Anji Russell
Poetry and Design

“Wilderness appears in the Bible regularly. It is often the background of significant events. When God freed the people from slavery in Egypt, He took them into the wilderness where they wandered for 40 years.” (Wiaja, 2020, p1.) This is when God taught the Israelites many lessons. “The wilderness of the Judean hills is where the Holy Spirit sent Jesus before the start of his public ministry. He was there so that God could have a conversation with him.” (Wiaja, 2020, p3.) Our natural desire when our lives end up in what appears to be our own personal wilderness, is to rush to get out and to get on with our lives! But time in the wilderness should not be rushed. How might we understand a personal wilderness today? “When our life hits the ‘desert’ it can feel a harsh and a lonely place. Our hearts and minds feel weary, burnt out, and everything seems lifeless or pointless. The wilderness is not presented as a hopeless place in the bible. God has used the desert and the wilderness to speak with His people. Miracles abound! This time is not wasted. God uses these times for something meaningful and powerful.” (Wiaja, 2020, p2.)

 

Most of these poems have narrative that recognises that these Old Testament women have experienced their own ‘wilderness’. At times the men - husbands, fathers, army leaders, or slave masters - are also found in the ‘wilderness’, for example Naaman and King Josiah. Both were helped by women, King Josiah by Huldah’s prophesy and Naaman by his wife’s maid. For some, this experience lasts for a few days, for others much longer – 20 years for Rebekah in her barrenness. The bible is not always explicit about such times. However long or short a wilderness experience may be, it is a time when God works in lives - refining, challenging and changing. Hagar knew this, as did Jephthah’s daughter. These wilderness experiences are at times of the woman’s own making, at times they are due to the actions of others, and sometimes they may seem to be for no apparent reason. Whatever the reason, many of the women in their wilderness showed great strength in the Lord.  

 

Often these women recognise that it is God who lifts them out of their wilderness and who brings about a miracle, for example Hagar and Hannah. “Many faced war, fear, heart-wrenching sorrow, and hopeless situations. Yet, in the midst of it all, they found their strength in the Lord. God gave each woman the courage, confidence, wisdom, faith, and strength they needed to fulfil His will.” (Muchnik, 2025, p1.) How does the wilderness experience end in these poems – a baby conceived, a battle won, a man healed, a celebration of wondrous joy coming out of hardship and struggles! Did Dinah’s wilderness change her - we are never told.

 

Although true for Hagar, it is not always a clear voice from God that speaks to the women in their wilderness. At times another person, an ‘ezer kenegdo’, or a specific situation, helps them in and out of the darkness of that place. Others come through their wilderness by spending time embracing the experience without fear and letting God do His work. There are two women whom I do not perceive as having entered into a wilderness time in their biblical story and this is reflected in their poems. They are Achsah (daughter of Caleb, one of the spies who entered the promised land) and Huldah (the prophet during the reign of King Josiah). This does not mean to say that there were not times in their lives when they experienced the wilderness, we just don’t specifically hear about such times. Wiaja (2020, p5) writes, “Although in hardship we want to avoid the discomfort of the wilderness, it is in fact an invitation to an encounter. God wants to speak to us!”

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To think about:

When we next face our own time of struggle, our own wilderness, we could do well to read and re-read the stories of these remarkable women. We might ask ourselves the following questions and ponder on our answers:

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How do we cope in the wilderness?

Who do we turn to for help?

In our imperfect lives do we make a difference? If so, how and where? 

Do we use our voices for good, to change anything that needs changing?

Are we as women, living as God wanted before the fall happened; living as ezer-kenegdo women?