Desert Places

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading, titled Desert Places, was written by Allison Keita. When I was a young believer, I thought mountaintop experiences were where I would meet Jesus.

But those highs rarely lasted or led to growth. Author Lina Abu-Jamra says it's in the desert places where we meet God and grow. In her Bible study Through the Desert, she writes, God's aim is to use the desert places in our lives to make us stronger. She continues, God's goodness is meant to be received in the midst of your pain, not proven by the absence of pain.

It's in the hard places of sorrow, loss, and pain that God helps us to grow in our faith and become closer to Him. As Lina learned, the desert is not an oversight in God's plan, but an integral part of our growth process. God led many Old Testament patriarchs to the desert.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had wilderness experiences. It was in the desert that God prepared Moses' heart and called him to lead his people out of slavery. And it was in the desert that God watched over the Israelites' journey for 40 years with His help and guidance. God was with Moses and the Israelites each step of their way through the desert, and He's with you and me in ours. In the desert, we learn to rely on God. There He meets us, and there we grow.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Deuteronomy chapter 2, verses 1 through 7. Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.

Then the Lord said to me, You have made your way around this hill country long enough. Now turn north. Give the people these orders. You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir.

They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau, the hill country of Seir, as his own.

You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink. The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These 40 years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you for being with us in the difficult desert experiences of our life. When we feel like we're lost and alone, remind us of your presence and help us to trust you to carry us through. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening today. I'm Rachelle Traube, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.