"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
The wilderness can be described as a dry, desolate and uncultivated region where little vegetation grows. It is burning hot during the day, especially around noontime, and freezing at night. In Jesus' day, it was roamed by wild animals such as, bears, leopards, jackals, dangerous snakes and spiders. Not a nice place to be on your own.
However, let us first get this right, Jesus was not alone; the Holy Spirit had compelled or driven Him there by a strong wind. He also had angels there to minister to Him continually. Israel had been in the wilderness for forty years, Jesus was there for forty days but, I am convinced that Jesus had the worse deal. He was isolated from civilisation, among the wild beasts and tempted by Satan. The word forty, is used in scripture as a considerable time and it was also considered as a testing time. In comparison, the Israelites repeatedly disobeyed and rebelled against God during their forty years. Jesus' forty days were victorious, demonstrating the power of God over the devil, when led by the Holy Spirit.
How difficult the must have been for Jesus; let us not forget, He was in His humanity. Just the fact that angels ministered to Him gives us the answer. It would have been very hard going, this is the reason for the angels, who would have given Him sustenance and encouragement.
There are times in our Christian walk that we, have wilderness experiences, where we feel so dry and weak. It can seem like everything is being piled upon us and, no one seems to care or take notice. You may be feeling this way at the moment. Be encouraged, this can happen to us all, you have done nothing wrong. There may be things akin to wild beasts around you, threatening to attack. They may be in the form of temptation, or bills that need to be paid but very little in the bank to pay them with. You may have family issues where words have been spoken that have hurt; you may have been ignored by your family or left out of something that you used to belong to. The pain or the humiliation may be so great at this time that you feel like you can't take anymore. But you can, for the same reason that Jesus overcome His wilderness experience. He was not alone, neither are you. You also have your own personal angels around you Psalm 91:11-13. You have the Holy Spirit to guide you and help; and you have your friend Jesus who knows what it feels like to be in your position.
Call on Him now, He will be so happy to help you Psalm 91:14-16.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.
Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers
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