John Bevere says going through a wilderness season—when God “seems like He’s a million miles away and His promises are even further”—is not an indicator of your own spiritual maturity or a consequence for sin. In a video recorded for 100 Huntley Street about his new book, God, Where Are You?, Bevere says he has been through wilderness seasons multiple times in his life.
“The first two times actually God brought me into a wilderness, I really believed I had sinned,” Bevere says. “I believed that I was being rejected by God. I thought at times I was being put on a shelf. Let me tell you—I’m going to say it so you hear it, OK? You’re not being rejected. You’re not being punished. You are not being put on a shelf. OK? You are not abandoned either. I want to make that very clear.”
Bevere says many biblical heroes—like Joseph, Moses and David—went through seasons in the spiritual wilderness, but not as punishment or because God had rejected them. Rather, Bevere says God uses the wilderness to refine our character through spiritual adversity.
“Job felt like he was abandoned by God, but God was working on his behalf,” Bevere says. “The wilderness is a time of preparation. It is a time where He gets out of your life what would destroy you later.”
Bevere also says we can become even more prophetically empowered as a result of these wilderness seasons, as Jesus did after he was tempted by the devil for 40 days in the wilderness. To watch Bevere’s full remarks, watch the embedded video.
