A few years back when I just graduated with a first degree from the university, everything seemed to be moving well in life. I got admission into a renowned school where I obtained a master’s degree. Immediately after, I got a job with a very prominent institution. I worked here for 3 years and it was amazing how fast I grew professionally as a young graduate. My time at this job was over and I began applying for jobs. I got called for many job test which I excelled in, passed different interview levels and usually got to the last stages and I was not hired. Things were seeming really difficult as I got too many rejections. I stayed home for a while, tried out many different things professionally but nothing seemed to be moving At this point, I had a Christian sister who advised that besides my every day professional hustles, I should intentional spend time with God during this season. She told me to have an hour a day to worship God in songs of praise and thanksgiving. At first it did not make sense to worship God amidst the trials but I learned to intentional spend time in word study, praise and prayers. One night, I lay on the floor just crying out to God in prayers and I received a word which changed my perspective of the season I was going through. During that period, I took out time to fast and pray and it was amazing how I started growing in my relationship with God and through the Holy Spirit’s help, I began discerning my life’s assignment and understood that the season I was in was part of the training to where God is leading me to. This season was quite lengthy and not easy but my perception had changed. When I finally got a job, I noticed it was not just a job but a platform for service to God and humanity and the difficult season I had gone through really prepared be for what I had to handle in the season after…
The wilderness season (period of heightened pain, trials and temptation) is inevitable in life but the way it is approached is what makes the difference. This season is not just a one-moment season but can occur periodically in life’s journey. It is true that we should seek God and pray in moments of pain and God will deliver us but sometimes, God will grant us grace to go through some pain because that pain has a purpose of refining us. Interestingly, like other seasons in the Christian journey, such seasons of heightened trials are also of essence and have a symbolic role on the path of purposeful living. The perspective on navigating the wilderness season which we would dwell on through this write-up is “Perceiving the wilderness season as part of the process of separation and preparation for purposeful living.”
By separation here, we insinuate drawing closer to God and understanding our identity in Christ Jesus. Do you know your pain can be a message to you? Job 33:12-30 shows different ways through which God can speak and even pain or distress can be one of the ways which God can speak to someone and if this is well perceived, the person will draw closer to God and live to enjoy the light of life which is life in Jesus Christ because Jesus is the light (John 1). If well perceived, our wilderness season (characterized by trials, temptation and pain) can really be a season of drawing closer to God and understanding who we are in Christ.
The wilderness season if well approached can also serve as that season of fortifying our trust in God and preparing us for what lies ahead (in line with purposeful living). I just love the story of King David. In the book of Samuel, we notice that David who was anointed king by Samuel seemed to always be in the background. When Samuel met Jesse and his sons, David was absent and when David’s brothers went to war, David was still absent. Now, the question is what was David doing in the background? 1 Samuel 17: 28 (NIV) says “When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
Oh wow the anointed David was in the wilderness taking care of sheep. In the eyes of men, David was not qualified for battle and was fit for the wildermess but in the eyes of God, the choice place to train David for battle was in the wilderness. How was David trained for war in the wilderness?
1 Samuel 17:34-36 (NIV) “But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The final outcome of the battle was that David killed the giant goliath. The wilderness may be filled with so much hardship that the only way out is total dependence on God. While enduring the hardship in the wilderness, David may not have known God was using this season to prepare him for the battle that lies ahead. Besides nurturing his skills in the wilderness, David had learnt to depend solely on God in every situation even amidst the highest levels of adversity. Killing Goliath was a public expression of David’s encounter of God as the mighty deliverer during the wilderness season. David said “The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:34-36 (NIV). Your genuine expression of God is an outcome of your encounter with God.
Later on in David’s life, we notice other wilderness experiences when David was escaping from the death threats of Saul. In 1 Samuel 23 we see David seeking God for directives to sail through the difficult moments and the place where David found refuge was in the wilderness strongholds and the hills of the Desert of Ziph. God protected David in the wilderness and David even made covenants with God while in the Wilderness. David virtually had a long wilderness experience and one remarkable thing is that God knew about what David was going through. God did not immediately take David out of the wilderness but He directed David on how to sail through that season such that David maximized the purpose of the season which was part of the journey to becoming King. Even David, the man God called “a man after His (God’s) heart” experienced wilderness seasons.
Are you in a wilderness season, is the pain overwhelming? Your pain can be message from our Savior Jesus Christ to come to Him and watch Him turn your pain to gain. Amidst the pain, it may be wise to seek counsel, seek therapy, medical aid etc but above all, seek God for we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28). The wilderness season may be part of the preparation process for fulfilling purpose. Don’t abort the process but depend on God to lead you through.