Walking with God in the Desert Discovery Guide: Experiencing Living Water When Life is Tough
336
Walking with God in the Desert Discovery Guide: Experiencing Living Water When Life is Tough
336Paperback
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Overview
Filmed in the desolate places of the Holy Land, such as the Sinai Desert, Wadi Nasb, Judea Wilderness, Mount Sinai, Negev and En Gedi; the twelfth volume of the That The World May Know series beckons you to follow Jesus and discover the astounding truth of what it means to be a Christian: it’s only when we are totally dependent on him that we find God is closer than ever and can experience his amazing grace and provision.
This discovery guide includes passages of Scripture explored in the DVD (sold separately); questions for discussion and personal reflection; personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions; as well as sidebars, maps, photos, and other study tools.
Lessons include:
- Join the Journey – Filmed in the Sinai Desert
- It’s Hot Here and There’s No Way Out – Filmed in Wabi Nasb
- Help is Here – Filmed in Wadi Nasb
- When Your Heart Cries Out – Filmed in the Judea Wilderness
- They Were Not Wandering – Filmed on Mount Sinai
- Ears to Hear – Filmed in Negev
- There’s Hope in the Desert – Filmed in En Gedi
Designed for use with Walking with God in the Desert Video Study (sold separately).
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THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW
Join renowned teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan as he guides you through the land of the Bible. In each lesson, Vander Laan illuminates the historical, geographical, and cultural context of the sacred Scriptures.
Filmed on location in the Middle East and elsewhere, the That the World May Know film series will transform your understanding of God and challenge you to be a true follower of Jesus.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780310880622 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperChristian Resources |
| Publication date: | 09/15/2015 |
| Series: | That the World May Know |
| Pages: | 336 |
| Sales rank: | 1,166,102 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Stephen and Amanda Sorenson are founders of Sorenson Communications and have co-written many small group curriculum guidebooks, including the entire Faith Lessons series.
Read an Excerpt
Walking with God in the Desert Discovery Guide
By Ray Vander Laan
ZONDERVAN
Copyright © 2010 Ray Vander LaanAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-88062-2
CHAPTER 1
Join the Journey
During their forty years in the desert, Israel was transformed. The Israelites came out of Egypt as emancipated slaves with a vague remembrance of their God and little awareness of their identity. Through a journey of struggle and hardship made possible by the daily experience of God's ever–present love and provision, they came out of the desert as a people with a faith, a book, and a culture. No wonder the desert became a central theme in the faith life of God's people. It was not just a place through which they passed; it was how they gained a way of life, an identity; it was part of their very soul.
But the journey was not easy. The desert was a place of danger and death (Deuteronomy 8:15) compared to the safety of Egypt. In the desert, God's people experienced his protection more intensely because the threats were so severe — from poisonous snakes and scorpions, from enemies, from hunger and thirst. In that sense, the desert became a place of refuge and guidance where they experienced the shelter of God's protective care (Deuteronomy 2:7; Psalm 68:5–10).
The desert journey was also difficult because it revealed the true heart of God's people and their stubborn refusal to surrender com– pletely to their God. It was a place of bitter resistance to God's leading and a selfish desire to return to the comforts of Egypt. So in the desert we see their bitter complaints about the lack of food and water (Exodus 15:22–24; 16:1–36; 17:1–7; Numbers 11:1–35; 20:1–13). We see their outright unfaithfulness and rebellion in the making of the golden calf (Exodus 32) and Korah's rebellion (Numbers 16). We see their unwillingness to take on the mission of reclaiming the Promised Land for God (Deuteronomy 1:26–36).
In the desert, God disciplined his people because they refused to continue the journey and become his holy people. As a result, the entire generation that had entered the desert died there. Their experience is a paradigm, a warning and a lesson, for every generation that resists God in order to serve its own desires.
But there is another side to the desert journey. It was also an awe-filled time when God revealed his presence in fire and cloud, when the thunder of his voice was heard. It was a time when daily miracles — water gushing out of rock, bread and meat from heaven — testified to God's love and protection of his people, his treasured possession. The journey in the wilderness was recalled as one of intimacy and faithfulness, when "as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert" (Jeremiah 2:2). It was a wonderful time of intimate solitude with God when he forgave their sins and patiently molded them into the kingdom of priests and holy nation he desired (Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 8:2–5, 15–18).
The intimacy and intensity of Israel's worship in the desert was unparalleled in their history. It is true that they often rebelled and sinned grievously in the desert, yet they experienced God's loving provision anyway. They learned that he will chastise sinners but also offers unexpected redemption. Often God showed mercy to them in the desert because of his faithfulness to the covenants he made with their ancestors (Exodus 2:24; Leviticus 26:42; 19:5; 24:1–8) and with them. So they came to know him as a covenant God who is always faithful to his promises, even when his people are not.
The rich and personal nature of Israel's relationship with God was on full display in the desert. For generations into the future, when God seemed distant and his people were apathetic or defiant, the faithful returned to the desert. Some returned by remembering their ancestors' journey, others by going into the wilderness themselves. Going into the desert was for the purpose of restoring one's relationship with God — to relive a time when Israel, God's prized possession, fell in love with him in the desert. May our desert journeys — those difficult, confusing times of nearly overwhelming pain and hardship, punctuated with God's protective care and blessing — also lead us to rediscover our God and fall in love with him again.
Opening Thoughts (5 minutes)
The Very Words of God
In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye.
Deuteronomy 32:10
Think About it
Imagine that you are in a stadium with tens of thousands of people watching a football game for the very first time — except there are no goalposts and you have no idea what the objective is. All you see is lots of running around, people crashing into one another, the ball being thrown first in one direction then another, and the spectators cheering wildly sometimes and seemingly devastated other times. How chaotic would that seem to you?
In what sense do our lives look a bit like that, particularly when we are going through a difficult time — what we might call a "desert" experience?
In football, when you add the goalposts and know the objective of the game, the chaos on the field starts to make sense. In life, what do you think helps us to begin to make sense out of the confusion and chaos of our difficult times?
DVD notes (13 minutes)
God finds Israel in the desert
A place of danger and peril
A place of refuge and protection
Three lands — Egypt, Promised Land, desert
Learning to know, trust, and love God in the desert
God joins his people in the desert
DVD Discussion (10 minutes)
1. The exodus experience has had a profound impact on God's people. It was a turning point in God's unfolding plan of redemption. Through Israel's desert experiences during the exodus, God molded and shaped a people who would be his partners in restoring shalom (peace, harmony, unity) to his creation. So let's take a look at the deserts that have been so formative in the lives of God's people.
Locate the Sinai Desert, including the Desert of Sin and Desert of Paran. This is the "vast and dreadful" desert of the exodus. It is the most severe desert region with intense daytime heat, chilling nights, and little or no rainfall. Travel across it is difficult due to ridges of steep, rocky mountains.
The Desert of Paran, which extends into the Negev, is the general area where the Israelites wandered for forty years. Only God's miraculous provision enabled his people to survive there. This desert's inhospitable conditions are high-lighted in Deuteronomy 1:19; 8:15–16 and Psalm 107:4–5.
Locate the Negev Desert, including the Desert of Zin. Barely forty miles south of Jerusalem, this desert has rolling desert pasture country in the north, rugged canyons in its central region that include the Desert of Zin, and extremely barren land that may receive only two inches of rainfall annually in the south. The nomadic patriarch Abraham, with whom God partnered so that "all peoples on earth" would be blessed (Genesis 12:1–3; 20:1), lived in the Negev along the edge of fertile farming areas to the north. He and his descendants Isaac and Jacob traveled great distances in the Negev seeking pasture and water for their flocks.
Locate the Judea Wilderness. This desert begins on the eastern slope of the Judea Mountains — roughly half a mile from the well–watered central mountains of Bethlehem and Jerusalem — and ends at the Dead Sea, approximately ten miles to the east. The steep, mountainous terrain descends suddenly from 3,000 feet above sea level to more than 1,400 feet below sea level at the Dead Sea in the Rift Valley. There is just enough rain along the western mountain ridge of this desert for shepherds to pasture their flocks, but the farther east one travels, the more arid the land becomes. Amazingly, this desert is within sight of most people living in Israel's central mountains. Its proximity to populated areas made it a refuge for those seeking solitude or safety. Here David hid from Saul, John the Baptist and the Essenes isolated themselves from the usual religious practices of the day in order to focus on God's words, and Jesus faced the evil one. Many biblical events occurred in this desert (1 Samuel 24:1–22; 26:1–25; Psalm 63).
2. What have you learned from this geographical overview of the desert regions of the Bible that helps you to better under– stand what was at stake or how some of the desert stories in the Bible unfolded, including the exodus and Israel's time in the desert?
3. Although the hardship and pain of the Israelites' time in the desert were all–consuming (as desert experiences tend to be), the whole experience was really about the bigger picture of what God desires to accomplish in the world. To what extent do you think the Israelites realized this at the time?
What light does their awareness, or lack of awareness, of God's greater purpose shed on how you perceive and respond to your own desert experiences?
4. How does knowing that desert experiences aren't just about the desert — that they are about God's purpose and presence in your life — give you a better perspective for enduring them?
5. How highly must God value his relationship with his people to lead them into the desert so that they come to know him intimately, depend on him completely, and obey him faithfully?
What does this indicate to you about the connection between our desert experiences and our relationship with God?
6. How do you deal with the paradox of the desert — brutal hardship accompanied by the sweetness of God's presence, danger and peril accompanied by manna and living water, pain and suffering that accomplish God's purpose?
7. In what ways does the image of the exodus being about three lands — Pharaoh's land, God's land, and the Promised Land — give you perspective on your times in the desert?
Small Group Bible Discovery and Discussion (24 minutes)
The Paradox of the Desert
The desert is a land of paradox. It is a vast, rocky, barren wasteland, but where its few springs gush out of the rocks it is incredibly lush, beautiful, and refreshing. It is unbearably hot during the day and chillingly cold at night. And the Bible portrays Israel's experience as they journeyed through the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land as a paradox as well.
For the Israelites, the desert was a place of sin, rebellion, and punishment — the golden calf, their demand that God prove himself by providing water at Rephidim, their craving for the "good" food of Egypt, their revolt when they first approached Canaan. At the same time, the desert was a place where God mercifully provided for his people and drew them into an intimate relationship with him — leading them by his presence in pillars of cloud and fire, feeding them with manna for forty years, protecting them from physical harm, taking Israel as his treasured bride. So let's take a look at some of their desert experiences and see what we can learn that will help us to walk through the extremes and confusion of our own desert experiences.
1. When the exodus was coming to an end, what did Moses say was God's purpose for leading his people into the desert after he had delivered them from Egypt? (See Deuteronomy 8:1–5.)
What difficulties did God bring upon his people, and how did he care for his people at the same time?
What do you think might be God's purpose in leading his people into desert experiences today?
2. What kind of a relationship did God want to have with his people, and what was required of his people for this kind of relationship to develop? (See Exodus 19:3–6.)
3. Life in the desert was difficult for the Israelites. We see clearly their struggle to survive that time and to learn to trust God and become the people he desired them to be. They would obey for a time, then rebel against God and what he was accomplishing through their desert journey. But always, even when he punished them because of their sin, God was faithful to live among his people and provide everything they needed. Read Psalm 78:10–54; Ezekiel 20:6–20; and 1 Corinthians 10:1–11, and for each discuss the following questions.
a. In what ways were the Israelites dissatisfied with God's provision and unimpressed by his miracles?
b. In what sense might we respond the same way when we are going through desert experiences?
c. What impact did God want his miraculous provision to have on his people, and what finally got their attention?
d. What do you think is the key to noticing what God may be trying to teach us when we go through desert experiences?
e. How did the Israelites' sins affect their relationship with God, and how he continued to treat them?
f. What greater purpose was God accomplishing through their desert experiences, and why is it so important?
4. Despite the sins of his chosen people, how did God prove himself faithful in the desert, and what did he at last accomplish? (See Psalm 77:11–20; Jeremiah 2:1–3.)
Do you think this is what God wants to accomplish through our desert experiences as well? Why or why not?
5. Why is it important for God's people to remember what takes place in the desert? (See Psalm 78:1–8.)
6. The desert is characterized by brutal heat, intense thirst, frigid cold, scorching sun, and no shade. The path on which God leads us through life is at times like a desert too. The hardships of struggle, suffering, and pain that we face can overwhelm us as surely as harsh desert conditions do. As you answer the following questions, consider in what sense God is with us and helps us in our deserts.
a. When the heat of hard times overwhelms us, what is God like for us? (See Psalm 121:5–7.)
b. When we are desperately thirsty and need to quench the pain of our suffering, what will God be for us? (See Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13; John 4:10.)
c. When we hunger for the strength to keep going under the crushing burden of pain, what will God do for us? (See Psalm 105:40.)
d. When have you seen God be shade, living water, and the bread of heaven for those who are suffering through a desert experience?
7. In what ways is Isaiah's description of what God will do for his people in the desert what we want and need in the desert as well? (See Isaiah 49:10.)
Faith Lesson (7 minutes)
It was a warm March day, and the sun streamed brilliantly through the classroom windows. When the bell rang, thirty–two high school sophomores headed out the door with far more energy than normal. It was the last day before spring vacation. Ahh! Ten days with nothing scheduled beyond the landscaping projects — one of my greatest joys — around my house. The weather forecast called for warm, sunny weather all week.
I (Ray) glanced at my watch: 2:55 p.m. I remembered my doctor's appointment at 3:20. I had postponed my annual physical for as long as my wife would let me. I hated physicals. They seemed so unnecessary and uncomfortably invasive for a healthy, fifty–five year old. I reached for my cell phone. Dr. Burns, a close friend, would understand if I postponed the appointment until after spring break. I had already gone to the laboratory and given all the samples they asked for. I could use the afternoon to buy plants and get an early start on my landscaping.
I hesitated, phone in hand. I had felt a bit fatigued for several months, but who wouldn't be tired with my schedule? I was over–scheduled with my teaching load, several seminars, and a video project in process. Now I had ten days to recover. With a sigh, I realized that I would be overwhelmingly busy for the next three months. Fitting in a doctor's appointment would make it even worse. I put my phone away, straightened the classroom, and headed out to my car.
I sat waiting for Dr. Burns. Maybe it was my eagerness to get to my flowers, but it seemed he was taking longer than usual. The exam had been routine enough. The stress test on the treadmill went well with both doctor and nurse impressed — or so they said — by my stamina and the time it took to bring my heart to the desired rate. That made sense. I'm not an athlete, but I had been a hobby runner for more than twenty–five years. I normally ran twenty–five or more miles every week, running three days then taking one off. I even kept a journal to make sure I maintained the discipline. Running gave me time to think and to memorize Scripture, a discipline I began two decades earlier. Besides, it relieved stress, kept my blood pressure normal and cholesterol down, and allowed me to eat what I wanted, especially meat.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Walking with God in the Desert Discovery Guide by Ray Vander Laan. Copyright © 2010 Ray Vander Laan. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction, 7,Session One Join the Journey, 13,
Session Two It's Hot Here and There's No Way Out, 55,
Session Three Help Is Here, 101,
Session Four When Your Heart Cries Out, 143,
Session Five They Were Not Wandering, 189,
Session Six Ears to Hear, 233,
Session Seven There's Hope in the Desert, 279,
Notes, 319,
Acknowledgments, 321,
Bibliography, 325,