Yesterday, we reflected on the fact that God’s Spirit is the One Who led Y’shua Jesus into the wilderness. Our focus was centred around Y’shua being led. We also note that we’d read the versions of the passage to ensure that what we think we’re understanding is what happened. It is worth noting where Jesus was led to, and for what reason. These are definitely worth further reflection as we consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Luke 4:1-2 AMP
[1] Now Jesus, full of [and in perfect communication with] the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness [Matt 4:1-11]
[2] for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they ended, He was hungry. [Deut 9:9; 1 Kin 19:8]
Luke 4:1-2 CEB
[1] Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
[2] There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving.
Luke (Luk) 4:1-2 CJB
[1] Then Yeshua, filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, returned from the Yarden and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
[2] for forty days of testing by the Adversary. During that time he ate nothing, and afterwards he was hungry.
Led BY God’s Spirit, INTO The Wilderness
Siblings, I believe we’re in agreement that God is God and that God knows the future even before we get to our present. Moreover, having journeyed with the Children of Israel through the Wilderness, we know that God knows what the Wilderness was like.
It was no place of comfort or rest. In fact, I associate the wilderness with extreme testing. In Numbers 14, we find that YHWH decrees a shifting and sifting in the wilderness in response to the Children of Israel’s grumbling. Their forty years were calculated on the basis of their days of spying out the Land of Promise, where they were unable to find God’s promises of provision.
During their forty-year wandering (a year for each day), the Children of Israel found manna – their daily bread – saw dead staffs bloom, experienced deadly snakes, received water from solid rock (yup, Jesus, their Living Water and Solid Rock, was there!), faced fearsome foes, and lost some of Egypt. And those who emerged from the wilderness experience were not the same as those who left Egypt.
Siblings, the wilderness experience was not comfortable. It had the potential to be a deal-breaker.
Self-Check
Have you had a wilderness experience before? If yes, how different were you coming out in relation to your entry?
Application
Unlike the Children of Israel, Y’shua wasn’t led to the wilderness because of sin. One might argue that the wilderness was not the spiritual comforts of Heaven, and that is true. But Y’shua Jesus actually chose to come to earth as human, to realize our redemption. His time in the wilderness was about confirming His mettle, as well as ensuring that Y’shua was utterly familiar with the reality of human isolation, desolation, and lack.
Mary was not there to assure Y’shua that He’d slept in a cow’s eating trough before, so this wasn’t much worse. Nor was she there to provide him with the necessities for survival. He wasn’t John the Baptist, His earthly cousin! John was accustomed to the wilderness. It was his (John’s) preferred lifestyle.
Note that this happened shortly after Y’shua’s baptism. He was full of God’s Spirit. This didn’t happen at a low point in Jesus’ life. Spiritually, He would have been on a high. Although He wasn’t fully known by all as the Messiah, Jesus was recognized by people like John. It was while Y’shua was full with God’s Spirit that God’s Spirit found Him ready to experience the wilderness.
Siblings, sometimes our wilderness experience comes as a result of our yieldedness to sin. Then, it’s purging. Hopefully, it isn’t one year’s purging per day of our experience. Recognize, though, our wilderness experience can also occur while we’re on a high. It is helpful for us to prayerfully figure out the difference.
More critically, let us realize that it is God’s Spirit Who takes us to our wilderness. So, it means that God is wholly aware of where we are and what we face. Earlier, I mentioned the Rock producing water in describing the Children of Israel’s experience. I noted that Y’shua was with them. It is even more true now. Y’shua is our Rock and our Living Water, The One from Whom we seek sustenance while in the Wilderness.
Inasmuch as God’s Spirit leads us into the wilderness, we are assured that God’s Spirit is with us, no matter what we face. We are assured that there’s spiritual refreshing through Jesus Christ in the wilderness. No matter what we face, let’s determine that by God’s grace, we will come from our wilderness alive; yet a lot different from the way we entered. When God is the One Who brings us to the wilderness, we are assured that God will definitely bring us through it.
Point to Ponder
May we find consolation in the hymn below as we find our strength in our wilderness moments.
