Harry Emerson Fosdick was one of the great preachers of the twentieth century. Later in his career he was called to pastor Riverside Church in New York City — a prestigious pulpit backed by the Rockefeller family. The weight of it eventually broke him. Fosdick suffered a complete nervous breakdown.

He later wrote: "It was the most terrifying wilderness I ever traveled through. I dreadfully wanted to commit suicide — but instead made some of the most vital discoveries of my life. My little book, The Meaning of Prayer, would never have been written without that breakdown. I found God in a desert."

I found God in a desert.

That phrase has stayed with me. Because I have heard versions of that same testimony from so many people over the years — that the hardest seasons of their lives became, in some unexpected way, the most formative ones.

Pastor and scholar Joshua Kang writes, "The wilderness is a place where God blesses and trains his people. In the desert, those who have trusted only in themselves learn to put their trust in God. We all face suffering, confusion, shattering, failure. But that's where servants of God are made — and on the other side, they find themselves persons of prayer, the Word, and the Holy Spirit."

The prophet Isaiah heard God say, "I am about to do a new thing... in the wilderness I will make a way." (Isaiah 43:19) That has been true for God's people across the centuries. And it may be true for you, right now.

If you find yourself in a wilderness season — hold on. Don't give in to bitterness or despair.  The desert has a way of becoming, against all odds, holy ground.

Prayer: Loving God, you watch over us in the restlessness of the night, and your arms are around us when we feel alone, unworthy, and without hope. Teach us to trust you in the wilderness — to look for you there, and to find you. Mold us in the image of your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen.

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