25 Straying into the Wilderness

September 08, 2026

Paul Worden

In previous devotions this month you have learned many reasons for desert experiences in your spiritual life, noting that they are always for divine purpose. Sometimes, however, you may enter a desert experience because you are not walking in God's way. This, too, is for divine purpose. To bring you back to the right path. The Bible compares us to sheep, saying "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus is compared to a good shepherd: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep...I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15)