Why is wilderness so transformational? Jesus shows us a pattern of retreating to the peaceful and solitary places, restoring His identity with the Father, and then returning to the people to revive others. This is a wonderful balance of rest and work, being poured into and being poured out, identity and sacrifice. In this post, we will explore the retreat-restore-revive pattern. As biblical understanding and theology drive each other, both will overlap throughout the pattern of retreat-restore-revive. We will look at some historical and contemporary approaches to retreat-restore-revive within wilderness experiences, and finally we will examine the question: does it have to be wilderness?
Retreat
Retreating away from the chaos of life is one of the first steps of transformation and spiritual formation. We cannot look at a problem in life when we are in the middle of it. When we are in the middle of the day-to-day grind, we rarely see the problem, or the need for a healthier path. Instead, we focus on surviving and getting through it. As we step away, we realize we were not living the abundant life that God intended for us. When we retreat from our ordinary life, we contemplate our lives and we have better clarity on the situation we are in. Most of us, when entering a wilderness setting, comment on the profound sense of peace we find, both naturally and supernaturally. We find natural peace when we are away from the distractions and stressors that constantly tug at our hearts throughout our day-to-day struggles. We find supernatural peace because God often shows up when we are quiet and still enough to experience Him.
In Scripture, we often see supernatural peace experienced in wild places as the character in the story experiences God’s presence. When Elijah was afraid of Jezebel and running for his life, he retreated to the desert where an angel of the Lord fed him and comforted his suicidal depression (1 Kings 19:4-7). This comfort was so nourishing Elijah walked another 40 days to Mount Sinai and met with the Lord in a cave as he heard the still small voice (v. 8-9, 13). Later in this post, we will explore the restoration and future revival that comes to Elijah here. After John the Baptist’s beheading, Jesus invited the disciples to retreat. “And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.’ (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves” (Mark 6:31-32). While these passages are situation-based, it seems Jesus retreated daily for prayer and to commune with the Father. In Mark 1, we see Jesus healing the entire village at night when they came to see Him at Peter’s mother-in-law’s house. “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there” (Mark 1:35). Also, in between the feeding of the 5,000 and walking on the water, “…He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray…” (Matthew 14:23). Below are three more verses that emphasize the theological importance of retreat.
- “Be still and know that I am God…” (Psalms 46:10a)
- “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Exodus 14:14).
- “‘You will seek me and find me when you seek for me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 29:13-14).
There are several theological implications that we can learn here from these selective passages. The first is simply that retreat is vital for emotional and spiritual well-being. In a fallen world, our daily life pulls us away from God’s design for peace and abundant joy as we rest in Him. Second, we can observe that we often meet with God when we retreat from our normal lives. Third, we should retreat to solitary places which are usually in the mountains, deserts, and other wild or pristine places. Just like a painting helps us understand the painter, creation helps us to understand the Creator as we rest in wonder at His beauty and order. Jesus started His ministry from a place of rest. This is contrary to the popular western belief that retreat or rest should come after we have done hard work to earn it. In Christian Outdoor Leadership: Theology, Theory, and Practice, Ashley Denton says, “[Jesus] retreated to reflect and remember, to gain perspective, and to form strategy…Jesus’ rhythm of labor and retreat models a vital principal for us today, the right starting place for ministering to others is rest, not busyness.” Remember, the first place we see man was resting with God in the Garden.
Restore
In the above passage from Jeremiah, God reminds us we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts (Jeremiah 29:13-14). This is a message encouraging us to retreat, but also a message about the importance of restoration. We cannot seek God when the world distracts us. We must retreat to be available to find Him with our whole heart, and when we find God with our whole heart, supernatural restoration follows. It is logical to think that God will restore our hearts when we find him. When we retreat to be with God, His presence engulfs us and restores us, while conforming us to be more like Him. Retreat drives us into God’s presence, which restores our hearts as we commune with the Father. The exact nature of what we need for restoration depends on what the Spirit of God wants to restore in our circumstances.
There is a wonderful passage in Isaiah 55 that helps us understand the restoration that happens in the hearts of people as they are full of the presence of God:
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David. Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you. Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God.
For He will abundantly pardon. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, And it will be a memorial to the Lord, For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.
—Jeremiah 55:1-3,5b-7,10-13
The restoration described in this passage is staggering! No matter what your challenge, fear, or spiritual thirst is, God invites you to come to the waters and drink. Jesus reminds us He is the living water (John 7:37-39). It doesn’t matter what needs to be restored in your heart: Jesus is the restoration that you need. As we seek the Lord through restoration, He will have compassion on us and abundantly pardon our sins! Isaiah explains that when we are restored, we will be glorified in the Father (Isaiah 55:5b). Being restored to glory, through the Holy Spirit, gives us life in abundance, joy and peace overflowing, and a new life! The new heart that Ezekiel prophesies (Ezekiel 36:26) is described here as a new identity. Because of the restoration of the Word of God sent out by the Father, the thorny bush and nettles instead sprout up myrtle and cypress.
This is the same restoration that takes place when we retreat to be with the Lord. God may ask us to repent and seek his abundant pardon. The Lord may strengthen us as he did to Elijah in the cave. Jesus may help us grieve a loss as he did with the disciples when John the Baptist was beheaded. Jesus may restore our identity as He did to Peter while fishing along the lake after Peter denied Him three times (John 21). Sometimes restoration invites us to character development and holy living. Paul, a man who used to kill Christians and persecute the Church, says that his restoration came by revelation received in wild places. “For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ…to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem. (Galatians 1:11-12, 16-18a). Paul went away to Arabia, a desert, for three years to be alone and to have his heart restored to be available for the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Retreat may just invite us to be restored through prayer and worship, as Jesus modeled so often in his life. When we experience the created world, we feel compelled to worship the God who knit all of creation together. Richard Foster helps us understand this type of worship as restoration in his book Celebration of Discipline: “One reason worship should be considered a Spiritual Discipline is because it is an ordered way of acting and living that sets us before God so he can transform us.” As we worship the Father, in retreat with His Spirit and His Son, we have no choice but to be restored! It doesn’t really matter what needs to be restored in our hearts, it only matters that we are restored and adopt the likeness of Christ. As leaders, not only does it matter that we are constantly seeking the Lord for spiritual restoration, but also that we are sending those we are leading on retreat so they might find restoration as well. While spiritual restoration happens whenever we are in the presence of the Holy Spirit, scripture reveals that restoration often takes place through retreat in wild and pristine places. Retreat drives restoration.
Revive
When God has restored our hearts, the natural next step is to tell someone what He has done. Our retreat and restoration makes us want to share the experience with others. People cannot revive themselves. An injured or struggling person needs someone else to revive them. Once God has restored us, we will find renewed purpose and direction to lead others to their own spiritual renewal. We may want to stay in the place we experienced our restoration, but we can’t stay there forever. Even though it brought us closer to God, the wilderness will eventually feel lonely because we are designed to share our stories with others.
We should not stay on the top of the mountain forever, nor should we stay in retreat with Jesus forever. He calls us to preach and proclaim the good news! We see this balance in Mark 5 with a man restored from possession by so many demons he called himself Legion. “As [Jesus] was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, ‘Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed” (Mark 5:18-20). Jesus doesn’t let the man stay with Him. He tells him to go proclaim the good news! Like many of Jesus’ miracles, the miraculous restoration of this man was not only for him, but for revival in all of Decapolis, which was known for its heavy pagan influence. After seeing this restorative encounter with Legion, the people asked Jesus to leave because they were afraid (Mark 5:17). However, this does not remain the spiritual condition forever. Most Jews would not go to Decapolis because of the spiritual darkness found there. Knowing this, Jesus sent Legion directly into this land as a witness because they already knew him there and his testimony could start a revival. We see evidence of this revival later in Mark 7 when Jesus returned to Decapolis. Mark 7:31-36 and Matt 15:30-31 show us that there are now great crowds following Jesus, who are bringing their lame and sick to Jesus! Not only did the crowds not send Jesus away, but they welcomed him and asked him to heal their people! This wonderful revival happened because of the restorative healing of a demon-possessed man. God’s intent for wilderness and creation is that we retreat periodically to be restored by Him, but then return to others to proclaim the glorious ways He has touched our hearts. Retreat drives restoration in our own lives, which drives restoration in the lives of others.
Through our sections of writing on retreat and restoration we mentioned several passages, many of which had revival already written in to them. Many of these verses follow a predictable pattern: restoration happens so that others will know God. After Elijah retreats to Mount Horeb and meets with the Lord in 1 Kings 19, the still small voice of God restores him. Elijah complains to the Lord that there is no one left who is still faithful. God assures Elijah that there are many who remain faithful, thus offering Elijah restoration, knowing that he is not the only one who remains faithful. God then commands Elijah to return to where he came from and create revival by leading the kings in the lands.
The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place… Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him” (I Kings 19:15-16,18).
After his time of retreat and restoration in the Lord, Elijah finds a new purpose: to revive the nation through anointing Godly men as kings. Retreat and restoration often create a sense of purpose, like we see with Elijah.
In Mark 1, we read about Jesus praying early in the morning at Peter’s mother-in-law’s house. When Peter presses Jesus to return and serve the people, “Jesus says, ‘Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.’ And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee preaching and casting out demons” (Mark 1:38-29). The direction Jesus gained from His morning prayer (a time of retreat and restoration) was to create a revival in all of Galilee.
The story of the Exodus from Egypt reminds us that the Lord will fight for us as we read about the Israelites pinned between the Red Sea and the advancing Egyptian army. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land” (Exodus 14:15-16). Revival is further explained in the last verse of this chapter, as we see the reason this miracle happened. “When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses” (Exodus 14:31).
A very popular verse for retreat is Psalm 46:10 which reminds us to be still. Usually people only quote the first half of the verse, which is a great atrocity to the revival God intended when He moved David to write it. “Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Essentially, God is telling his people, “Retreat and come to me so that you might be a part of My glory in the revival of the nations.” Eugene Peterson writes in The Message, “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything” (Psalm 46:10, The Message). No matter which translation you read, this verse reminds us to take a long look at the grandeur of God. Revival comes when we gaze adoringly at the wonders of God!
Through Isaiah, God describes all the wonderful ways he wants to restore us, then tells us why he restores his people. “And it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off” (Isaiah 55:13b). God restores his people so His name will be remembered and glorified forever, and as the people are restored and made new they will continue to revive others. Through this cycle, the Lord will be remembered forever.
In his reflection on his retreat to the desert of Arabia for personal restoration and revelation, Paul is thinking about the revival he will write and preach. “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:15-16). Paul spent three years in the desert of Arabia having his soul restored so that he could bring revival to the Gentiles. This specific revival is massive because no one before Paul was reaching the Gentiles!
Ezekiel prophesied the Lord would give us a new heart. Specifically, the restoration and new heart that Ezekiel was promising was that the Holy Spirit would indwell the heart. After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would no longer just land on a person, but God would actually enter their heart! This type of restoration has a wonderful revival attached to it. Later Ezekiel writes, “‘I am not doing this for your sake,’ declares the Lord God, ‘let it be known to you…Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it,” (Ezekiel 32a, 36). This restoration is so that the nations who will see it will know that the Lord is He who does the rebuilding. Revival in this sense is for entire nations!
Does it have to be Wilderness?
We have studied extensively why we should retreat to be alone with God, how he restores our hearts in that retreat place, and why we should return to the people to bring about revival. Retreat drives restoration, which drives revival. While it makes the most sense to see this flow in wild and beautiful places, we might ask, “Does this have to be wilderness?” To answer this question, we should observe that Jesus Himself used nature. He often took his disciples to the mountains, deserts, and seas to be alone with the people. At first glance, we might think this was just where the people lived their lives, but the passages that start off with, “Jesus took his disciples to…” contradict this thought. It would be strange for the disciples to be doing everyday life on the top of mountains or deep in the desert. The environment is too harsh for this to be true. So the model Jesus left us with was to find our retreat and restoration in the wilderness.
Let us study the passage about The Great Commission to learn more about how wilderness is vital for this retreat-restore-revive mentality.
But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on Earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”
—Matthew 28:16-20
We can see that the disciples desperately needed a retreat! Jesus, the man who they devoted their lives to, had just died. What were they to do now? They were waiting on a king like David, who would defeat the Romans and restore all of Israel to the Jewish people. If ever there was a time for retreat, it was then. Indeed, Jesus tells them to retreat. “Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Matthew 28:10). He promises to meet them on a designated mountain. Right off the bat, the expedition to the mountain must have been a promise of restoration, and they expected to be restored by Jesus on that mountain. The chief priests were meeting with the tomb guards to get them to lie about the disappearance of Jesus’ body. The text does not say, but if the disciples knew about this cover up to discredit the resurrection of Jesus, their spirits might have been very low, indeed. Truly, these followers needed to have their hearts restored. Their retreat to the mountains could not have been more timely.
The restoration of the disciples happens when they meet Christ on the mountain in Galilee. Even the sight of resurrected Jesus was so great that they worshiped Him as soon as they saw Him (v.17)! Jesus restores their hearts as he tells them that all authority has been given to Him in all of Heaven and Earth (v.18) and again when He tells them He will be with them always, even to the end of the age (v.20). What wonderful and faithful promises! I wonder what it would be like to hear the resurrected Lord of the universe offer me such promises on the top of a mountain!! These two restoration statements that Jesus makes serve as bookends to the revival message written right in the middle of it. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (v19-20a). This revival statement says that it is not just the eleven disciples that need to be restored. It is every nation in the world. There is not a revival statement greater than this one in all of history! This passage is so amazing! In in the last words Jesus spoke on earth, we see retreat to the mountain, restoration of the heart, and revival for the nations!
Historical and Contemporary Approaches
During the third and fourth centuries, some church fathers saw the declining spirituality in the traditional church and retreated to the desert. These believers became known as the Desert Fathers. In An Introduction to the Desert Fathers by Jason Byassee, he describes their exodus from the cities this way: “In the ancient Christian world….[the desert] became a city of those fleeing a church grown soft in collusion with the powerful Roman Empire, trying to live out the risky vision of discipleship glimpsed in the gospels.” The Desert Fathers not only retreated to commune with God, but they retreated away from the evils of the city. A common spiritual discipline of these hermits was to deny the flesh and any worldly wants. Often these Desert Fathers lived very solitary lives to allow them to focus fully on the holiness of God. Richard Foster helps us to understand how the solitary lives of these men and woman helped drive restoration. “If we hope to move beyond the superficialities of our culture, including our religious culture, we must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation.” In these times of silence and solitude, many of these Desert Fathers became recreated in the image of the Father. It was through their self denial, solitude, and contemplation that the Desert Fathers became like Christ.
Others started seeing Christ’s attributes in the Desert Fathers and pursued their wisdom through discipleship. Revival flowed out of those who retreated to the desert because restoration was so holy. The Desert Fathers were so holy and their restoration so deep that revival just happened, even though they didn’t really seek to create revival in others. (The Desert Fathers moved to the desert to get away from people). Revival is such a natural part of restoration it will happen, even if we try to avoid it. The revival of the Desert Fathers is so rich we still look to them for leadership many centuries later.
Desert Fathers still have an influence on Christianity. Today, we call these groups monks or monastics. A quick story describes how enticing full restoration in Christ can be. Byasse writes, “A friend took a group of drug-troubled teenagers to another [monastic] community once. After Lauds, a service of chanting psalms for an hour at 3:20 a.m., he overheard one student say to another, ‘Man, that was better than getting high.’ Worship done right is its own form of intoxication.” After these students retreated to the monastic community, they experienced restoration that led them to engage in worship. For these young drug addicts, the worship of the monastics was so rich that they had to participate. One teenager’s restoration through worship led to revival as he told his friend it was better than drugs!
In the early 20th century, tuberculosis was rampant and hospitals became so crowded the workers did not know what to do with all the patients. On the east coast, hospital staff opted to erect tents for the worst cases, assuming they were close to death. Miraculously, many of the patients survived. For some strange reason they climbed out of their beds, formed a community with other patients, and explored the gardens and rivers around them. The concerned hospital staff decided that if the patients were going to live, they should erect walls and roofs for them to protect them from the freezing conditions. Unfortunately, the patients all died after being confined indoors. Those who studied this event coined the term “Tent Therapy” to describe the event. I don’t know whether anyone has studied tent therapy from a spiritual perspective, but the supernatural connections are clear. When the patients could retreat to gardens and rivers, they found a new purpose in life. We can only imagine they experienced the Creator in His Creation and He restored their lives. Sadly, the good intentions of the hospital staff ultimately hindered the revival they experienced.
Today we are so busy that we view retreat as a specific program or destination. Very few Christians in the western world retreat regularly with God. When Jesus talked about the parable of the seed, the seed that fell amongst weeds did not grow because the weeds choked it. Later, He explained the weeds were the cares of the world that prevented the seed from taking root. He could easily have been describing the current spiritual condition in western societies. We rarely retreat, so our experiences with restoration and revival are disappearing. The Church would do well to learn from the practices of the Desert Fathers and biblical teachings.
There are some camps, youth groups, and Christian wilderness outreach programs that are doing this extremely well. They understand that the principles of Retreat-Restore-Revive are critical for youth discipleship. Ashley Denton, backcountry guide and teacher, observed from extensive personal and professional experience that there are five major spiritual outcomes when these programs engage in wilderness ministry:
- Awareness of God’s existence and character
- Belief in Jesus Christ
- Experiencing Biblical fellowship and community
- Finding freedom through spiritual discipline
- Habitual examination of one’s own heart and Christ-centered contemplation
If backcountry students are routinely experiencing these outcomes, we know wilderness retreat, spiritual restoration, and going home with the purpose of revival is just as beneficial to us today as it was to Jesus and His followers in their day.
Conclusion
In this article, we have examined biblical passages concerning the theological understanding of the principles of retreat-restore-revive, but no bible study is complete unless it leads to action. I have asked myself, “How will I practice obedience to the Word of God?”
God has called me to form, pastor, and shepherd the Seeds Wilderness Therapy program. Our mission statement is, “Retreat. Restore. Revive.” Teenagers who are struggling with mental health issues, substance abuse, depression, and suicidal thoughts will come to western Colorado for an extended retreat. For three to four months, these at-risk youth will live together in community and in the presence of the Father. This short-term community lives, eats, and sleeps completely in the wilderness with the goal of experiencing restoration. Therapists will help restore each individual to the image of Christ. My role as pastor will be to teach and preach the good news of the Kingdom of God. Seeds will use a family systems approach, which will include all family members at home in the process of restoration. The family at home will meet with a pastor and therapist to work out their own restoration, hopefully while on retreat. At the end of the stay in Seeds the family, and any home pastors or therapists, can retreat for a week-long expedition including climbing, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, or horseback riding. The student and the family will experience restoration together during this closing expedition. Restoration is not the end of the process for these families. Seeds will work with the family to help them experience a revival. Just like the biblical characters we have studied, restoration experienced by the recipient leads to revival in the family and community. Students can also participate in mission trips a year or two after their initial placement with Seeds to re-ignite the revival they experienced with Seeds. Retreat drives restoration, which drives revival. It is the revival that gives the retreat its depth and meaning. And restoration leads us back to retreat. This is the beautiful cycle of life with God.