Wilderness: Part 2 “A Refuge in the Wilderness”

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

Hosea 2:14 KJV

Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Song of Solomon 8:5a ESV

And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Ps. 55:6-8 KJV

The wilderness is not just a place of desolation, but also a place of refuge. God leads us, “allures” us into the wilderness to be alone with us. The wilderness is a place of silence and rest. It is harsh and apparently barren, but it is also a place to be alone in meditation, away from the bustle and noise of everyday life (“the windy storm and tempest” that buffets us). We can listen in the wilderness, like Elijah, for that “still, small voice” which is the voice of God(1 Kings 19:12).

Before Christ began his ministry, directly after his baptism, he spent time in the wilderness, forty days and forty nights. “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness”(Luke 4:1). Christ was tempted of the devil there, it was a time of testing, as it often is for us as well; however, later Christ went away from the crowds to pray and commune with God. “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone” (Matt. 14:23). An apparently barren place becomes a fruitful place of prayer.

Being led, allured, into the wilderness does not mean that our spiritual life is put on hold, while we struggle through a desert on our own, beset by the temptation to give up and yield to the seductions of the world. God brings us into the wilderness to “speak comfortably” to us, as an alternate translation(Darby) says, “to speak to [our] heart[s]“. 

The silence allows us to hear Him speak; in the wilderness His voice is not drowned out by the tempests and distractions of the world. By the grace of God, we can find wells of life-giving water in the wilderness, like Hagar(“And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water” Gen. 21:19a).

We must be careful to take advantage of our wilderness times and use them to grow closer to God, rather than away from Him. Prayer is important here and meditation on God’s word. Sometimes, it will seem that God is not listening to us and we will beg like David,“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were”(Ps. 39:12), and claim like him that God has promised that “He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them” (Ps. 145:19). 

We must not become discouraged, but let God pursue us even as we pursue Him.