Article March 10, 1928 Issue

Significance of the Wilderness

DOROTHY MARY HUTCHINGS

If one reads the Bible carefully, he cannot help being impressed by the many references to the wilderness which are to be found in its pages. Many chapters of the Old Testament are occupied with the account of the wanderings of the children of Israel therein. David dwelt there when fleeing from the wrath of Saul. Elijah, after a signal proof of God's omnipotence, listened to the threatenings of Jezebel, and went into the wilderness apparently overwhelmed by the darkness of the immediate outlook. Even our dear Master spent forty days in the wilderness; and since he was the Way-shower, we may reasonably assume that the wilderness experience in some degree awaits each of us at some time or other in our journey from sense to Soul.

We may therefore helpfully endeavor to gain some understanding of the true significance of "wilderness," in order to reap the full benefits of the experience. In the Glossary to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 597) our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, defines "wilderness" as follows: "Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence." A study of this definition throws a very clear light on the various wilderness experiences recorded in the Scriptures.

Moses, viewing the burning bush as he took his flock "to the backside of the desert," gained a wonderful insight into the indestructibility of the spiritual idea. The recognition of this great fact of being gave him courage, and remained with him as he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. This spiritual insight enabled him to see the whole experience in its true light, even though to the Israelites themselves the wilderness which they had to traverse must often have seemed a place of "loneliness; doubt; darkness." David, when a hunted fugitive in the wilderness, so clearly recognized the divine government that he could spare the life of his enemy, content to leave the issue with God. Elijah, sitting under a juniper tree, weighed down with a mesmeric sense of failure and futility, found in that very place the "spontaneity of thought and idea" which awakened, fed, and strengthened him until he was enabled to come to the mount of God, and to discern God's presence, not in the wind, fire, or earthquake, but in the "still small voice."

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