When we travelled through the wilderness of Egypt three years ago, we were on an air conditioned bus and had plenty of water. We spent a couple of days in the Sinai area, walking around in the bleak terrain, feeling the heat. We could almost feel the dehydration occurring and were constantly reminded to drink our water.
We began to imagine Israel’s travels through the wilderness. Forty years of travel through inhospitable country was a formative experience for God’s people. It made a profound impact on them that has lasted through the ages.
When we were in the wilderness we learned that there are three Hebrew words for “wilderness”: midbar, tziyah, and yeshimon.
Midbar is the kind of wilderness that is harsh, but survival is possible. It is dry, but gets just enough moisture for small tufts of grass. Shepherds take their sheep to this kind of wilderness. They are constantly moving to find new grasses once the sheep have depleted an area. Psalm 23 takes place in midbar.
Tziyah is also a sun-scorched or parched area, but it’s harsher. Rain is rare. To survive there you need hospitality from someone who has access to resources. Abraham most likely lived in tziyah when he received three angelic visitors near the great trees in Mamre. In tziyah you need good neighbours who help you out, and a network of people who watch out for each other or you will die.
Yeshimon is that wilderness where no one survives. You are in peril when you enter yeshimon. Abraham avoided this wilderness in all his wanderings. There is no plant life, no water, no means of survival. Yeshimon is like a moonscape and almost as inhospitable.
When God brought Israel into the wilderness, it was into yeshimon. Scholars believe that Israel spent as much as 35 of the 40 years of wandering there. Imagine what that would be like. Local knowledge would have let them know that such a path was not recommended if they wanted to live long in the land. Years of living in the abundant, lush, fertile land of the Nile river would not have prepared them for anything like this. Yet that's where God led them.
Yet even though Israel was wandering through yeshimon, this is not the word used in the Bible. The word used in the Bible is midbar. Why describe a moonscape as pasture land? How could an entire nation survive deadly yeshimon as though it were midbar?
The answer is God. Israel was fed at the hand of the shepherd. God rained down manna from the sky and poured out water from rocks. He even sent quail. God made an unbearable place a bearable place. Israel learned through this that God can be trusted. God will nourish them. Where others will fail and die, God’s people will not only survive, they will thrive.
There are some lessons you can’t learn at the oasis where all is lush and green. God’s people mature in the wilderness because that’s where they are confronted with their deepest need and find that those needs are met by God. They learn to let go of themselves and to trust in God to care for them.
The wilderness is not an easy place. We were glad to get back on our air conditioned bus after a morning of trekking around. But when God takes you to a spiritual wilderness you sometimes don’t get that. You have to go through it. When you do, you will find that God has been leading you and nourishing you all the way through, helping you survive. God’s people develop a deep spiritual life as they learn to experience yeshimon as midbar. Even as we go through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil because God is with us and will provide for us.
The Lenten 40 days may take us through a wilderness. But God is there, helping us drink from the rock that is Christ and eat the bread from heaven.
May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart’s testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.