"Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. (13) 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 NKJV
Have you ever wondered why we go through times of extreme temptation and bad times? Being a Christian is not always easy. Many unbelievers probably think we spend our time sitting on grass singing songs and being extremely happy. How wrong they are. It can be hard work. Jesus had just had a major blessing from His Father. He had been baptised by John and then, the Holy Spirit had descended upon Him like a dove. The Father had then said, 'You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Mark 1:11. Immediately after this, the Holy Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. It's easy to picture Jesus being driven out there in a Heavenly Range Rover. But, joking aside, this was not the case; the 'drove' means, 'Forced'. Jesus was in no way cast out, He went willingly at the Holy Spirit's direction. But He had to face the battles ahead. You can be sure that whenever you have a wonderful blessing, you are soon going to be entering a time of difficulty. Things can go like this in Kingdom business.
In verse 13, we read that Jesus had to face being tempted by Satan and be with wild beasts. At this time, lions and other dangerous animals roamed the area; this may have been the meaning of this term. However, some interpreters see an allusion to the wild beasts being demons. Whatever it was, it was enough to ensure that Jesus had angels to minister to Him.
If Jesus had to face this, you can be sure that you will too. You will have blessings and attacks, but as long as you stay close to Jesus, you will be fine. Remember, you are the sheep and He, is your Shepherd. Jesus is a great example of how to handle temptation and demonic attack. He stood firm; He answered everything with the Word of God and He refused to become involved with anything that is not of God.
You may be going through a bad time at the moment. It is not always the devil who does this. God will test you in order to assess how determined and strong you are in certain areas. Let's face it, if you are going to fall flat on your face at the first hurdle, then you need some help. Jesus tests us to analyse how capable we are. It is Satan that sends the bad stuff and who tempts us in our weak spots.
We all need to be equipped enough to carry out the duties that our Commanding Officer - Jesus - is giving us. So, let us get in trim; do some working out in God's Word so that when the time comes, you will overcome.
Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard
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