Ps. 78:19 Then they spoke against God; They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? 20 “Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also?…
Ps. 78:23 Yet He commanded the clouds above And opened the doors of heaven; 24 He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them food from heaven. 25 Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.
A whole generation of Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness not believing God, manifested by constant grumbling and complaining. Everybody goes through wilderness times, but how we steward those seasons says a lot about where we are on the inside, and where we will land on the other side of the wilderness.
Though in the wilderness, God was with them, and demonstrated His goodness, and power daily. Every person in that situation had a choice everyday when they stepped out of their tent. They could look around and grumble and complain again about being still stuck in a wilderness, questioning God; or they could look around and see the manna which rained down from Heaven in fresh supply, and the rock which actually followed them, according to 1 Cor. 10, from which which streams gushed out in overflowing abundance, and joyfully give thanks for the faithfulness, goodness, and abundant provision of God.
Jesus went through a wilderness, and stewarded it in faith. Look what it says about Him.
Luke 4:1, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness
Luke 4: 14, And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”
Jesus’ testimony of His wilderness experience was that The Spirit led Him about in the wilderness. His testimony wasn’t one of complaining about how hard things were, and that God seemed to abandoned Him. The result was He came out in the power of the Holy Spirit, declaring that The Spirit of The Lord was upon Him, and He was now sent to release captives, and heal the blind and oppressed.
Is that the way you normally come out of the wilderness?