January 10, 2022 - Deuteronomy 8:2

“Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.” Deuteronomy 8:2 NLT

Lord, we praise you that even when we are going through the wilderness you are with us. You lead us through. We praise you for the seasons that cause us to grow. We praise you that in those seasons of drought, it gives us an opportunity to push our roots deeper into you, which makes us stronger. If our roots don’t grow down deep in you, we are easily blown over and uprooted. Help us recognize and appreciate the purpose of the wildernesses in our lives. In those seasons help us dig deeper into you and find the water that you have for us. We don’t want to remain shallow and wither away.

Lord, we praise you for the humility that the wilderness brings. We want to be people who are marked by humility and not pride. Lord, you dwell with those that are humble. We want to dwell with you. If we won’t let go of the pride in our lives, then walk us through the wilderness and remove it. Lord, we thank you that the wilderness can also be about purifying us and making us more like you. We want to willingly surrender to the purification process and allow you to remove whatever you want to remove. If you need to turn up the heat to purify us, then do so.

Lord, we want to come through the tests and pass beautifully. We want to prove our character to you. Even when things get hard, we want to obey. Even when we don’t understand what you are doing, we want to obey. We commit to saying, “Yes” to you. We will go wherever you send us. We will do whatever you ask of us. You are worthy of all that we are. Let everything about us bring joy to your heart. Search us and find us pleasing to you. Help us continue to allow you to grow us and purify us. Make us more like you.

In Jesus name, amen.