God as Weary Wanderer

By Craig Ashton Jr., August 26, 2023

Though we may experience periods of wandering, finding ourselves in the wilderness longing for rest and peace, God has not left us to wander in uncertainty and misery. The Book of Exodus describes the Israelites wandering in the desert for many years. The days were hot, dry, and dusty. They endured hardships, becoming weary as they wandered from place to place in the wilderness, but God went out to wander with them and offer them rest:

The Lord found Jacob in a wild land, in a desolate land, in a howling wasteland. He encircled him. He cared for him. He guarded him like the pupil of his eye. As an eagle rises from its nest and hovers over its young, then spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on the edge of its wings, so the Lord alone led Israel.

Deuteronomy 32:9–12

God’s reasons for taking this journey were rooted in His desire for communion and community (Exodus 25:8). The Book of Ezekiel describes God as seeing restlessness in the land. Seeing His people’s indifference and rebellion and how they ignored and despised Him, God expelled them from the land, scattering them to wander in foreign territory. What did God do next? He departed from His place and wandered with them:

Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.

Ezekiel 11:16

God is like a nomad, a rootless wanderer, restlessly traversing from one place to another. We may see ourselves as weary wanderers who long for the divine in an arid and uncertain land, yet we rarely imagine God as a weary wanderer longing for communion. However, God’s heartfelt desire is to dwell among us (Exodus 25:8). In fact, God has been wandering ever since humanity left the Garden of Eden. We understand that mankind has had a long and tortured journey, yet God too has been a weary wanderer looking for rest.

The Bible tells us that this rest is attained at the end of the journey: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God’” (Revelation 21:3). At the end of the wandering journey, God rests in communion, dwelling among a community of His people in a new creation. According to Isaiah, this resting place “shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10). I like New Testament scholar Sigve Tonstad’s commentary on this rest:

God has needs too. When the revelation is completed and the earth full of the knowledge of the Lord, there shall be a homecoming for God: in Jewish thought God’s wandering is over. Rest is the presence and participation of God with creation.

Revelation, 2019, p. 331

Old Testament scholar John Walton points out that God takes up His rest in a temple and that the temple should be seen as the place of divine rest. It is a wanderer’s rest for sure, but while we tend to think of rest as relaxation from exhaustion, this rest is about satisfaction with God’s work. His loving rule reveals the beautiful character of God’s selflessness, helping us come to understand that God’s ways are truly amazing! Our future rest is only possible through God’s glorious rest. To have God as our shepherd, to be led by Him to restful places, to go with Him from beauty to greater beauty, and to finally enter a glorious rest.

God desires to lead us directly into everlasting communion. He offered a glimpse of this through the traveling tent in the wilderness in which His presence dwelt, pointing to the day when the glory of the Lord would completely fill the earth. This will create a glorious dwelling place of great beauty and peace, as God Himself will be seen as beautiful and glorious. As weary wanderers, we too shall receive this if we desire it.

Craig Ashton Jr.