Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me (Exodus 17:2-4).
The Israelites wondered in the wilderness for forty years. Many of the Israelites that started the journey did not make it to the Promised Land. They died in the wilderness. They murmured and complained so much on the journey. The journey was only an eleven-day trip. To wander in the wilderness for forty years is absurd.
How long have you been wandering around in your wilderness? Whether we believe this story or not, it is symbolic of how we have our own wilderness. So many people are stuck. They have all the potential and God has promised them so many great things, but they are stuck. Moses came into the Israelites’ lives to deliver them. They left Egypt but were still holding on to the bondage they had endured. Who has God sent into your life to deliver you, but the chains on your life stop you from being delivered?
The Israelites walked around in fear. They desired to go back to the enslavement that plagued them for four-hundred years. Fear gripped them like it grips so many of us. We cry out to God “deliver me”, but when our Moses or an opportunity comes, we hold on to our familiar and comfortable dysfunction.
A wilderness by definition is pastures of wilderness. When you think of that it is like a wilderness within a wilderness. The bondage that many people find themselves in is the same way. It is like chains within chains of bondage.
The wilderness mindset keeps so many people stuck and not living even a portion of what God wants for them. Change is hard. This will always be true. Also, the older you get the harder it is to change. Though this is true you have to make a decision that you are tired of being stuck in the wilderness. This can be your past, addiction, mental illness or whatever is the source of bondage in your life.
The wilderness I have endured has not been easy, but I have made progress. I don’t know how long my trip should be and how long I delayed some blessings and spiritual freedom, but I won’t remain stuck. I do know that I am pushing and pressing for better. I am leaving my past where it belongs after so many years of wrestling with it.
The wilderness mindset did not benefit the Israelites and it will not benefit us. It hinders so many people. It hinders Christians or believers in so many ways. We would think that a believer would understand that we should not remain stuck. Unfortunately, just like everyone else we too find ourselves in the wilderness. Freedom is a free will decision. If you are saying “I can’t because it is too hard” or “I want to be free, but I just can’t do it” you have the wilderness mindset.
You need a reset. You need to get fed up with the enemy and the comfort you find in being chained up. Deliverance is within the chains of our past or whatever we struggle with. The key is your mind. Freedom starts with deliverance from a poverty mindset, wilderness mindset, or I will never overcome belief system.
Beware of other Mindsets…
The “poverty mindset” is seeing everything through the lens of struggle and being critical of others who maximize their potential to reach their dreams. You may believe they should not have it so easy. The reality is they don’t. They just made a decision not remain in bondage. The poverty mindset is also the belief that anything good has to come from struggle.
Challenges come with life, but how we choose to see them is the difference. Many people with the poverty mindset want better, but they do not want to do what it takes to push forward when it gets hard. Then when they see others striving and achieving, they envy them, but aren’t willing to do what it takes to reach their goals.
The “I will never overcome belief system” is the person who desires more but never wants to do anything about getting more. They blame others for what they are not willing to do to have what they want. They also may feel like everything they desire is impossible. It is impossible for them because doing the work means they have to take some responsibility and effort in changing their lives.
“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2).
“If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey” (Numbers 14:8).
You can stay in the wilderness or go the land of milk and honey. The choice is yours. Choose wisely.
Resilient Inspired Spiritual Excellence R.I.S.E. 