After John the Baptist’s beheading, Jesus invited the disciples to retreat.

Later in this post, we will explore the restoration and future revival that comes to Elijah here. 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. 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).

In Scripture, we often see supernatural peace experienced in wild places as the character in the story experiences God’s presence. We find supernatural peace because God often shows up when we are quiet and still enough to experience Him. 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. Most of us, when entering a wilderness setting, comment on the profound sense of peace we find, both naturally and supernaturally. When we retreat from our ordinary life, we contemplate our lives and we have better clarity on the situation we are in. As we step away, we realize we were not living the abundant life that God intended for us. Instead, we focus on surviving and getting through 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. We cannot look at a problem in life when we are in the middle of it. Retreating away from the chaos of life is one of the first steps of transformation and spiritual formation. 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?

As biblical understanding and theology drive each other, both will overlap throughout the pattern of retreat-restore-revive. In this post, we will explore the retreat-restore-revive pattern. This is a wonderful balance of rest and work, being poured into and being poured out, identity and sacrifice. 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.

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