Lost in the Wilderness: How God Makes a Way

When I first moved in, I got lost in my husband’s backyard.

Let me explain.

Our backyard is a 30-acre mix of flat Texas ranchland, rolling hills dotted with prickly pear cacti, woods where mesquite and blackbrush grow so thick that they practically form thorny walls, and a winding trail through a dry creek bed.

While strolling along that path during my lunch break, I was listening to a sermon about how God caused the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years when the journey should have only taken 11 days (see Numbers 32:13). So engrossed was I in the message that God can make short journeys long, that I began to meander off the path, and apparently decided to recreate their experience on a smaller scale.

What should have been a five-minute stroll back from the creek turned into 20 perilous, panic-stricken minutes of desperately wandering down random animal tracks, and sweaty bear-crawling on the ground. I even hoped my dog would lead us back home, but he was too busy gleefully chasing new scents to be of any use.

As my lunch break dwindled with no path in sight, I full-on panicked because not only was I failing to find a way, but I was utterly unequipped to make one: I stood surrounded by thorns on all sides, dressed in thin cotton shorts that were dreadfully unfit for the battle against the brambles, and without a gun to handle any rattlesnakes that might spring out to strike me if I kept slinking through the brush.

The thought of having to tell my manager that my lunch break ran long because I got lost in my own backyard was mortifying enough to motivate me to ask for help, so I considered my options. I could call my husband to rescue me, but the idea of admitting I’d gotten lost 200 yards from our house wasn’t exactly appealing either. I decided to call on God.

Within seconds, I saw a butterfly. I thought, could this be a sign from the Lord? I followed it and found a tire swing that I didn’t know existed, which meant there was a human-made path that would lead back to the house. Finally, I made it out.

But my goodness, this whole experience made the sermon land hard; God can absolutely make a way in the wilderness, but He can also let us wander in circles and turn a short journey into a long one when we try to bumble around alone.

That’s why we need Him to call us back to the path. John the Baptist said:

“I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” (John 1:23, NIV)

John’s job was pointing people back to the path, preparing the way, getting hearts ready to receive what God was doing.

That’s what I needed that day—a voice in the wilderness pointing me back. Whether it came through a sermon, a prayer, or a butterfly leading me to a tire swing, God made it clear: stop wandering, turn to Him, pay attention, and follow the help He sends.

So, if you’re in a season that feels like it’s taking forever, or you’re standing surrounded by thorns on all sides wondering how you got there, take heart. God hasn’t left you to figure it out alone. He’s ready to make a way, but you must be willing to stop, ask for help, and trust Him to lead you home.

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Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.