The Wilderness

Do you ever feel like you're in the wilderness?  I have.  Currently, I feel like I am.

It is easy for me to think of the wilderness as a place I'd rather not be.  And, while that may be how I'm feeling, I also know the Lord can do a lot in the wilderness.  I did a Priscilla Shirer Bible study a few years ago on the wilderness and how one in a million made it to the promised land.  My best friend's doing it now and sent me one of the talks a week or so again.  It was good to hear the teaching again...and reminded me all the more that this season I'm in could be labeled: wilderness.

In my huddle, we've just gone over "the circle."  It's a tool that helps you work through kairos moments in your life.  We were challenged to think through a current kairos and start working our way around the circle with it.  My kairos is tied to my wilderness.

As I read scripture about kairos last night, I saw something cool about the wilderness:


In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

(Mark 1:9-13 ESV)

My Bible, breaks this scripture up between verses 9-11 and 12-13.  So, I typically break it up in my head when I read it.  But not doing that gave me such a cool glimpse into Jesus' life on earth.

We see Jesus being baptized.  Then, the Holy Spirit (the dove) descends on him.  And then the Father says that He is well pleased with his beloved Son -- note, this is before Jesus does any type of ministry.  The Father's love is not earned, but given.  THEN, and I love the juxtaposition here, the Holy Spirit immediately sends Jesus into the wilderness.  In the wilderness, Jesus was tempted by Satan.

Two things became glaringly obvious.  One.  Jesus was in one of those "mountaintop places" and then immediately sent into the wilderness BY the Holy Spirit.

Can  you relate?  I know I can.  Sometimes I wonder how I went from one place, that I deem "great" to another that I deem "gruesome."  Yet, the Lord has is in both places.  Now, in both places, He is there.  As the Israelites wondered in the desert for 40 years, their clothes did not wear out, nor their sandals (Deut. 29:5); they lacked nothing (Deut. 2:7).  I'm also reminded of Ecc. 7:14, "In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him."

Two.  The wilderness was a time of testing and temptation.  

This sheds so much light into a wilderness season.  Satan is always lurking around, but sometime he seems more prevalent than others, huh?  It is easy for me to forget that trials can be temptations from satan.  Going back to my kairos, I am more freed to ask myself: what am I being tempted of?  Am I letting the Lord in to fight this battle on my behalf?  Or doing what I want to do?  Or trying to fight myself?

In my current wilderness season, I can clearly see temptations; some I have fought off better than others.  

I'm not sure if this read coherently or not, but I do know that time with the Lord was sweet last night and some fresh perspective was gained.