“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.” (Hebrews 3:7-9)
The wilderness was a proving ground. There God tried His people and His people tried Him. He proved faithful, they did not.
The wilderness was also a place where God sent an unbelieving generation to die. The land of promise was before them. God had brought them out of Egypt for the very purpose of bringing them into Canaan. But then an evil report was given: “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” (Num. 13:31). Joshua and Caleb saw the same giants that the ten others saw, but they had a completely different take: “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Num. 13:30). But the people would not believe the good report. And in not believing they denied that God was who He said He was: a good, faithful, powerful God who would give them everything they needed to conquer and possess the land.
The faithful receive a tremendous reward for their faith. Joshua and Caleb eventually received their inheritance in the land, but they had to wait forty years until the last of their generation died in the wilderness of unbelief. Though they denied that God was who He said He was, He remained faithful, because He cannot deny Himself.
Who is willing to prove God and find Him faithful? Are you staring at the giants in the land? Are they causing fear to arise in your heart? Are there those who are telling you to turn tail and save your life? Don’t run from the opportunities God is giving you to prove Himself. Be faith-filled and prove Him faithful. Have the song of those who have seen His works: “Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!”