Out of Paran
The land of Paran is the region where the children of Israel wandered along with the wildness of Sin for some 40 years.
In Jeremiah 2:6 the Lord himself says that the wilderness was a land of deserts, pits, a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, that no man passeth through, and where no man dwelt.
However, despite the wilderness being a vast and dreadful desert that is hot, dry, isolated, unforgiving, and barren, its name means “glorify.” Deuteronomy 33 says, “The Lord shined forth from Mt. Paran.” God showed his glory in the middle of a dreadful land that no man could pass through.
The only way through was with God. Deuteronomy goes on to say, “In the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare (carried) thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into his place.” God tells us he is the one who carries us through the vast and dreadful places.
He advises us to remember what he’s done for us. In The book of Joshua God says to cross over the Jordan river and take 12 stones as a memorial of how God parted the waters so the children of Israel could pass safely.
We need to remember what God did in the wilderness so, “that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that It is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.” Every stone that you place on that memorial, was building your faith.
Even in the dry wilderness remember Deuteronomy 2:7, “for the lord thy god hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hands; he knoweth thy walkings through this great wilderness: these years God has been with thee; thou has lacked nothing.”
The trials we got through are to humble you, to prove you, to know what was in thine heart, would you obey?
I taught you how not to live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. You were always taken care of in this wilderness.
A time of testing and discipline. But remember the Lord your God. I brought you through to do good at your latter end. (Deuteronomy 8)