We learn about. Elijah being. You know.

Used by God. In massive. Like. Big ways. Like things.

Like extraordinary. Miraculous ways. But yet. Elijah falls. Just like that.

Into a deep depression. And. A desperation. He's on the mountain top. And then.

He falls. Into a depression. Let me give you some context. What happened. What led.

Elijah. Someone as powerful. As anointed. And as close to God. As Elijah.

Into this. Depression. Well. There was this. King.

Named. Ahab. Ahab. Was a very evil. A very.

Crooked. King. You didn't mess with Ahab. But not. Only.

Was he crooked. His wife. Was very crooked. In fact. She was as evil.

As they came. And her name. Was Jezebel. She was even more evil. Than Ahab.

And Ahab. Was sharing. His frustrations. With Jezebel. Says.

I'm tired. Of this Elijah guy. He just like. Knocked out. Eight hundred and fifty.

Of his prophets. And he's frustrated. And he says. I cannot get rid. Of this Elijah guy.

And Jezebel says. Let me handle this. I'll take care of this. Ahab. You just sit back.

And I'll do this. And she sent word. To Elijah. And by this. And said this.

By this time. By this time. You're going to be dead. You know. Elijah's response.

If you look at verse three. Of first Kings 19. If you want to turn there. If you want to flip to your. Notes.

Or you want to go. To the screen here. It says. Was afraid. He was afraid.

And he ran. For his life. And when he came. To Beersheba. In.

Judah, he left his servant there, and while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, he came to a broom bush and sat down under it and prayed that he might die. He says, Lord, I just can't do this. I can't. My life is being threatened. And he said, Just take me out, God.

I have had enough, Lord, he said. Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors. And some of you are in the place where Elijah is. You're just done.

You've had enough. And you can handle a lot, but it's that one thing that came into your life, that one statement that was made, that one thing that somebody in your family did, that one thing that your friend said, that person at work said, that one thing that drove you crazy and drove you to the point. Those of you who have teenagers understand this, right? I mean, you're like, okay, that's it. You know, I can handle a lot, but, you know, don't make me come back there.

That's your term, right? Don't make me come back there. Or maybe you have a boss who's just negative and aggressive or just narcissistic or demanding, and you do everything. You've been so patient. You've worked, and you have the fifth write-up, and you just cannot figure out this guy.

And it just seems like it's going nowhere, and you just, okay, I am done. And you just, I'm done with this job. I'm done with him. I'm done with everything. You've had enough.

Or you're making up ground financially, and then the car breaks down. And then what happens when the car breaks down? Usually a pipe bursts in the house, right? And then you have water all over the place. And then a Lego gets stuck up the nose of your child, and then you have to run them to...

It all happens in threes or fours or fives, right? And it just keeps happening. You're like, God, I've had enough. I can't do this anymore. I just want to die.

I'm in the wilderness. I'm in the wilderness. Elijah was in the wilderness. You can handle a lot, but one thing can push you over. And one thing for Elijah, pushed him over.

I remember my mother, she was a pretty tough woman. You know, she could handle a lot. But she would get so frustrated with us. When the house wasn't clean, she would literally have enough, and she would wake us up at 6 o'clock in the morning, and she'd have a vacuum cleaner, and she'd come running through that house, and she'd be hitting the bed. She says, get up out of the bed.

Get up. We're cleaning up the house, right? I've had enough. I've had enough. And sometimes we do that.

We're like, I've had enough, and something's got to give. Something's got to give. You make dinner for everybody, and you've put your love and care in it, you know, and then your whole family comes in and eats in like 15 minutes and goodbye and leaves you, and you have like dishes all over the table. You know what I'm talking about, right? And you're like, I've just had enough, right?

You've had enough. And just Elijah had enough. He did these extraordinary things for God. He was a powerful prophet, yet he had enough. Let me just give you some things that he did.

This is how powerful Elijah was. Because he stood down evil King Ahab by prophesying a drought over him. And a drought came. He, for three years, King Ahab, full force, was pursuing Elijah. And while hiding, God actually sent ravens down to Elijah to feed him while he was hiding.

I mean, supernatural, miraculous stuff. And after that, he goes and he raises a child from the dead. He stands down 850 prophets, false prophets, that Ahab had set in place. He calls down fire from heaven, burns up all the prophets, all the altars, and destroys all the false prophets. And then he asks God to allow it to rain after years of drought.

And a small cloud, the shape of a hand, comes into the sky. And it begins to rain. It begins to rain. Powerful, powerful things. Things that you couldn't question God on.

Does he exist? Is he real? Is he powerful? Yes. Yeah.

One woman says something. And he flees. And he goes into a wilderness place, a depression. One really angry person, one angry woman makes a threat and absolutely falls apart. Can you relate?

I can relate. Not the woman piece. I know what y'all are thinking. One woman. See, all the men were really, really quiet there for a second.

They're like, I'm not gonna. One person, one situation, one thing, one event. And it leads us to where Elijah was. And when you look at Elijah, he seems exhausted. And maybe you can relate.

Maybe you're tired. Maybe you're exhausted. You're just like, I'm tired. I'm tired. If you're from North Carolina, I'm tarred.

You know? We say, I'm tarred, man. I'm just tarred. T-A-R-D. You know, tarred.

I'm tarred. I'm exhausted, you know? But there's a wonderful Christian psychologist that writes a lot of materials for Christians. Dr. Henry Cloud.

He's a Christian psychologist. And he says this. People diagnose the problem all the time. The problem isn't that people are tired because if they were tired, they would take a nap. And they'd get up and they'd be better, right?

You wouldn't be tired anymore. But people are still tired. The problem isn't that people are tired. The problem is people are depleted. And the reason they're depleted is because they're spiritually depleted.

They're not just physically depleted. They're spiritually depleted. And physical rest doesn't fix the problem. Physical rest will never fix the problem. You could take vacations.

You could take months off. It will never fix the problem. You need spiritual replenishment. You need a real encounter with the lover of your soul. Some of you need a real encounter with God.

You need God to pour into your life. You need intimacy with your savior. You need intimacy with your king. You need the grace of God to pour over. You need to feel his mercy.

You need to feel his reckless love that breaks down walls and comes back for you again relentlessly. Relentlessly comes for you. You need to know the love of a savior. You need to know the kindness of a God who wants to fill you. Who wants to replenish you.

That wants to refuel you when you're in the wilderness. Psalm 23. We all know it if we've been in church for any amount of time. It says the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

And he restores my soul. He restores our soul. So what does God do with Elijah? What does God do with Elijah? God doesn't preach a sermon.

He doesn't rebuke Elijah. You should have done this. You should have done that. That's not how he handled the situation. He doesn't ask, where's your faith?

Where's your faith, Elijah? You know, you saw what I did before. Now you're losing your faith. You know, there's reasonable things that God could have shared with Elijah. But he doesn't do that.

What does God do? He tells him to eat and rest. If you look at verse 5, it says, All at once an angel touched him and said, Get up and eat. And he looked around. And there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals.

This is a question. I'm going to get you for a fact. Thank you. And a jar of water. And he ate, and he drank, and he laid down again.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is get rest, is to rest in the presence of God. The rest in the presence of God. To be still. To be still for a minute. And the craziness of this season, guys, it's crazy.

Look, I'm telling you, my life is just as busy as your life. I get it. It's heavy. There's things going on. We're thinking about family.

We're thinking about parties. We're thinking about gifts. We're thinking about, you know, what's going to go. Trying to organize the in-laws, you know. Where are we going this week, and that week.

And we go, Santa Claus is all over the malls, right? I mean, he's everywhere. And people are crazy. And people are trying to get this latest gift. And all this stuff is going on.

It's crazy. And you want to, just take a minute. Stop. God, fill me. Feed me.

In your presence. I need your presence. We talked about last week, digging well. Digging a well. We need to dig wells.

We need to dig out containers. And say, God, fill this container. I need to be replenished. I need you. You.

In verse 7, it says, The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and he ate and he drank. And strengthened by the food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, a mountain of God. And there he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him.

So God's got him all fed and all replenished and he's got him rested. And then he asked the word. He says this, What are you doing here? What are you doing here? You know, I heard that very same word the day I was called to ministry.

As I was sitting in an office, doing my own thing, my own dreams, my own endeavors, all those things that I thought that I needed and I wanted would fill my life. And I heard the voice of God tell me, What are you doing? What are you doing here? And he's asking you, he's asking all of us, he's asking Elijah, What are you doing here? And I love how he says the angel came back a second time, right?

He said the angel came back a second time and touched him because here's the thing. You reject him, he's going to come back again. And he's going to come back again. And he's going to come back again. And he's going to say it again.

What are you doing here? What do you think you're doing? Why aren't you listening to me? Why aren't you doing... Well, I want to do it my way.

But it always goes wrong, right? Because you try to do it your way. And he comes back again and he keeps doing it and doing it and doing it. And he is... That's the beauty of God.

He is a second chance God. He always gives us a second, third, fourth chance. You didn't get it right the last time, but the Lord is asking you again. And he says that to Elijah. What are you doing here?

And the Lord says that. And Elijah answers this way in verse 10. And I don't know if you've been here. But I've been here. But we go into whiny mode, you know.

Well, God, you know, I'm going through this. I'm going through that. I work too hard. I do all of this. I try to do the right things.

And this is just happening. And everybody hates me. And my job doesn't work out. And if we're leaving, you know, blah, blah, blah. And we do that.

And this is what Elijah did. He says, and he replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put the prophets to death with the sword. And I am the only one left. And now they are trying to kill me too.

I don't know if any of you have felt that way and whined to God. But I have. I'm going to be honest. I've cried and whined and a lot of other things I probably shouldn't mention. But he's in a spiritual wilderness.

He's alone. He's desperate. He's hurting. He's crying out to God. I'm just done with life.

And his need is so great he can't see past himself. And that's often what happens. We get so caught up in the greatest possibility for God to work in our lives because we're so caught up in the moment when we're going through the pain and we have the need and we're hurting. We can't see past ourselves. And then God begins to minister to him.

He begins to meet his need. And I love how the next verse goes. And then Elijah meets, then God meets with Elijah and he says this, the Lord said, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord or the Lord is about to pass by. Oh, let's get ready for this. You know, the Lord's about to pass by.

It's going to get real big. It's going to get real powerful. It's going to be earth shaking. This is going to happen. Wow.

I'm sure Elijah's like, whoo, come on. Then a great powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, there was an earthquake that shook the earth, you know. Think about it.

The earthquake, rocks falling, mountains shaking. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And then after the earthquake came a fire, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. Okay.

Fire, wind, earthquakes. Isn't this it, God? This is what it's supposed to be? He wasn't there. It says, and after the fire came a gentle whisper.

A gentle whisper. The Lord was not in the wind. The Lord was not in the earthquake. The Lord was not in the fire. The Lord was in the silence and the whisper.

God wasn't in the remarkable. God was in the ordinary. God didn't use extraordinary means to talk specifically to his specific need. He just simply whispered closely to him. God was in the whisper.

God was in the whisper. Why is it that when life is so difficult that God is so quiet? Why is it that he's so calm? Why is it that he whispers to us when things are intense? When life is overbearing?

When we're overwhelmed by stress? When we're overcome by anxiety? When life just seems to be weighing down on us? Why? Why is God's voice so quiet?

Why doesn't he speak in the spectacular? Because that's what we all want. We're looking for double rainbows in the sky, right? Lord, speak to me. Why doesn't?

If he wants me to know him and experience him and trust him, why is he not speaking to me in these extravagant ways? Why does he whisper? He whispers because he's close. Because he's always close. God.

God is with us. He's close, and he whispers. He whispers because he's close. The devil shouts lies. The world shouts lies.

The noise of the world is lie after lie after lie, and we're running towards the lies, the screaming, the shouting. But God, in the midst of all of the noise, is whispering. It's whispering. Why? Because he's a close God.

He's a God who is close to us, and he's whispering things in our ears. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I am always with. He ministered to the valley.

I'm with you in the wilderness. I'm with you in the storm. I'm with you all the time. I'm with you. Where do you want to be when you are afraid?

Where do you want to be when you're afraid, people? You want to be close to some type of security, right? I think about when I was a kid, you know, and I was, you know, when a storm would come, you'd have the storm and lightning and stuff, and you'd run to your mom and dad's room, right? You'd run to mom and dad. Some of you with kids already have that happening, right?

Your kids run to your room, and I remember mom and dad, they wouldn't let us sleep in their bed. But, so we would just kind of sleep over on the floor around, you know, and because we felt safe there. We felt safe there. Because being close to your parents, being close to your father, being close to your mother, there was some sense of security there. In the storm of life, in the valley, in the wilderness, bed, I mean, under the arms of a loving Savior is where we want to be.

It says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Why does God whisper? Because He's close and He's near to you. He's close and He's near to you. Psalm 23 says this, He restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow or the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. He is a comforter. He is a good shepherd.

He is a good shepherd. And what does a shepherd suggest? That He has sheep. And what do the sheep know about the shepherd? That He is good and He protects them, right?

He cares for them. He goes out of His way for just one that is lost. And the sheep know their shepherd's voice. And what if we were to just get rid of all the noise and all the lies and all the things in our life that are driving us to do the things that we think we should do or where we think we should go or what everybody else is doing. And stop for a minute and listen to the calm whisper of God.

To listen to our shepherd. To know His voice. Because He is constantly, constantly speaking to us. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

If I go to the heavens, You are there. If I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dome. If I settle on the far side of the sea. Even there, Your hand will guide me.

Your right hand will hold me. Your right hand. This imagery of an almighty, powerful, sovereign God who spoke and the world leapt into existence. And everything happened just by His voice. I'd rather be in the wilderness with a God like that than be on the mountaintop.

I'd rather be in the wilderness, in the storms, in the valley, be without Him. Your deepest need becomes your greatest gift when it drives you to depend on God. There's a Christian author, excuse me, Arthur. Who's Arthur? Author named Joni Erickson Tata.

And a very prolific writer. He's written many books in Christian circles. And she, her story is really fascinating because she's a paralegic. She lost, she took a diving accident. She had a diving accident when she was 18 years old.

Lost all, pretty much all ability from this part down. I mean, she's been in a wheelchair most of her life. And she talks about these valley experiences, these wilderness experiences and how hard it is sometimes to trust and depend on God. But she would make the statement, she has so many good quotes. When I hear it's just God, just speaking to people who are going through difficult situations.

She has so many quotes in her books and her scriptures. But here's just a few, the first one, the paralysis is my greatest mercy. She goes on to say, my wheelchair was the key to seeing all this happen. Especially since God's power always shows up best in weakness. So here I sit, glad that I have been healed on the outside, but glad that I have not been healed on the outside, but glad that I have been healed on the inside.

Healed from my own self-centered won'ts and wishes. And then she says, this heartache forces us to embrace God out of desperate, urgent need. God is never closer than when your heart is aching. Is your heart aching today? He's close to the broken hearted.

He wasn't in the wind. He wasn't in the earthquake. He wasn't in the fire. He was in the silence and the whisper. For just a minute, listen.

We might just find out. Our deepest need becomes our deepest gift. Our greatest gift. When it drives us to. With all heads bowed and all eyes closed.

We're stopping just for a second, Lord. And we're going to allow you to speak. Minister to us, Lord. Holy Spirit. Begin to move your hand upon us.

Move hearts towards you. As you whisper, I'm with you. I love you. I have never left you. I've never forsaken you.

I walk with you through the valley. There's a person here today that you've walked all by yourself for way too long and it's time. Today's the day you want to make a decision for Jesus. That you're no longer going to walk it on your own. If that's you today, if that's you, I want you to say this prayer with me.

Lord, I admit that I've done it on my own for too long. I've walked this life trying to do it my way and I always end with dead ends. Nowhere to go. I've been walking through this wilderness for way too long, but today I'm making a decision for you. Today, Lord, be Lord of my life.

Come into my life. Come into my heart. I make way for you. I open the greatest container for you to come in and that's my heart. Walk with me from this day forward.

I give it all to you. I surrender it all. And there are others in here. I'm going to pray this over you right now. You're in a place that you just feel like you're never going to get out of.

The Lord says, I'm with you. I haven't forsaken you. I haven't walked away from you. I've done none of that. I am with you now.

I've always been there. Always. Although you couldn't hear me, I was there. Although you thought I was far from you, I was right beside you. You thought I wasn't in that situation.

You thought I wasn't tending to that need back into your heart. Let me fill the container. Give it all to you. It's yours, Lord. I'm yours.

I've heard my heart in my hands. I give it to you. Every bit of it. Thank you.