A Note from the Wilderness Volume# 22 Issue # 3 Date: May 2026

Recently, I’ve been reading through the book of Joshua. I’ll admit, I often get bogged down in the lists of defeated kings and tribal boundaries. I found myself scanning the pages until Caleb’s words stopped me:

“Behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me... my strength now is as my strength was then.”

At first, I chuckled at the image of a white-haired warrior. But as I meditated on it, I realized Caleb’s strength wasn't just physical—it was spiritual. Forty-five years earlier, he saw the giants in the land, but he knew his God was bigger. After decades of wandering in the wilderness and watching his peers fall, his faith never wavered. His spiritual strength "now" was exactly as it was then: set firmly on the Lord.

I have to admit, I haven't felt that same steadfastness in recent days. My spiritual strength doesn't always feel like it's holding steady. Life often feels like its own kind of wilderness. I attend chai, host English corners, and sit outside my apartment talking to neighbors—yet learning Russian is slow, and I often feel "stupid" in the process. Building friendships is a long, arduous journey; even when connections are made, they often seem to have little interest in spiritual truths, quickly shutting down conversations about heart-level things.

So much of my time is spent running to and fro on visa logistics or hauling craft supplies. In the quiet moments, I can’t help but wonder: What difference does it make that I am here?

It is in these moments that I need to preach the Gospel to myself. The message isn’t simply that Caleb was strong, so I must be, too. The true hope lies in the fact that I serve the same God. He is a God who faithfully keeps His promises, who sees His people through the wilderness, and who has already won the victory for all time. He is at work and fighting the battle. Even when I am spiritually weak and discouraged, I serve a God who is eternally strong. I need to hold tight to these words:

"I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:13-14)

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)

In this season, please pray that I would find a spiritual strength that clings to His Word, even while waiting and walking through the wilderness.