Meeting God in the Wilderness

Mark 1:9-13  "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him."

 Jesus' ministry begins with an identifying with man through the act of baptism and then it immediately goes to the wilderness. While in the wilderness Jesus is tempted by Satan as Jesus is fasting and enduring the natural environment of the wilderness. What strikes me is that truly Jesus' wilderness experience doesn't really end after this particular event. We see in these verses that Jesus is declared the Son of God and later will be recognized as the King of all. He is a foreigner in this land, a King living as a peasant. He walks the wilderness of life in order to pull humanity out of it's sinful nature and leads a "2nd Exodus". The question is how is Jesus' life a continued wilderness experience?

Outside of the fact He is a foreigner, remember and imagine all He faced. He experienced being hated, people wanting to take His life, family turning their back on Him, disciples slowly figuring out who He is and even walking away from Him (some permanently, some return). Jesus experiences the loss of a close friend and mourns the death. Jesus is misunderstood, sometimes people try to use Him for just His supernatural ability, and He is ultimately led to His own death/murder.

Did Jesus experience some good things too? Absolutely! However, we forget so many times that Jesus' entire life relates to our own.

What is your current wilderness experience? Perhaps all of life seems to be one right now?

Remember this: the Father never leaves Jesus through all of His wilderness experience. In fact, it is through the wilderness that God meets with Jesus and ultimately meets with man.

So, you may be asking, "Why this wilderness experience?" "Why would God allow me to walk this?" Because it is often in the wilderness where God truly meets with His people. The wilderness can reveal who we truly are and opens us up to the ministering of God to our hearts and to prepare us for what lies ahead.

Embrace the wilderness because you may find you will be embracing the One who has walked it already and will carry you through.