The wilderness - not a very fun place to be; it's dry, it's arid, it's sticky, it's hot and it's terribly uncomfortable. No one usually chooses to go into the wilderness, especially in a spiritual sense. However, as any follower of Christ will know, the Lord does some of His deepest and most transformational work in our lives during our times in the wilderness. The Psalms are full of wilderness songs and the Pentateuch is full of wilderness lessons. As we follow the nation of Israel out of Egypt and into the desert our desire is to learn our lessons well and to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we say with the apostle Paul, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."