“I supply streams of water in the desert and rivers in the wilderness to satisfy the thirst of my people, my chosen ones, so that you, whom I have shaped and formed for myself, will proclaim my praise.”

Isaiah 43:20–21 TPT

All throughout Scripture, we encounter God working in the lives of his kids in a place most of us would rather avoid: the wilderness.

Near the beginning of our story, God goes with Adam and Eve as they leave Eden for the wilderness (Gen. 3–4). Abraham’s first steps into his legacy call him directly into the wilderness (Gen. 12, 22). On more than one occasion, God rescues Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness (Gen. 16, 21). Jacob wrestles with God and receives a new name in the wilderness (Gen. 28–32).

Moses acquires the skills to shepherd the people of Israel in the wilderness (Ex. 2–4). Israel’s entry into the Promised Land is first preceded by 40 years in the wilderness (Ex– Deut). Elijah experiences the miraculous provision of God in the wilderness (1 Kgs 17–19). And David is made ready for the throne in the wilderness (1 Sam. 22–30).

These wilderness workings of God are not merely contained to the Old Testament, but pour forth into the very places Jesus and the disciples walked. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, was raised in the wilderness (Luke 1:80). After his miraculous transformation on the way to Damascus, Paul spent the next three years being shaped by God in Arabia, in the wilderness (Gal. 1:15–18). John received the book of Revelation while exiled in a wilderness of isolation (Rev. 1:9). Even Jesus himself, immediately after his baptism, was led by the Spirit of God into, you guessed it, the wilderness (Matt. 4:1).

In the Bible, the wilderness isn’t just a location. It’s a spiritual battleground. It is a place of stripping, sharpening, and sometimes even silence. It’s uninhabited and unpredictable, filled with a million unknowns that remind us that we are not in control.

Often, the wilderness looks like…

• A painful circumstance you wish you could bypass.
• A loss that lingers longer than you expected.
• The silence of God when you’re desperate for a word.
• Loving someone who won’t (or can’t) love you back the way you hoped.
• Transition: when the old has ended but the new hasn’t yet begun.
• The rooms where your calling is unclear and your gifts feel unrecognized.
• Being confronted by truth that’s hard to hear but necessary for you to grow.
• Facing an addiction, idol, or pattern that you sought for comfort, but now see has chained you.

The wilderness is scary because it strips away our distractions and forces us to face the questions we’d rather leave buried.

But what if the wilderness is not a place where God leaves us to wander, but is instead the birthplace of wonder?

If we can have eyes to see it, we will find that God often prepares his dreams for us in what feels like a desert. In the wilderness, God speaks. He draws near. He purifies. He prepares. But—and this is key—we are the ones who must decide what we will do with our wilderness.

The Wilderness as a “Refiner’s Fire”

Strangely enough, the concept of the wilderness in the Bible is closely linked with another biblical metaphor: a refiner’s fire.

“Who will not fall down in worship when the Lord is unveiled? For he will carry out a purifying process. He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s bleach. He will be as a silversmith who sits refining and purifying silver. He will purify the Levites, refining his priests until they are like pure gold and fine silver.“

Malachi 3:2–3 TPT

The wilderness is where God purifies our hearts.

Moses knew he had been called as a rescuer for the oppressed people of Israel, but in his youth, he took matters into his own hands, murdering an Egyptian. It was in the wilderness that the Father patiently refined Moses’ heart, replacing violence with reverence and vengeance with rescue. In our wilderness experiences, God lovingly removes us from all of the surrounding noise to remove from us from what no longer serves who we have become in Christ.

The wilderness is where God prepares our hearts.

Moses, David, John, Paul, and even Jesus were all called into a place of private intimacy before they ever received any public itinerary. They were molded by the Refiner before they were ready to move as restorers in his Name. Seeing this pattern over all creation, how can we posture our hearts to receive, and no longer resent, the places that feel like a wilderness?

Ways We “Waste” Our Wilderness

As I’ve witnessed too many times in my own life, we “waste” our wilderness by whining, wallowing, or worrying.

Whining is, quite literally, a “long complaining sound.” It is Israel grumbling in the desert instead of recognizing all of the signposts of their Savior’s deliverance and provision. Or to borrow from a favorite childhood cartoon, whining happens every place we choose the mental ruminations of Eeyore to only see what is missing and what is broken, so that we fail to experience the physical jubilation of Tigger: jumping, and leaping, and praising God for his presence and our place in his grand redemption story. If you’re in a wilderness and you’re presently whining, I urge you to remember the gracious invitation of Psalm 33.

“It’s time to sing and shout for joy!
Go ahead, all you redeemed ones, do it! Praise him with all you have,
for praise looks lovely on the lips of God’s devoted lovers.”

Psalm 33:1 TPT

A second way we waste our wilderness is to “wallow.”

Wallow = To immerse oneself in something to an excessive degree.

Here, we move beyond whining into fixed thought patterns that elevate our situation above our Savior. When we wallow, all we seem to see, think, or talk about is the trial we are facing, believing we will only have peace on the other side of this present storm. Wherever we wallow in the wilderness, we allow our feelings to become the authorities that limit or confine us, excusing us from any responsibility to walk in faith or joy today. But, praise God, mercy calls us higher:

“Be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.”

Romans 12:2 TPT

One final way we “waste” our wilderness is by letting ourselves become consumed with worry. Jesus urged us to “not worry about tomorrow,” but to simply rest in him, trusting his sufficiency in the present moment, and in every moment that will follow.

Do you find yourself falling into one or more of these mindsets in the places of your life that feel unsettled?

Wonder Begins in the Wilderness

When we come to the other side of a great cloud of witnesses, we see that the wilderness isn’t our enemy. It’s our incubator.

It’s where our callings are clarified. Where our strength is forged. Where intimacy with the Father is tested and “proven,” bearing a weight greater than gold.

The wilderness is where we are purified, and it is where we are prepared.

It is where the things that do not belong to us any longer go to die, and where new anointing and favor is born.

Wonder often begins in the wilderness. Don’t wish it away.

If you’re in a desert right now somewhere between God’s promise and the Promised Land, take heart. God is with you…and he refuses to waste your wilderness.