We are working our way through a mini-series on strategies for enduring the wilderness wanderings of life, following the example of Caleb who ​had "a different spirit" in "follow[ing] [God] fully" (Numbers 14:24), even through the 40-year holding pattern he endured. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

​If we would cultivate a different spirit that fully follows God even through the “holding patterns” and wilderness wanderings of life, we must evaluate our perspective, express our burdens in prayer, and endure with patience. Lastly, we must engage with people!

The holding patterns of life often make us feel like moving away from people rather than towards them. I’m not completely sure why that is, but that’s been my experience. When life feels aimless and they feel like they're wandering around in circles, people often start to think that they just need a fresh setting, a clean state, a new start.

I can’t help but think that not only is that not the solution, but it’s actually part of the problem. In all of life and ministry, we ought to move towards people and not away, and that’s no different than in the wilderness (Hebrews 10:24-25). 

1.  Life is ministry, and ministry is people. 

People are fascinating, people are complex, people are funny, people are unpredictable, and people are needy—people will make your wilderness wandering less aimless! You can wander with purpose and fulfillment, if you’re focused on people. Colossians 1:28-29 can and must still happen in the wilderness. Give yourself to coming alongside other wilderness wanderers!

2.  Your church is your family.

Remember who we are—we’re not just an organization, we’re an organism; we’re not just buddies, we’re a body; we’re not just friends, we’re family. Starting over somewhere is not the solution to your seeming aimlessness, because your church family is not the source of your seeming aimlessness, but rather the solution.

Timothy provides a good example for us in Philippians 2:20-21—“For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” Don’t push your church family away. Don't abandon them. Let them help you. Help them.

3.  Be gospel-driven in your departing.

It may be that the Lord is using your holding pattern here to land you somewhere else. After all, the life of Christ is one of denying yourself, taking up your cross, following Jesus, and losing your life yet finding it for His sake. So, God may be leading you to move forward, to take risks, to embark on an adventure, to leave behind the wilderness for the Wild of Christian mission.

However, you need to evaluate your motive in moving on. If you do move on, do so “for the sake of the gospel” (Matthew 10:37-39; Mark 8:34-37), not for the sake of your own escape—for after all, what does it profit to gain the whole world and lose your soul!

​CONCLUSION

A 40-year wilderness wandering, the consequence of others’ sin, was what God had ordained for Caleb. And yet, he weathered it well, for after all, he had a different spirit in fully following His God. And 40-years later, the sun broke through the clouds, and God led Caleb out of the wilderness into the victory of the Promised Land.

Dear brother and sister, wilderness wanderings are real, holding patterns are common, and feelings of aimlessness are not uncommon. Most likely, friend, this season will pass, but God intends for you to engage in the kind of spiritual warfare that He will use to make it pass. So, evaluate your perspective and humble yourself under the sovereign hand of God; express in prayer to God and accountability with others your burdens and cares and find the grace God provides; endure with patience this time, keeping your eyes fixed on the kind face of Christ who lovingly endured for you; and engage with people, God’s antidote at all times for aimless living when you take the gospel and press it into the lives of those around you.

​There are most likely many more, but these four strategies for enduring the wilderness wanderings of life are a good place to start. May God use them to give us a different spirit in fully following the Lord no matter what landscape He leads us through.

We are working our way through a mini-series on strategies for enduring the wilderness wanderings of life, following the example of Caleb who ​had "a different spirit" in "follow[ing] [God] fully" (Numbers 14:24), even through the 40-year holding pattern he endured. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Caleb would perhaps suggest to us four strategies for cultivating a different spirit that fully follows God even when the path seems to go in circles. First, evaluate your perspective; second, express your burden in prayer; third, endure with patience.

Hebrews 10:32-36 provides excellent counsel to those of us stuck in a rut and wandering in the wilderness. “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”

You need endurance, friend, and endurance is tough, so be “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured”!

Jesus loved you through the cross. A question you need to ask yourself is this, “Can you love God and worship God through the wilderness?”

​I appreciate the counsel of Pastor John Piper to a married pastor who recently asked how to handle the monotony of life. Pastor John referenced 2 Peter 3:4, 8 and responded, “Translated into your situation, Stephen, that means God does not count monotonous repetition the way you do. He has a perfect plan for you and new things, inspiring things, encouraging things, breakthroughs will come in his time. Your patience and your endurance are being tested. Don’t fail the test. Get up. Do what needs to be done every day. The breakthroughs will come at his appointed time.”

We are working our way through a mini-series on strategies for enduring the wilderness wanderings of life, following the example of Caleb who ​had "a different spirit" in "follow[ing] [God] fully" (Numbers 14:24), even through the 40-year holding pattern he endured. (Part 1, Part 2)

​Yesterday, I took more time examining our first strategy because I believe that our emotions and actions will follow our thoughts and beliefs. We must think rightly so that we might have a different spirit in fully following God into and through our wilderness wandering. Thinking rightly starts with evaluating, and perhaps adjusting, our perspective (strategy #1). A second strategy for handling the seemingly aimless times of life is to express it in prayer.

1.  Talk to God (Philippians 4:6-8).

Turn your anxieties into prayer requests (Philippians 4:6-8) and cast your cares upon the Lord (1 Peter 5:7). Talk with God about your hopes and dreams, your disappointments and frustrations, your impatience and burdens. But make sure that your prayer always cycles through to obedient trust (Luke 22:42).

Casting the cares of your wilderness wandering upon the Lord will focus your dependency, adjust your perspective, and equip you with the necessary spiritual resources to endure it (James 5:16b-18).

And as you pray, do so with expectancy, taking heart that however long the waiting might have to be, God will act in His time. David writes in Psalm 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.” So pray and don’t despair!

2.  Talk to others (Ecclesiastes 4:19-25).

In addition to expressing your burden in prayer, express it to other people in Christian community. Let others bear your burden with you (Galatians 6:2) that that you might be encouraged and revived (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). We’re all tempted to waver (Hebrews 10:19-25) and doubt (Hebrews 3:13). So draw upon God’s community to strengthen and establish you in your wilderness (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:14).

Yesterday, we began a mini-series on strategies for enduring the wilderness wanderings of life. We considered the example of Caleb who ​had "a different spirit" in "follow[ing] [God] fully" (Numbers 14:24), even through the 40-year holding pattern he endured. In these next few posts, we will consider four strategies for cultivating a different spirit that fully follows God even when the path seems to go in circles. 

Ask yourself two questions to help you evaluate how you are viewing your current situation in life:

• “What am I thinking and believing about myself?” You may be considering yourself too highly (e.g., “I deserve…” “I need…” “I always thought…” “I just want…” etc.). That haughty evaluation may be contributing to your sense of aimlessness in that you consider your life situation to be so far below where you have placed yourself.
• “What am I thinking and believing about God?” You may be considering God too low (e.g., that He owes you, that He’s failed you, that He’s unfair, that He’s not good, that He’s forgotten you, etc.). That deficient evaluation may be contributing to your sense of aimlessness in that you have shrunk God or removed Him from the picture entirely, and in so doing, all purpose is forsaken.

As you seek to evaluate and adjust your perspective, let me suggest three actions to help you do so.

1.  Trust God’s sovereignty (Genesis 50:20).

The story of Joseph undoubtedly contained many “holding patterns.” Divine dreams provoked him to anticipate great things in his future…until his brothers sold him into slavery. A rapid rise to unparalleled responsibility mitigated the sting of his past…until his master’s wife lied about his unblemished character and he was thrown into jail. Increased respect and trust from his captors alleviated the shame of being in prison and an interpreted prophecy suggested that his break might come…until the butler forgot all about him and he continued to be confined to the prison.

Yet, at the end of it all, consider Joseph’s perspective—“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20). Do you believe that, friend?

In Psalm 27:13, the psalmist reflects, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” This is where we need to live, friends, when life is no longer the rosy script that we wrote for it!

The wilderness wandering may be God’s permanent script for you (Psalm 139:16); or, perhaps He’s using it to grow and teach you (Hebrews 12:5-6); or, maybe He wants to use you in it or prepare you through it. Whatever His purpose—don’t run away! Trust God’s perfect sovereignty and loving goodness into and through the wilderness wandering.

This alone is how Jeremiah survived, for he recorded in Lamentations 3:19-24, “Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’”

2.  Remember your mission (Philippians 3:7-15).

Friend, even in the wilderness, you have a heavenly and eternal mission! Don’t forget that! Your mission is to know Christ and make Him known, and there is no situation in life where that mission is insufficient or impossible.

Paul wrote in Philippians 3:7-15, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings.”

The mission of knowing, enjoying, and promoting Christ consumed and drove Paul in every situation—in the palace and in prison, on a journey and in jail, during a church plant and throughout a trial, when prospering and when persecuted, when enjoying fruit and when experiencing futility.

You and I have to stop looking to the future to find our purpose and mission. We need to look back (to the cross and empty tomb) and hear again and again the commission of Christ as He left this earth—“As you are going, make disciples” (Matthew 28:19-20)! Friend, even in the wilderness, then, there is much work to do. We don’t have to wait for tomorrow to be something great or do something great. We can know Christ now! We can make Him known now! That is Christ’s very commission to us here in our wilderness wandering. Truth is, if you aren’t fulfilling your mission in the wilderness, then you probably won’t in the jungle or in the city or in the mountains or wherever you would rather be.

With Paul, learn to consider as “loss” what you have been counting so dear (e.g., others’ opinions, your agenda, your dreams, etc.), so that Christ might become preeminent (Philippians 3:7-15)!

In fact, don’t overlook the unique opportunities that your present situation gives you to engage in your mission. Consider the unique ministry that Caleb enjoyed for 40 years with the next generation. As his peers died off, he and Joshua alone were able to consistently and effectively mentor the next generation, teaching with faith and experience the stories and principles and commandments that the young people needed in order to not repeat the sins of their parents and to inherit the Promised Land. And at the end of the 40 years, Joshua and Caleb had the uniquely customized responsibility of leading the Israelites across Jordan. The 40-year wilderness wandering was undoubtedly challenging, but it afforded Caleb ministry opportunities he would have been prepared for and offered nowhere else. Likewise, your holding pattern is a special situation in which unique opportunities may be enjoyed.

• In the wilderness, you can uniquely know Christ. — Your wilderness may be a quiet time where you can study Christ. Your wilderness may be a lonely time where you can rest on Christ. Your wilderness may be a confusing time where you can trust Christ. Your wilderness may be a painful time where you can suffer with Christ. In the wilderness, you have the joy of expectantly waiting for God to turn your wilderness into a garden (Hosea 2).
• In the wilderness, you can uniquely make Christ known. — In the wilderness, your personality, agenda, goals, etc. are stripped away in order that we might “boast [only] in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). In the wilderness, you might be stuck in the same place, and so you can become acquainted with those around you and their needs and begin to turn them to Jesus. In the wilderness, you learn how to minister to those who are also in the wilderness.

​In the wilderness, friend, you are still “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” In your holding pattern, you can still “as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). Brothers and sisters, I know life may have you down, I know your situation may not be what you had hoped, I know your dreams may be unfulfilled—but, never forget, you wilderness wanderer, that you have been given an incredible mission to know Christ and make Him known to others!

3.  Accept your situation (Philippians 4:11-13).

Writing from prison, more of a “holding cell” than a “holding pattern” but sharing many of its same characteristics, Paul expresses, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

Paul had “learned” contentment, a lesson that comes, not from reading books or listening to a teacher, but by yielding to the Spirit as He guides you through His Word. In fact, you have to be put into a situation in which you are tempted to be discontent, in order for you to learn and practice contentment. Dear friend, the wilderness wandering is one such situation, a homework assignment through which God desires to cultivate the foundational virtue of humble contentment.

I say this is a foundational virtue, for we can hardly know our identity or mission apart from it. See, friends, we are “servants” of God, we are under authority, we are governed by a Master—we are literally humble “slaves.” Therefore, if our Master has sovereignly ordained this period of seeming aimlessness and if He has commanded us into it, we need surrendered humility to acknowledge, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty” (Luke 17:7-10).

The Bible is filled with unworthy servants who only did their duty through the wilderness wanderings of life. God’s Word is filled with nameless plodders, and Paul’s ministry, for example, was energized by numerous unidentified locals, etc.

The American Dream has enlarged us to envision other places and other opportunities. The call of the gospel stirs us to greater things, riskier things. Growing independence energizes us to blaze trails and build cities. But the wilderness may be God’s will for you right now. And if it’s His will, friend, you should embrace it, for there is absolutely nothing better—His will is best. In this day and age of American individualism and adventurism, remember that those are neither biblical requirements nor even biblical realities. Rather, contentment with one’s situation and humility as an obedient servant earn His “well done.”

Have you ever felt like your life seems aimless, like you're wandering around directionless in an unending wilderness? Most of us have or will, at some point, feel this effect of sin’s curse. It is part of what Solomon describes as the "vanity" of life and describes with the illustration of "chasing the wind" (cf. 3:1-15).

I remember a conversation I had a few weeks after graduation from high school with my former school administrator and mentor, Pastor Bob Brenneman. He confided to me that he felt the Lord had him in a “holding pattern", and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, how he was supposed to think, or where he was supposed to land. Perhaps you've felt that way, too. Recently on a podcast I listen to regularly, two separate questions were asked dealing with this very issue (here and here).

I think this is a common struggle. Not only have I dealt with this issue myself, but I've had recent conversations with several friends in which they expressed feelings of aimlessness, unsettledness, discouragement, disappointment, tiredness, unfulfilled dreams, hopelessness, etc.

I think that particularly in today's culture, young adult singles uniquely struggle with feelings of aimlessness and wandering. Many social factors have changed that directly impact singles in this way. First, careers are harder to start. College education continues to be increasingly expensive and decreasingly sufficient—graduates find themselves no closer to landing a job, as they are expected to have experience and graduate degrees, and instead find themselves saddled by a huge debt. Second, marriage has been delayed and undermined. Social norms continue to transform rapidly and, along with other factors, continue to delay the average age of marriage. Third, life has become hedonistic. Our secular, self-centered, and materialistic society has fed the widening life-stage of adolescence. Few expectations are placed upon young people, other than selfishness, rebellion, disrespect, and immorality. The work ethic and drive of previous generations have been replaced with increasingly juvenile and shameful levels of immaturity among increasingly older young adults. These three factors (and probably others) result in dreams being delayed or denied. Many young adults find themselves included in statistics that they never imagined being in, burdened with multiplied thousands of dollars of debt, still living at home or just scraping by on their own, in and out of jobs, unmarried, and feeling disrespected, undervalued, and purposeless.

Many, it seems, are the wilderness wanderings of life, and we may find ourselves frequently wondering, “Has God forgotten us?" Many Christians fall by the wayside during their wilderness wandering. Aimlessness, shattered dreams, unforeseen challenges, lost opportunities, and growing burdens sap them of their youthful exuberance and adventurous vision and bring instead a dull weariness and despondent malaise.

God’s Word actually introduces us to many characters that we can, with very little imagination needed, expect to have struggled with these same feelings. Adam, Joseph, Elijah, David, and Isaiah are just a sampling of those whose stories most certainly include their share of wilderness wanderings and holding patterns.

Caleb and Joshua are two other clear examples of this struggle. Standing as a minority against the cowardly counsel of the other spies and the antagonistic anger of the multitude (Numbers 13:25-14:10), they alone were given grace by God to withstand His judgment upon the rest of the nation. While the rest of the nation would wander and die in the wilderness for the next 40 years, only Caleb and Joshua would survive and see the fulfillment of God’s promise to bring Israel into the promised land (Numbers 14:20-38).

Can you imagine what those 40 years must have been like for Caleb and Joshua?! For them “hope deferred” didn’t turn into joy in the morning. Instead, day after day they wandered in circles in the barren wilderness, paying the consequences for others’ rebellion. Day after day they buried friends and family members, and with each funeral, they mourned the death of another dream. Month after month, and year after year, they undoubtedly struggled with feelings of aimlessness, discouragement, weariness, confusion, and disappointment. Perhaps they began to question God’s promise and doubt His goodness—I think I would have. Theirs was the original wilderness wandering—40 years of closed doors, disheartened emotions, unfulfilled dreams, and quiet questions!

And yet, at the outset of Israel’s 40-year punishment, a divine description of Caleb is provided that indicates why he received God’s favor, survived the wilderness wandering, and experienced God’s prosperity afterwards. Indeed, this characteristic is what sustained him through the aimlessness of 40 years. Numbers 14:24 describes Caleb (and, we assume, Joshua) as having “a different spirit” in “follow[ing] [God] fully.”

Over the next several posts, I want to challenge you to have a different spirit in following your God fully even through times of seemingly aimless wandering through life’s wilderness. In fact, I want to suggest to you four strategies for cultivating a different spirit that fully follows God even when the path seems to go in circles. Check back in tomorrow for the first strategy.