When God hides: A review of Finding Jesus in the Wilderness by Rachel Yarworth
Jo Acharya | January 28, 2025
At the age of 21, I was working for a Christian schools ministry and a musical I’d written based on the Biblical story of Esther was about to be performed in a local theatre. I was in church every Sunday and doing my best to follow Jesus during the week. I looked like a confident Christian, strong in my relationship with God. But inside, I felt lost.
Somewhere along the way – I didn’t quite know where – God had started to feel far away. I didn’t feel his presence. In some moments I wondered whether he was there at all. Telling children that Jesus loved them, I felt like a fraud. Eventually, after opening up to a stranger at Spring Harvest, I plucked up the courage to speak to an older lady at my church. When I told her how I was feeling, she didn’t look shocked. She nodded knowingly and said, “Ah yes – the wilderness place.”
The what?! That day I learned that not only was my experience not unique, it was so common that it had a name! In fact, many if not all Christians end up going through a season (or seasons) like this; we can see evidence of it even in the Bible. King David wrote:
You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

A wilderness place is one where God seems to hide his face, when the things that helped us connect with him before no longer seem to work. With it comes confusion and doubt: if I haven’t turned away from God, why does he feel so distant? Since seasons in the wilderness are a normal part of the Christian journey, you’d think it would be helpful for Christians to talk about it. Yet in my experience, we rarely do.
That’s why I was so glad to hear about Rachel Yarworth’s new book, Finding Jesus in the Wilderness: 40 reflections for dry and difficult times. Rachel is talking about it. And she writes not only with the wisdom of one who has come through a wilderness season in the past, but with the empathy of one who is there again right now.
Rachel says in her introduction, “When I felt a prompt from God to write this book… I realised it was important to Him that the voice you as readers hear is not one far removed from the experience… but a voice of authenticity that honestly owns some of the intense difficulties experienced here.”


I worked with Rachel previously on The Jesse Tree Anthology, an advent devotional with contributions from 25 Christian authors. She is a creative and compassionate writer whose heart is to bless others in their friendship with God, and this latest book is no exception.
Finding Jesus in the Wilderness is structured as a devotional, with 40 reflections each around 3 pages long. It could be used as a Lent devotional, or as a support during your own wilderness journey. It’s also possible to read it through as a regular book if that suits you better.
If you’re imagining a book about this topic to be a hard slog through suffering and pain, think again. Rachel sees the wilderness as a season God leads us through in order to deepen our faith. She notes early on that while the journey is hard, “the treasures here are every bit as significant as the pain and hardship. There are blessings here that cannot be found anywhere else.”
Gentle Wisdom
In each reflection, Rachel examines a common aspect of the wilderness experience, alternating between challenges (‘place of loneliness’, ‘place of questioning’) and blessings (‘place of rest’, ‘place of preparation’). Each reflection explores lessons drawn from the Bible as well as examples from Rachel’s own life. Hope shines throughout, with frequent words of encouragement and a focus on the faithfulness of God’s presence with us, even when we don’t feel it.
As I walk through this gentle and wise book myself, I’m finding Rachel’s analogies particularly helpful. In one chapter she pictures a person tumbling into deep water. They can either tread water, using up all their energy fighting the situation they’re in and getting nowhere, or rest in a ‘starfish float’ while they wait for help to come. Rachel observes that trying to get out of a wilderness season by our own efforts is exhausting and futile; the best thing we can do is rest: stop fighting and trust that God has brought us here for a reason and will bring us through. As someone who struggles when I don’t feel in control, this was a valuable reminder to ‘be still’ and relax into God’s purpose and timing, even when I don’t know what he’s doing.
Finding Jesus in the Wilderness is a lovely book on its own, but for those who want to go deeper Rachel has also written a companion prayer journal. Both books are available from her website, Amazon and all good bookshops.




Rachel Yarworth is the author of Friend of God, Keys to Answered Prayer and Finding Jesus in the Wilderness. She also compiled The Jesse Tree Anthology.
You can follow Rachel on Instagram and Facebook, or at her website, rachelyarworthwriter.uk.