Deuteronomy 8:2-3 NASB
You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. [3] He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.
Numbers 12:6-8 NASB
He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. [7] “Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; [8] With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?”
There are going to be times when every Christian walks through some kind of emotional wilderness. Jesus made a promise to us in John 16; “In this world, you will have tribulation.…” I’m not talking about the wilderness of spiritual barrenness, but I’m talking about situations that occur from time to time that impact us deeply on an emotional level. There are valleys called the “shadow of death,” even though physical death is not really the issue. When we walk through those times of great internal warfare, what we need is a breakthrough. I believe some wilderness places are so crushing that we have to have a breakthrough daily until we ultimately come up out of the wilderness leaning on our beloved into a place of open release and freedom. I tell people who are walking through extremely crushing times that they need to press in and get a breakthrough every day until the time comes when they find that they have broken out into a place of permanent release. The Psalm says that He sets our feet in large places, but you often have daily breakthroughs to get there.
Numbers 12 says that God used to speak to Moses mouth-to-mouth. The idea in the Hebrew is like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from God. Every word from God being a sustaining life-giving word. In the wilderness, we uniquely discover that we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and every time God speaks to our hearts in the wilderness, it is like a mini breakthrough. Song of Solomon 8:5 says, “Who is this coming up out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved.” You will come up out of the wilderness, but you may have to walk through the battle for a time to get there. The only way to thrive, not just survive, as you’re walking through the valley is to lean on your beloved, and every time God speaks to us mouth-to-mouth we lean into our beloved a little more.
If you find yourself in the midst of a really painful battle, then don’t just sit around in misery waiting for breakthrough. Instead, every day get fresh mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from the Lord by getting a fresh word from his heart to yours. Keep doing that every day until you find that you have come out, leaning on your beloved.