In the Wilderness

Harry Emerson Fosdick was a great preacher. Later in his career, he was called to pastor Riverside Church in New York City. The stress of pastoring this large church which was backed by the Rockefeller family and fortune, eventually caused Fosdick to have a nervous breakdown.

Fosdick once 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.” 

Fosdick’s witness doesn’t surprise me. I have heard story after story from people who grew deeply during wilderness times in their lives. 

In his book, Deep Rooted in Christ, pastor and scholar Joshua Kang reminds us, “The wilderness is a place where God blesses and trains his people… In the desert, those who have trusted only in themselves and others learn to put their trust in God… (In life) we all face suffering, confusion, shattering, failure and self-abandonment. But that’s where servants of God are made. They all go through transformation, and on the other side find themselves persons of prayer, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. 

When you find yourself in the wilderness of life, may you hold onto hope. Don’t give in to bitterness or despair. But instead, notice God’s Spirit breathing into you courage and strength and new life – even now.

Our prayer today was written by the late Rev. Roger Kunkel, founder of the Dial Hope Foundation. Let us pray: Loving God, who watches over us in the restlessness of the night and whose arms are around us when we feel alone, unworthy, and unlucky, teach us how to live with the special feeling of grace abounding. Open our hearts to know your transforming and redemptive love. Mold us now in the image of your Son Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.