Being Led Into The Wilderness!

Recently, it came to the forefront of my thinking where it seems like quite some time has past that life has been going rather smoothly! No major disasters to contend with. No financial collapses. No pestilence or plagues. Okay, that is a little over the top, but you get my drift. I am not talking on a world stage here, I am talking personally. The stormy seas have been calm, and things are going pretty good. Not that we won a million dollars or anything, but no major problems to deal with either.

The funny thing is that when I considered that, I also had the same gut reaction that my wife had when I mentioned it to her. "Oh man, I should not have said anything, now that ruins it, and something bad will probably happen!" It is like we were only safe, as long as we did not notice it, or say it out loud! ha!

At the same time as I was thinking how tranquil life has been for a pleasant change, a verse for this subject came to mind  while I was in the shower,(for some reason that happens a lot). The verse is found in Matthew 4:1 "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."

The first thing to take note of in this verse, is that which is not usually considered. Jesus was NOT led into the wilderness by the devil. It was the SPIRIT that LED Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose that He would be tempted by the devil! Ponder that for a moment......

Religion teaches a reward and punishment system of God's way of dealing with mankind. It is the Religious system's way of explaining everything in the Bible, and every action on earth. As far as they are concerned it is okay if bad things happen to bad people, but impossible to understand if good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to "so called" good people. Read Psalm 73 for good insight to this.

It is easy for many to believe when we are going through difficult times that God is busy elsewhere! It is so common for many to think that God uses our troubles as punishments for something that we did, or did not do, though many times our own actions bring positive or negative consequences of their own. In other words the reaping and sowing principle.

In my younger spiritual days, I honestly thought that when I slipped and stepped into a pit of scalding water causing 3rd degree burns on my leg, that God allowed it to happen because I smoked cigarettes! How foolish! Even more so, if you really think about it, how slanderous against the character of our Creator!
Of course we do have a desire to know why.

More important is what is our motive behind the question why? I once read a quote that said, "A son never has to ask why." The meaning behind the quote is that with maturity comes understanding. A child is naturally self centered. Everything revolves around their own needs and wants. It takes maturity to grow out of it... maturity not age... and to begin thinking of others.

A child will always question why. They will always want to know why they can't have their way. Some times a parent will just say "Because I said so, that's why!" It does not solve their selfishness, but it does end the discussion. A son doesn't need to even have the discussion because he has learned that his father loves him, and whatever decision the father has made comes from a heart of love and is for his own good, and that many times the father has more information to base his decision on than the son knows.

All that the son needs to know is that the father loves him. As you can see already, all that we should need to know is that our Heavenly Father loves us! We say we know, but knowing because you read it, or have been told it, or even say it out loud is much different than knowing it experiencially! We learn it experiencially with our earthly father. We learn it experiencially with our Heavenly Father too!

Jesus had just come out of the river Jordan from being baptized, and having a voice that only some recognized saying, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased!" That is all he needed to know to withstand any testing he was to go through during the next 40 days. Testing lets you know what you are made of. How many times have you heard someone say, or even said yourself, "I don't know what I would have done in a particular situation."? We never know until we are put into a situation what our reaction will be. If our life, or our comfort, or our reputation is at stake, will that divert our actions away from our beliefs?

What better way to find out than in the wilderness? Tired, stressed, behind schedule; what better way to find out what you are made of than when your defenses are down? Jesus had fasted for 40 days, and was very hungry.

No one looks forward to going through difficult and uncomfortable times. And to be honest, I would like to see this easier time of rest from the struggle of daily living continue. But one thing that has happened over these many years of relationship with my Father, is that I have matured some, I am more of a son than ever before, so I am learning more to trust His love for me, when the time comes, as I am once again Being Led Into The Wilderness!