Wilderness Wandering

Wilderness Wandering

“O taste and see that the Lord is good:

Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

-Psalm 34:8

   This summer I experienced a time of emptiness that I dubbed “wilderness wandering.” I had just graduated from college and didn’t have a job or plan for my future. I had no other option but to return home and work on the family farm in Washington for the summer. Our farm, half an hour from civilization, lies at the feet of two mountains and drinks from the mighty Columbia river rolling through our valley. I felt isolated and forgotten on that farm. But I learned that sometimes God allows the wilderness so that we will draw close to Him. As I had plenty of time in the summer, I studied my Bible and found that many Biblical characters were driven into the wilderness.

   Moses experienced the wilderness because of his pride. He had been raised as a prince of Egypt, and he was going to save Israel by his own strength (Exodus 2:11). But God had other plans. After killing an Egyptian slave, Moses fled the wrath of Pharaoh and found refuge in the wilderness. For years, Moses learned humility while he herded the sheep of his father-in-law. He married a girl in the wilderness and let his dream of saving Israel die. But God knew that the wilderness was not Moses’ destiny. God met Moses in the solitude and told him to return to Egypt. 

   Depending on God, Moses confronted Pharaoh and the difference in result was drastic (Exodus 4). Before, he attempted to defeat Pharaoh only to flee; but now, God used him to crack Pharaoh’s strength with seven mighty plagues (Exodus 7-11). Moses had to realize that only God’s strength allowed him to fulfill his destiny.

   Another person who found refuge in the wilderness was Hagar, Abraham’s concubine. Sarah tried to fulfill God’s promise of a child by having Abraham sleep with Hagar. But God did not need help keeping his promise—he never does. In the process of time, Sarah found that she was pregnant. Now that Sarah had her child, Hagar and her illegitimate son, Ishmael, were unnecessary. Filled with anger and jealousy, Sarah had Abraham send them into the wilderness. Hagar wandered until her son was weak from fatigue. She laid him under a shrub for shade and sat down a little way off from him because she did not want to watch her child die. She thought that the wilderness was her end. But God found her (Genesis 21:17). In His great compassion, He provided water and promised Hagar that her son would live to become a mighty nation.

   Even though Hagar was used and cast out by those who should have loved her, God saw her. Alone in the world, a woman that no one cherished, she found sustenance and compassion with the God of the wilderness.

   Both of these people were driven into the wilderness by their circumstances, but one man in the Bible willingly sought the wilderness. Jesus knew the secret of the wilderness—he knew that he would find sweet communion with God in the solitary places. Every time the crowds of people overwhelmed Jesus, he sought the wilderness. It was only after seeking God in the wilderness that he found strength and grace to meet the needs of the people. Even in his last moments on earth, he retreated to the lonely Garden of Gethsemane so that he could find the strength to bear the cross.

   After a summer of ‘wilderness wandering’, I found such sweet communion with my Father that I didn’t want to leave. But God never means for us to stay in the wilderness. He has a plan for our lives and the wilderness is only a time of rest and rejuvenation. As the summer started to turn into fall, God provided a place for me as a reporter on a newspaper. I thought that He had forgotten me, but he never forgets His children.

   If you are being driven into the wilderness, remember the stories of those who have wandered before you. Accept this time as God’s gift to you. Perhaps, He knows that you need to be filled. Let Him fill you. When you finally return from the solitude, you will be changed. You will have seen the glory of God and found sustenance at His hand. Don’t believe that you are hopeless in the wilderness; your hope will be found in the wilderness.