“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty
days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and
said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus
answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word
that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him
to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If
you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He
will command his angels concerning you,
and they will
lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a
stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the
Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very
high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All
this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from
me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” Matthew
4:1-11
As I continue to share about my wilderness experience, this
passage came to mind. It reminds me that
God has a purpose in the wilderness experiences. Did you catch that Jesus was led into the
desert? He was there for forty
days. Unfortunately we do not get to
know what He did each day. However God
taught me several things while I was in the wilderness.
- Get rest – We live in a society that runs at full speed. During this time it is crucial to get rest. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap. Make sure to take some time, get out of the rat race and enjoy the cheese. Busyness is one of the enemies of our soul and relationship with the Lord.
- Soul care – like regular maintenance on a car, you better take care of it. If you ignore that “service engine soon” warning light too long, it can have long term damage to your vehicle. The same is true of taking care of your soul. Unfortunately we do not have a built-in warning light, that tells us we need to service our soul. This is part of you that lives forever, so you need to take care of it. Periodically your car needs a tune-up, as does your soul. My next few blogs will talk about doing that tune-up.
- Take time to remember. While I was in the wilderness, I had forgotten how good the Lord had been and His faithfulness. Forgetting about the Lord’s blessings only caused me to become bitter and feeling left alone. So I took some intentional time to reflect how the Lord had been faithful. Make a list of the Lord’s blessings, no matter how small or big and you will see how good the Lord has been.
God led the Israelites, as well as, Jesus through the
desert. He had a specific purpose for
each. As I look back through my own
wilderness, I realized that He had a purpose for me as well. Although I struggled greatly through the
wilderness, He was always faithful. Those
3 steps helped me immensely to better navigate that time. Over the next few posts I will be sharing
more specifically about taking care of your soul. As always, feel free to email me if you have
any questions or struggles that you do not want to post about. My email is pastorjabo@gmail.com.
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