What Is God Doing in Our Wilderness?

Manna in the wilderness begins as a question: “What is it?” Exodus gives Israel bread and meat when fear and hunger have made slavery look better than freedom. The Israelites complain because the trip is harder than expected, and their memories start dressing up Egypt like some kind of resort, forgetting the oppression that held them there. The wilderness exposes that temptation to settle for less than God intends, simply because the unknown feels too wild, too scary, and too demanding.

God provides sustenance for the journey, but manna also presses a deeper question: What is God doing in the midst of this? God’s providence can be easy to overlook when it arrives in an unfamiliar form, in a difficult moment, or in an opportunity that does not look like an answer. The community of faith helps people notice God’s hand at work and, often, becomes that hand by sharing its abundance. Grace in the wilderness is not merely a private comfort; grace is something received and then passed along to people and even to the creatures in need around them.

The wilderness becomes a place of purification. God leads Israel by the long way because a people newly freed from slavery are not yet ready for the promised land. Israel wrestles with God, grumbles, gets hungry, and wonders whether anything lies ahead. Yet God uses that long and uncomfortable road to prepare hearts, minds, souls, and imaginations for something more.

Jesus also enters the wilderness under the Spirit’s guidance before beginning his ministry. The wilderness, then, is not simply a bad place to escape. The wilderness can strip life down to the bare bones, where true priorities emerge and God’s love and care become clearer. The question is not only whether the journey will end soon, but whether God is forming something in the journey itself.

Philippians adds perseverance in hardship, as Paul continues serving even while longing to be with Christ. Matthew adds the vineyard, where workers arriving at different hours receive the same pay. The vineyard refuses the idea that grace can be earned or measured out according to human fairness. God’s generosity gives the full gift to those who come early and those who arrive at the end of the day. God’s people cross the wilderness by receiving that grace, watching for God’s work in the present, and sharing the gifts that have been given.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Manna keeps asking, “What is it?” [28:11] Manna does not arrive as a familiar answer that Israel can immediately control. The strange bread invites attention, curiosity, and trust in a God whose provision may not fit expected categories. Faith sometimes begins not with certainty, but with the willingness to ask what God may be doing in an unfamiliar moment. [28:11]
• 2. Freedom can make slavery look attractive. [34:58] Israel’s hunger makes Egypt appear better than it was. Fear has a way of editing memory, leaving out the chains while magnifying the comfort of what is known. The wilderness exposes how easily people settle for less than God intends when freedom requires courage, patience, and responsibility. [34:58]
• 3. The wilderness prepares God’s people. [40:19] God does not waste the long road. Israel’s wandering becomes purification, preparation, and a coming of age for a people learning how to live free. Hard seasons may reveal capacities, dependencies, and priorities that comfort would have kept hidden. [40:19]
• 4. Grace is never earned by arrival time. [45:29] The vineyard gives the same wage to those who came late as to those who worked from the beginning. God’s grace is not a reward for spiritual seniority, effort, or comparison with others. The generosity of God unsettles the scorekeeping heart because divine love is gift from start to finish.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [19:52] - Exodus, Philippians, and Matthew
• [27:49] - Manna: “What Is It?”
• [28:59] - Gratitude and Sharing Abundance
• [30:56] - Recognizing God’s Providence
• [32:20] - Grace Enough in the Wilderness
• [33:20] - The Long Road of Purification
• [34:58] - When Egypt Looks Better
• [37:14] - The Question That Keeps People Moving
• [38:00] - A Wilderness Adventure
• [40:19] - Wilderness as Preparation
• [41:10] - Jesus in the Wilderness
• [43:24] - Hungry for the Right Question
• [44:42] - What Is God Doing Now?
• [45:12] - The Generosity of the Vineyard

1. They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.
2. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. [26:51]
3. And the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
4. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
5. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
6. So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
7. and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?”
8. And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”
9. Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
10. And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
11. And the LORD said to Moses,
12. “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”
13. In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.
14. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. [28:00]
15. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.” [28:12]

1. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4. and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.
5. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
6. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
7. They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
8. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’
9. And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
10. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. [27:42]
11. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house,
12. saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
13. But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
14. Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
15. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ [45:12]
16. So the last will be first, and the first last.” [45:29]

1. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
2. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
3. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. [27:08]
4. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
5. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
6. so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. [45:00]

1. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. [40:57]
2. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
3. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4. But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
6. and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7. Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
10. Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
11. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. [41:10]

1. What details in Exodus 16 show that Israel’s hunger shaped both their complaint and their memory of life in Egypt? [34:58]
2. What does God provide for Israel in Exodus 16, and what does God say this daily provision will reveal or test in the people?
3. In Matthew 20, what is different about the workers’ arrival times, and what is the same about their payment at the end of the day? [45:17]
4. What does Paul say he desires personally in Philippians 1, and why does he believe remaining alive is necessary? [27:08]

1. Why might God give Israel unfamiliar bread in the wilderness rather than providing for them in a familiar or predictable way? How does the question “What is it?” invite trust and attention? [31:23]
2. Why do people sometimes remember a harmful past as better than it really was when a present season feels uncertain or difficult? [35:09]
3. What does Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness show about the difference between having a real need—such as hunger—and trying to meet that need apart from trustful obedience to God?
4. Why does the vineyard owner’s generosity feel unfair to the first workers, and what does this reveal about the human tendency to compare grace, effort, and reward? [45:45]

1. Where might you be tempted to look back on an old pattern, relationship, habit, or season as if it were better than it truly was, simply because the present feels difficult? What would it look like to remember honestly rather than romantically? [35:37]
2. What is one “wilderness” area of life right now—uncertainty, grief, financial pressure, illness, waiting, or change—where you could begin asking, “What is God doing in this moment?” rather than only asking when it will end? [43:43]
3. God’s provision may arrive in forms that are easy to overlook. What ordinary gifts in your week—food, people, work, shelter, strength, help, or an unexpected opportunity—could you receive with greater gratitude? [29:12]
4. Grace received is meant to become grace shared. Is there a practical need you can help meet this week through food, money, time, encouragement, or care for a neighbor or an animal? What would generous sharing look like rather than giving away only what is unwanted? [30:56]
5. When you see someone receive an opportunity, welcome, forgiveness, or blessing that seems undeserved or comes later than yours, what reactions rise up in you? How might God’s generosity reshape that response? [45:49]
6. Paul sees continued life as fruitful labor for the good of others. Who in your life may need your steady presence, encouragement, or service during a hard season, and what is one specific way you could offer it? [27:12]
7. The wilderness can bring life down to its bare essentials. What distractions or false sources of security may be keeping you from noticing what is truly essential for your soul and your relationship with God? [42:39]