Blessed be Your Name

"Immediately, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him." Mark 1: 12-13

Discovery channel has this great show on called Man vs. Wild (Zach and I really like to watch it together). On it, this guy named Bear Grylls travels to distant places in the world that would be difficult to survive in, and then he goes on to show you how one could do just that. He's gone to the Amazon, Alaskan Wilderness, and the African plains to name but a few. One of my favorites was the episode I saw where he went to the Moab desert in Utah. Here's a glimpse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlFpb5nofrg

This episode reminded me of Jesus' time in the wilderness/desert where He survived 40 days despite fasting and temptations. Seeing the hot, punishing conditions made Jesus' humble turn in the wilderness all the more real for me. That must have been incredibly trying! The Son of God, rather than let temptation find Him, willingly was driven out to face it head on, in the most sensational way possible. Out of His hunger and in His human weakness, He was tempted with food, pride and the desire for power and possessions. Even in His weakest human moment, He did not give in to temptation, but rather clung to the fidelity of His relationship with God. Out of this time of trial He was attended by His angels, ready to begin His purposeful journey towards Calvary.

The word tempted here comes from the Greek word peirazo, which literally means to put to the test or trial in order to discover the type of person someone is. Through Jesus' trial we discovered that He was indeed perfect, blameless and holy, fully willing to endure anything for the sake of His beloved. The temptation validates Jesus' candidacy for the more difficult journey ahead.

God seems to have a habit of putting His people to the test to discover the type of people they are, and to test their readiness for that which is yet to come. He did this very same thing with His people Israel as the wandered in the desert for 40 years, before emerging into the promised land. And I know that He often through the power of His Spirit drives many of us out into our own times of trial in the wilderness. What wilderness has God brought you through? Perhaps the trial of disease, poverty, death of a loved one, persecution...in some sense we all have our own type of wilderness trial don't we, and they are not pleasant.

For those in the wilderness, please be assured by this: your God is always with you - in fact He can absolutely sympathize with your weakness and what you are going through, because He too walked through the desert. And count yourself worthy that God has chosen to use whatever wilderness experience (suffering) that you might have to endure in order to prepare and shape you for a glorious journey yet to come. "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind." (1 Peter 4: 1b)

As you find yourself identifying with the wilderness trial of Jesus, may you sing along with Matt Redman,

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Be God's, Scott