Another priority for physical survival in the desert is building a fire. The fire’s heat can dry wet clothes and keep the body warm in cold conditions. It can also purify water by boiling it.

Israel’s “wilderness of opposition” actually began as a “wilderness of promotion.” Their disobedience delayed their promotion for forty years.

Who is a more faithful comrade in the wilderness than the Holy Spirit? Whose friendship is more valuable during troubled times than the most wonderful, kind, loyal, and awesome confidante in the Universe?

Those stranded in the wilderness must constantly evaluate their situation. They need to take stock of their resources and understand their surroundings.

Exiting Egypt with only what they could carry, they were to change the world. Overnight, slave-Israel became a new nation totally different from the rest of the world. God gave them a reverse culture. This was to prepare and equip them to be his people. He said, “Do not learn the ways of the nations …” (Jeremiah 10:2).