The wilderness is the space between deliverance and the Promised Land. It’s circuitous and frustrating, tedious and repetitive. It is refining and even rewarding, but in the least longed-for ways.

It may be tempting when you are in the wilderness to think that you have done something wrong to get yourself there. But, the wilderness is not a place where punishment is the purpose, even if discipline can happen there. The wilderness, primarily, is an in-between space. It is a space of transformation from one reality to another. It is a journey and a passageway.

There are a variety of reasons that can send you to the wilderness. The first is danger. Like David fleeing from Saul, a threat can send you on the run and into the wilderness. The second is calling. Like John the Baptist, you may have a call that can only be worked out on the outskirts with camel hair for clothes and locusts for food. The third is preparation. Like Jesus, you may need to go away into a time of testing and trial before a more public season. You may even experience all three at once!

Inevitably, when you are in the wilderness, you will encounter accusations to confuse you into believing that either God doesn’t love you or you have done something horribly wrong. This is not the voice of God, but the voice of the serpent. When you are under threat of danger, the Lord protects you in the cave. When you are called for a purpose, the Lord safeguards you on the outskirts. When you are being prepared, the Lord invites your metamorphosis.

Time and again in the desert wilderness, you will come to your end. You will believe that God is not truly able to meet you in this place. You will succumb to sin and doubt. And then you will meet the grace and mercy of God to give you manna and quail which, whether gathered by your grateful or grumbling hands, will cause you to know the Lord’s presence through daily bread.

Joshua Tree National Park, 2019