Tom Cooper
Ridley Student

The world at the moment seems full of reasons for people to be anxious and worried. Uncertainty and potential suffering saturate public conversations about the future. My time at Ridley has shown me that the Bible provides many resources for working in the midst of uncertainty and challenge. In particular, the biblical image of the wilderness has stood out for me, becoming the focus of my final year research project, and shaping my understanding of ministry and life.

Rather than an idyllic nature reserve, the wilderness in the Bible invokes the Judean desert, a place lacking in sustenance, lonely and isolated, with a looming sense of danger. It is a place where people are not in control of their situations and fates. The wilderness drove the Israelites to ask, “Is God really with us?” only a short time after their miraculous redemption from slavery in Egypt (Ex 17:7).

We have a good God… who sees us, provides for us, and walks with us in the wilderness of life and ministry.

I started to explore my own call to vocational ministry through a ministry traineeship in 2020. That journey has been full of unexpected twists and curveballs, even beyond a global pandemic, which I couldn’t have expected or foreseen. At times, it has felt as though things were very much out of my control, like I was walking in a wilderness, wondering why God had seemed to call me there.

After taking a break from pursuing ministry, I came to Ridley feeling shaken in my confidence and sense of calling to ministry. In some regards, I also felt shaken in my confidence in God. What is encouraging and challenging is that within the Christian life this is not unexpected. As I studied, I saw that, in fact, there are few righteous figures in the Bible who do not spend time in the wilderness, whether literally or metaphorically. God seems to use our wilderness experiences to teach us to be dependent on his provision of water and sustenance, which is always proven sufficient. And in the wilderness, our faith in God’s continued goodness becomes evident for others to see. This is a pattern that Jesus himself follows when he answered the call into the wilderness and never doubted what had just been revealed, when the Father said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17-4:11). God calls us to live in a way that seems to invite uncertainty, suffering, and challenge, not out of anger or wrath, but so that we learn to have faith in his promises, and our hope becomes clear to all.

Now, as I come to the end of my study, I feel more confident in my skills and training. But life and ministry can easily throw things at me that I am not prepared for and cannot control. What gives me confidence, and what my time at Ridley has helped me understand more richly, is that we have a good God, who does not abandon us, but who sees us, provides for us, and walks with us in the wilderness of life and ministry.

This is an article from our 2027 Ridley Connect Magazine – Confident In the Lord. Please share it with your church, family, friends, and networks. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, please get in touch with us.