Deuteronomy 8:2-5 "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God left there these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no.
Verse 3: And he humbled thee, and suffered there to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy father's know, that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
Verse: 4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
Verse 5: Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee."

Wilderness is not a joking arena. As the word connotes, wild- erness. It is a wild place of jungle, badlands, barren, uninhabited, not hospitable.

Wilderness is a place of solitude. A desert. No good roads, no readily available water, no food, no house, no accommodation.
Infact, with all these descriptions, wilderness is a place of death. A place of diseases, sicknesses,infirmities, failures, backwardness, valley and sorrow.

We heard from the mouth of our fellow Nigerians that travelled by road to Libya, Spain, Italy and other countries that some people died in the desert, either killed by ghost or hunger.

In the wilderness, anything goes. Anything can happen, if you don't know the right thing to do.


Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, this is what God's choosen people, the Isrealites, the beloved of God passed through before entering the promised Land.

Are there no other ways that led to the promised Land? The answer is Yes!

God in his own sovereignty decided to make them pass through the wilderness.

The question is why?

Why ask why?

That's the purpose of this topic.

God mentioned two things that are very important: to humble thee and to prove thee.

Testing, proving, trying and processing are part of God's agenda for his most beloved children.

Take the case of Gideon Army as perfect example, Judges 7:4 "And the Lord said into Gideon,The people are yet too many; bring them down to into the water, and I will TRY them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say into thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say into thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go"

From previous verse, it went down from 22,000 to 10,000 and now to just 300 men.

God made them passed through the wilderness to test them.

Testing is not easy. Examination is part of testing. The reason why there is examination is to make sure that the right and qualified personell are employed.

Life itself is a test. This life is to prove to God that we are worthy of the next life, that is, eternity in heaven.

If we fail life's ultimate test, then there is a dustbin of the Almighty God, that is, eternity in hellfire.

Many Isrealites died in the wilderness because they failed the examination set by God, supervised by God and marked by God.


Life in the wilderness is horrible.

Now, in Nigeria, and some parts of the world, many people, both Christians and non- Christian are passing through the wilderness of life.

The purpose and end result of this process is to make us better and to rely solely on God not by our power but on the grace of God.

It is for God to take all the glory.

God must take all the glory.

The bad side is, if God loved you and you fail the test, he will repeat the test again until you learn how to rely on him.

Pride is a strange thing because you can actually kneel down before God but inwardly you are standing.

A case of father to son. The son did something bad, the father said, kneel down there, the son said No! the father said again, kneel down! The son reluctantly, unwillingly and stubbornly kneel down but inside the son, the son was actually standing.

This is the case with many believers.

It is only God that detect and see pride in us, we must maintain the posture of allowing God to take the glory not you or any man boasting somewhere.

Wilderness experience make us to have the spirit of patience. Let's allow patience to finish the work of grace in our lives.

Life on a full speed will soon crash.

Let's learn to wait on the Lord for directions and leading, lean not into thy own understanding.

You cannot follow God with your sixth sense and succeed.

You wanted to leave Lagos, God may say No!
God can also lead you to the far north for the purpose of evangelism.

God has the final say.

Until we are completely broken and humbled by God, and say God, here I am, send me,the test may continue.

The question is, will you survive the test?

May God help us. Amen.

May God help us.