The Wilderness Classroom

Our business (and therefore us) have been in what we can only describe as a wilderness season.

Not the kind a weekend off can fix. Not the kind a new planner or productivity tool will pull you out of.

I’m talking about the deep kind. The kind where your momentum dries up (and therefore the money). Your strategies stop working. And the clarity you once had is now just questions.

Where everything in you wants to do something to fix it... but God seems to be saying, "Be still."

And if you’re a small business owner? An entrepreneur who’s used to being the one who shows up, makes it happen, solves the problem? This season can feel disorienting. Defeating. Even a little cruel.

In this season it’s easy to start wondering: Am I a failure? 

But then what if it’s not about failure at all, but rather formation?

The other day I learned something that has changed how I see this whole wilderness thing.

In Hebrew, the word for wilderness is midbar (מִדְבָר). It shares its root with the word davar (דָבָר) — meaning word, speech, or spoken thing.

Pause - don’t space out on my. This is big!!

The wilderness isn’t just the dry, terrible place of punishment it feels like. According to the Hebrew language (God’s language) it’s the place where God speaks.

Are you serious right now!

You’re telling me the place I am trying my hardest to get out of is actually the place that God speaks the most.

Maybe this season I was feeling stuck in... is actually a season that should be considered sacred.

You see the wilderness isn’t where God abandons you. It’s where He invites you to hear.

Moses heard Him in the wilderness. 

Israel was formed in the wilderness.

Yeshua (Jesus) was tested and strengthened in the wilderness.

I’m sensing a theme.

Maybe the wilderness seasons are important for us too?

Let’s take a look at Proverbs 27:18 (CJB):

If you are like me you look at this and go…your point is?

Here is what I learned - Fig trees are slow growers. It can take years before they produce edible fruit. YEARS - apparently I should never grow figs, I am not the most patient person in the bunch (not yet anyways).

So this verse isn’t just about planting some fruit trees. It’s about the kind of slow, steady faithfulness most entrepreneurs aren’t taught to value.

You don’t hustle a fig tree into fruiting. You tend it. Every day. In quiet. Without fanfare.

And eventually, it brings you the sweet reward of fruit.

In business, we’re often trained to chase what’s scalable, what’s fast, what’s visible. But God invites us to build differently.

To trust that the fruit will come — Not because we forced it. But because we were consistent and he is faithful.

Let’s dive a little deeper and learn about the Hebrew structure of the word midbar (wilderness). In Hebrew here is how it is spelled and why it matters:

• Mem (מ) = waters, chaos

• Dalet (ד) = doorway

• Bet (ב) = house, dwelling

• Resh (ר) = head, beginning

Put it together, here’s what we get: The wilderness is a passage through chaos... into a doorway... that leads to dwelling with God... where your thinking is renewed.

So maybe wilderness seasons aren’t just about being productive. Maybe they are about being present.

Maybe the dry ground is actually holy ground.

Maybe it’s about reminding the business builders of the world…” maybe: “It’s God’s way of reminding us — the builders — that He’s the One who provides. He gives us the skill, the ideas, the abilities, the drive, and at last the fruit - EVERYTHING!

If you’re in a wilderness season? Here’s what I want to encourage you with:

You’re not broken. 

You’re not behind. 

You’re not alone.

No, on the contrary…

You’re being invited to listen. To stay consistent. To trust again.

You’re not in the way of your calling. You’re right in the middle of it.

This is the wilderness classroom. 

Where ambition is refined into obedience. 

Where striving gives way to abiding. 

Where the fruit doesn’t validate you — because faithfulness already does.

Ask yourself today:

• Am I trying to rush a season God has called me to walk through?

• What if this quiet is actually the place where God wants to speak?

• What if the wilderness isn’t punishment… but preparation?

• Is God the great provider and won’t he provide in all seasons?

Stay close. Stay faithful. And trust this:

The Word still speaks in the wilderness. And you’re not just being tested. You’re being taught.

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