The Place of Weeping Deuteronomy 8:3
God leads us through trials and testing to humble us and make us dependent on Him, so that He can give us something better.
John Nelson Darby emphasizes that the journey into the wilderness, a place of weeping, is essential for spiritual growth and humility. God leads His people into trials to create a hunger for the true sustenance found in Him, symbolized by manna, which represents the spiritual nourishment that surpasses earthly desires. The experience of tasting this divine provision transforms faith into reality, allowing believers to recognize that true life comes from God's word. Darby encourages believers to view their present struggles as light afflictions compared to the glory that awaits, reminding them that these challenges are opportunities for God's grace to manifest. Ultimately, he asserts that even in pain, there is a chance for faith to flourish and for God's provision to be revealed.
Text
No one is led into the place of weeping without getting some joy. Israel were already God's people: He leads them into the wilderness to humble them; He makes them hunger that He may give them manna; He leads them into trial that He may give them something better. Some would say, If in the midst of the leeks, onions, and flesh-pots of Egypt God had given them the manna, they would have rejected all other things because the manna was better; but it is not so. While the flesh is surrounded by that which suits it, it is fed thereby, and will reject the better things. Day by day, hour by hour, God is leading us to that condition of hunger that He may give us something better, something not discernible by the natural mind, but satisfying.
When I have tasted the manna, there is a reality about it; it is not faith any longer. If I am hungry in the wilderness and am fed and braced up by the food, do I not know it? Can power come into my veins and I not know it? It might be a matter of faith that we are to have the manna to-morrow; but it was a matter of feeling and reality that they had eaten it today. As we eat and are strengthened, let us say, I know that man doth not live by bread alone.
We feed on Jesus the living bread, the gift of the Father, and we may say that we are miraculously fed from heaven every day by supernatural food, that we might know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by 'every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'
What think you of possessing in measure now all that we shall possess in the day of the Lord? Then pain of body and pain of heart would all appear very light, and we could say with the apostle, after enumerating things that would make some people mad, "these light afflictions, which are but for a moment." Why do not we thus speak? It is the right of all who have the Spirit.
Outside the sanctuary, until the Lord comes, there will be troubled hearts and diseased souls, but it must not surprise us; it is all alike an opportunity for the display of God's grace which spreads itself abroad to meet the misery. Every want that pressed on the Lord Jesus always gave an occasion in His soul to the cry of faith.
Sermon Outline
- I. The Place of Weeping
- A. A necessary step in spiritual growth
- B. A place of trial and testing
- C. A place of hunger and dependence on God
- II. The Wilderness Experience
- A. A time of humility and dependence on God
- B. A time of hunger and thirst for spiritual food
- C. A time of trial and testing of faith
- III. The Gift of Manna
- A. A supernatural provision from God
- B. A gift that satisfies the soul
- C. A gift that reveals God's care and provision
- IV. The Reality of Spiritual Food
- A. A food that is not discernible by the natural mind
- B. A food that is satisfying and real
- C. A food that reveals God's power and presence
Key Quotes
“No one is led into the place of weeping without getting some joy.” — John Nelson Darby
“Man doth not live by bread alone, but by 'every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'” — John Nelson Darby
“These light afflictions, which are but for a moment.” — John Nelson Darby
Application Points
- We should speak of our afflictions as 'light' and temporary, rather than dwelling on their difficulties.
- We should cultivate a sense of dependence on God and recognize that He is our source of strength and provision.
- We should look forward to possessing all that we shall possess in the day of the Lord and view our current afflictions as light and temporary.