We can imagine a scene that may have taken place long ago: Hot, exhausted, discouraged, Moses sat on the hard ground, his shadow stark and black against the thirsty sand, listening to the deep, dead stillness. Alone in the silence he sat. His gaze was lost in horizons of emptiness.

Where had he gone wrong? He had been catapulted off the treadmill of human endeavor and smashed into a motionless, mute wall with an earth-shattering jolt. He couldn’t help thinking about the past—all the grandeur and excitement of Pharaoh’s court.

His fame had spread throughout the land, especially after he brought Egypt a stunning victory over Ethiopia (as Josephus, a Jewish historian from the first century, records). He thus assumed the Israelites would automatically recognize him as their leader (Acts 7:25).

Prepared for greater things?

Like Moses, have we thought we were prepared and ready to be used in some powerful way by God? Maybe we’ve had a first-rate education, with many degrees like punctuation marks after our name.

Or maybe we’ve worked for a highly successful company and held a prestigious position with much responsibility. Or maybe we’ve been decorated with medals of honor for bravery and heroism. And among our other impressive credentials, we’ve faithfully followed God’s way, living as an exemplary role model for others.

And then suddenly we find ourselves flung back into a mundane existence, receiving a demotion, so to speak—maybe with a life-threatening illness, a disabling accident, a job loss or the loss of a mate—and then asking, “What’s going on? Where do I go from here?”

Why could God not use Moses just as he was in Egypt with all his experience and expertise and leadership qualifications (Acts 7:22)? Why this huge setback? Why was he downgraded to a lowly shepherd (an abominable job to the Egyptian way of thinking, much like a CEO being reduced to janitor)? Moses loved God’s way of life so much he had willingly given up his privileged way of life in the courts (Hebrews 11:23-27).

What was it that God wanted from Moses besides his excellent resume? I, too, thought after being in the Church for many years and getting two degrees later in life, that God could use me in a more meaningful, powerful way. Hadn’t I been a light to both students and instructors? Hadn’t I done well to have graduated with honors? I smile now when I read this excerpt from my cover letter that went along with my list of degrees and wonderful qualifications:

“The major business venture of my life has been raising a large family of seven children over a time span of 35 years. I viewed my position as equivalent to an executive of a large corporation. Taking care of a large family demands an efficient structured schedule, where I was on call 24 hours a day. Managing crisis situations was a daily or weekly occurrence.

“Organization, effective communication skills, time management, problem solving and budgeting were all-important aspects of my job. A good working relationship with all these young people required much diplomacy, love and tact. How many of us have enjoyed and endured 25 years of working with teenagers and lived to tell the tale? I also found time for hobbies such as reading, gardening, canning, sewing, camping, crocheting, ceramics and knitting sweaters a half-dozen at a time.”

I thought I was ready, well-equipped for the world or anything God could throw at me. After achieving two university degrees, I thought I must be ready for something big. Wouldn’t God open a major door? Where would He lead me to let my light shine?

“What exactly did God want me to learn?”

Imagine my surprise when nothing happened. Big doors did not open. I found myself looking after the elderly and their daily needs, even to bathing and toiletry requirements, helping my ailing husband and from time to time my aging mother. These were lowly, subservient endeavors according to the world’s standards. Was this a demotion? What exactly did God want me to learn? Even though I loved and was content with my labor, yet I wondered.

I looked at Moses’ example. God had trained him to deliver His chosen people out of slavery. Here in the stark, lonely wilderness, beautiful clothes, talent and rank didn’t matter. It didn’t matter how many troops he might have led into battle in the past. It didn’t matter how smart he was or that he might have hobnobbed with the rich and famous of Egypt. It was all gone and Moses was naked before the Lord.

Recognizing our weaknesses leads to true strength

We must learn to look to God for strength, and in order to do that we have to recognize how weak we are without Him. No matter Moses’ life experience, education and appeal, Moses was a much different man after 40 years in the wilderness. So sooner or later in our Christian lives, we need to spend that time in a “wilderness” with God. Herbert W. Armstrong, the man who led God’s Church during most of the 20th century, had to.

Mr. Armstrong states in his autobiography: “But I had been beaten down. God had brought that about… Repeated business reverses, failure after failure, had destroyed self-confidence. I was broken in spirit. The self in me didn’t want to die. It wanted to try to get up from ignominious defeat and try once again to tread the broad and popular way of vanity and of this world… It was truly a battle for life… In the end, I lost that battle… From then on, this defeated no-good life of mine was God’s… it was His to use as His instrument, if He thought he could use it” (1986, Volume 1, pp. 311-312).

Quality time in the wilderness with God

I have often wondered why, after many years in the Church and as we grow older, we or our loved ones suffer devastating illness or disability, a dramatic drop in income or mobility. What do we learn from it?

Maybe it’s the final lesson. Perhaps in our physical weakness, our dependence, our powerlessness to change things, we finally realize we are wholly in God’s hand. There is no one but God. It’s a time of humility, a time of reflection, a time of solitude, a time to spend with God.

Any major player in God’s plan spent quality time in a “wilderness”—Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Nebuchadnezzar, Job, David, the apostle Paul and even Christ, to name a few. So we, too, must endure that wilderness phase.

When we enter the wilderness stage of learning, there is a leveling out. Our life of busyness, achieving and fulfilling our dreams, is put on hold. God had certainly trained Moses his whole life to do a particular job, just like He trained the apostle Paul and others. But their training was not finished. He needed to add the final touch—just like we need the final touch to make us ready for God’s Kingdom.

God allows disappointments and sometimes allows us to go backwards or come to a standstill so we can get our eyes fixed firmly on Him, preparing to serve with Him for all eternity!

For more about this lifelong journey of change and transformation, please tune in to our media program Beyond Today, available on our Web site www.beyondtoday.tv.