A Lenten Wilderness Sketching Journey

In the past five weeks of Lent, I’ve been meditating on the thought of being with Jesus in the wilderness. While we don’t have much geographical wilderness in our part of New York, there are other sorts of wilderness we can find ourselves in. Physical wilderness due to illness or injury; relational wilderness due to loneliness or broken relationships; emotional wilderness of grief and other hurts; spiritual wilderness of not knowing God or of not sensing his presence.

I’ve found myself drawn to passages of Scripture that describe the challenges or express the anguish and longings that such wilderness experiences evoke, and while I’ve meditated on these passages, I’ve spent time sketching a desert wilderness. As I’ve sketched, I’ve added details and features as they’ve come to mind, and in doing so, they have become part of and have enhanced my musings and prayers.

This sketching journey started when I read about and imagined the wilderness Jesus was led into by the Spirit immediately following his baptism:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.                              Matthew 4:1-2

Paul’s words in his letter to the Philippians were often in my thoughts, and I mused on being with Jesus in the wilderness.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering… Philippians 3:10

I imagined the harsh, dry environment, the hot sun beating down by day and the lonely nights in open desert. I thought of how inviting a cool, shady spot could be as I struggled up a steep slope, and I drew in a couple level areas with a bit of shade– inviting spots to rest in by day or pass the night in.

But then the thought came to me that a cool spot like that in the desert might well have subtle dangers not readily visible to my weary eyes, and I drew in a rattlesnake (using as my reference a photo I took just before I carelessly lost my footing and slid down a sloped rock almost onto the snake).

Drawing the snake then led me into pondering ways the devil might use my desire for relief from the weariness of wilderness to harm me. When Jesus faced the devil’s temptations, he remained alert to recognize the devil’s misuse of Scripture. If even something as perfect as God’s word can be used by the devil to tempt the Son of God, how much more could a normal, natural desire for relief from stress be used to entice me into some sort of danger or disobedience?

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

I need to stay alert and seek Jesus all the more when I’m in a wilderness time, especially when I’m tempted to zone out or to focus on finding ways to escape the discomfort. God will provide what I need in his time, but I need to be sure that what appears to be relief is really God’s provision and not a snare of the devil.

O God, you are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water. Psalm 63:1

At that point Jesus’ words in the Gospel according to John came to mind:

Jesus said “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”          John 7:37-38

Around that time, I was reading The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and came across this statement that fit so well with my desert wilderness musings: “What makes the desert beautiful, is that somewhere it hides a well.” I drew a well far in the distance (the brownish-red spot on the right-hand side in the distant mountains).

After I drew the well, I thought of Hagar in the desert:

Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.                                                                            Genesis 21:14-19

Apparently, the well was there all along, but Hagar didn’t see it until God opened her eyes.

Open my eyes so I can see
    what you show me of your miracle-wonders.
I’m a stranger in these parts;
    give me clear directions.
My soul is starved and hungry, ravenous!—
    insatiable for your nourishing commands. Psalm 119:18-20 (The Message)

The desert wilderness I’m passing through is beautiful when it increases my thirst for the living water I find as I walk with Jesus in that wilderness.