In the opening few verses of the letter Paul writes to the church at Colossae, he shares that he was on a mission from God (and you thought the Blues Brothers thought of this first). His life was lived as an expression of fulfilling God’s purpose in our world. He also reminded this small band of Christ followers of the same thing. He said they were also set apart for God’s work. Paul saw every follower of Christ in this way; they were called to grow into mature and similarly serve in this mission.
Then he continues in Colossians 1:9-12,
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Most people want to grow; they just don’t want to go through what it requires.
In this one sentence, Paul describes what a life of following Jesus looks like. However, too many followers struggle with the journey required to become this kind of follower. Throughout the Biblical and historical narrative, followers of Jesus have had to journey through the season of wilderness. Most people want to grow; they just don’t want to go through what it requires.
The term wilderness can mean many different things to different people. Biblical passages describe it as a time when the soul is developed during deprivation, desolation, and isolation. We all go through tough times or periods during our lifetimes. Still, the wilderness literally rewires our identity, our sense of significance, and our calling—the very core of our soul that is altered.
A wilderness engages the deepest part of who we are and why we exist in a way that we are never the same afterward. It is an inward journey encouraged by outward circumstances where we lose our confidence, sense of direction, and, ultimately, our certainty. These circumstances vary in duration and setting from person to person. But every follower of Christ hits this wall at some point in their lives and is forced to walk this journey to depth and impact or return to comfort and superficiality. A quick review of some Biblical examples reveals their wilderness experiences were radically different, but each one grew deeper.
- Joseph—Genesis 37-50. He spends 13 years being sold into slavery and then is put into prison after doing the right thing in Potiphar’s service.
- Moses—Exodus 2.11-4.15. He spends 40 years away from his home, friends, and family and is later described as an alien in a foreign land.
- Israel—Exodus-Deuteronomy. The nation spends 40 years wandering around a desert (in the same vicinity that Moses had spent the previous 40 years), living in tents and eating mana without any sense of direction.
- King David—1 Samuel 18-31. He spends 10 years being pursued by Saul, who wants to kill him. As a fugitive, he lived in caves in the desert and wrote several of the Psalms during this time.
- Jesus—Luke 4.1-13. He spends 40 days with no food or friends in the wilderness, being tempted by the enemy of his soul and our world.
- Paul—Acts 9.30 & Galatians 1.17 & 18. He was sent home by the church in Jerusalem, and the church was blessed. The chronological dates are hard to reconcile, but we know Paul spent at least 3 years and at most 10 years in isolation, focusing on his Lord and, most likely, questioning his calling.
Historically, the evidence is even more ample. Most individuals greatly used by God had their faith deepened through challenging circumstances, emotions, thoughts, and spiritual testings[1]. Over the centuries, writers who have sought to explain how Christians mature in their faith have consistently addressed this wilderness season.
One of the best examples is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and his lead character, Christian. In The Pilgrim’s Progress, the wilderness plays a significant role in Christian’s journey to maturity. It represents a time of trial, temptation, and spiritual testing, where Christian’s faith and perseverance are challenged. Specifically, Christian encounters a few key wilderness experiences like despondency, humiliation, and the valley of the shadow of death. Throughout these wilderness experiences, Christian’s journey reflects the biblical theme of the wilderness as a place of testing and maturing. Just as the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and Jesus faced temptation in the desert, Christian’s wilderness is both a physical and spiritual ordeal. His ability to endure these trials is central to his progress in maturity. The wilderness serves to strengthen his faith, challenge his resolve, and ultimately lead to spiritual growth.
To increase physical strength and endurance, we put our muscles through strenuous and repeated stress. However, we try to avoid circumstances that will challenge us spiritually, emotionally, or mentally.
God is more concerned about our character than our comfort.
When faced with the uncertainties of the wilderness, too many Christians choose to return to what they know, that is, that which they are comfortable with. God is more concerned about our character than our comfort. Sometimes, the circumstances that create an environment for wilderness experiences are thrust upon us through no decisions of our own, while at other times, they are consequences of our own decisions. Ironically, we may never be certain of the origin of these circumstances, but we can be sure of the loving hand that is leading us through this valley.
Wilderness is not merely a landscape like a desert but a critical environment where a person’s faith is refined through suffering and isolation. It serves as a metaphor for the hardships and spiritual desolation believers must overcome on their way to salvation. Eugene Peterson describes what he calls Circumstantial Wilderness[2], which doesn’t look like a geographic wilderness at all. It is when the circumstances around us isolate us and force us to reevaluate and deeply rethink who we are and what are we called to do with our lives.
My own wilderness journey was a 14-year season of starting a church from scratch. My wife and family of three young children moved to Orlando, Florida to expand the Kingdom of God through planting a Church of God. I was confident of God’s call on my life and filled with faith about the changed lives that would result. Only years later did I realize that God was more interested in primarily changing me. He did change lives, but mine most deeply. For a decade, I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall, and the wall was God. Only as I began to learn about what God wanted to do deeply in my life was I able to see what God thought was most important about who he was calling me to be. I was a human being, not a human doing.
I had for too long found my significance in what I could do for God rather than who he was in my life. Only through my wilderness would I learn to give up all the things that I had come to trust in for my significance: what others thought of me, what I could do for God, what things I could accumulate, my impact for God’s Kingdom measured by the size of the church I was leading, and so forth. This is what a wilderness does for you. It strips you of those things which seem so important to you but stand between you and your Lord. This is true in all the previous Biblical and historical examples.
Today, I help leaders understand the true call of God on their lives. In so doing, I have done hundreds of debriefs[3] for leaders who are often in crisis. It is common for me to see the signs of a wilderness season through the events of a leader’s life. I know the sweet fruit that can result if that individual will soften their hearts, center their lives on Christ, and let him truly lead through their difficult times. But most of these leaders didn’t get to where they are by acquiescing control of events, so they defiantly try one thing then another. However, they can’t outrun their Lord, and some eventually succumb to God’s chastening in their lives, and they are changed forever, while others continue to try to manipulate the hand of God for the rest of their lives.
Our God isn’t a sadist who indiscriminately inflicts pain in the lives of his followers. On the contrary, he is aware of how our own desires and drives can inhibit our maturity. He lovingly enables us to learn to grow into the people we were designed to be. As our creator, he desires us to be the individuals we can be. It is through a wilderness season we become broken and pliable enough to become aligned for his purposes, not our own.
From my experience and the writings of several authors[4], I have come to identify four stages of a person’s journey through the wilderness. True brokenness is experienced as we have completed all four stages of surrender, abandonment, contentment and participation.
1. The first stage is SURRENDER.
Surrender is when we give up the situation we are in and are willing to trust God to work out the situation for his honor. We give up on our desire to be right and accept God’s control and outcomes in the situation. For me, this occurred through the 14 years I spent in one church plant. I finally came to surrender the size and impact of the church to God. This took me a while to give up what I dreamed and desired for the church and trust that God had a better plan.
2. The second stage is ABANDOMENT.
To abandon yourself is more than surrender. Surrender is giving up in a specific situation. However, abandonment is giving up one’s entire life or sense of significance or calling. We all surrender certain things without abandoning our lives. Abandonment is giving up entirely…not just in a specific circumstance or situation. You are willing to give all that you have felt called for. It is not just surrendering to a higher degree but rather giving up to a different kind of degree.
Paul tells us in Philippians 1.21, when faced with death, that to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He abandoned his entire life to Christ. He was willing to give up on his own agenda, dreams, and calling to God’s plan
As an individual, you abandon your life plans but not the planner of your life (God). You are still walking close to God, so you are willing to give your entire life to whatever he wants to do with it. You are not just surrendering this incident, circumstance or immediate situation, but you have abandoned all of yourself. Even your calling is now secondary to simply abandoning yourself to the one who calls.
3. The third stage is CONTENTMENT.
After truly abandoning ourselves to God, do we become contented? This is often the stage when one finds their future is no longer clear, and that is okay. We are content because we know who we are abandoned to. We are content despite not knowing where we are headed or what the next stage is. Often, this stage entails a deep level of trust manifested by the presence of peace. There is no striving of “If I could only…”. Rather, we find ourselves content as Paul states in Philippians 4.11, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances”. Three times in this passage, he states that he has learned to be content. To those who are not in the wilderness, this stage may be seen as lacking passion or a compelling call. This is only a stage, not the end. Of course, some may become caged in this stage if they don’t mature through the next stage of participation.
4. The fourth stage is PARTICIPATION.
This is stage when the new direction becomes clear and accessible. In this stage the opportunity that presents itself is often very different than what was anticipated earlier in the individual’s life. Often, this stage leads into a type of ministry that was never dreamed of earlier.
However, after surrender, abandonment, and contentment, the individual is now open to opportunities and callings that would not have been appealing earlier in their life. This is where convergence begins to occur.
Paul states in Philippians 4.13, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” He is expressing the state of participating in the strength given to him through Christ.
After maturing through all four stages, one is usually not capable of going back. However, during these stages, anyone can become caged. I have seen some individuals become caged in a stage for the rest of their lives. For example, many people get stuck in the Abandonment or Contentment stage and never fully experience the freedom that comes from the whole process of brokenness. Only after going through the last door are you truly broken and will never go back to where you came from previously.
I have found that a broken follower of Jesus is a delight to be around. Their joy is contagious. These individuals have the ability to make everyone around them feel as if they are someone special. Broken followers of Jesus have a wholeness about themselves. They have little need for external titles or positions of significance. They are comfortable with the scars and scratches that may have come from their wilderness experiences. There is no pretense. They simply are well on their way to becoming the people of God.
About Greg Wiens
I have been an Engineer, Pastor, Church Planter, Statistics Professor, Business Consultant, Denominational Leader, Psychometrician, and now a friend of leaders. I didn’t always have a heart for the underserved in our world. However, during the wilderness period of my life, I was brought face to face with my own arrogance and isolation from the marginalized in our culture. It was during this transformational season I began to see all people as God’s creatures. I learned not to judge those who struggled in contexts that I found comfort in, and only then did I begin to deal with my uncomfortableness with their needs and contexts.
This led to clarifying my own calling and how I can use my gifts, talents, and resources for the underserved, housing-insecure, and marginalized in our society. Dave Phillips and Zoë Hale taught me to understand that everyone has a name, a story, and inherent value. They modeled for me how I must look these souls in their eyes and hear their stories for me to be whole. They showed me how God can use me to serve them in a variety of ways. Thanks for this opportunity to do so.
[1] See the appendix: Wilderness through the Lives of Historical Christians
[2] Leap Over a Wall, Eugene Peterson, pg. 74
[3] A debrief is a process of explaining the results of a battery of survey instruments selected to assist the individual with a specific purpose (e.g., position, marriage, personal growth, etc.)
[4] These concepts were developed from the writings of Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, Larry Crabb, Shattered Dreams, Bobby Clinton, The Making of a Leader, and Robert Guelich/Janet Hagberg, The Critical Journey of Faith.
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