Winning in the Wilderness

Luke 4 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for what is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. (Luke 4:1-12)

The spiritual walk with God is not a plain sailing journey. If Jesus himself was tempted and had to undergo this "wilderness" moment, we definitely would not be exempt from such rough experiences in life of temptation, testing and challenges. The wilderness - physically, a barren desert, with serpents and scorpions, thirst and lack, where it is difficult to survive; spiritually, this translates into a season of pressure, when it does not seem as if God was there as he was before. However, through this time, we can be sure that if we hold on to Jesus, and stand by God in faith, we will succeed even in the face of such challenges and ultimately like Jesus, "return in the power of the Spirit"

There are several examples of people experiencing "wilderness moments" and then emerging triumphant throughout the bible. Moses came out of the wilderness to deliver a nation, Elijah and David came out of the wilderness with the annointing of God and became a mighty prophet and king. Israel, as a nation, came out of the wilderness to conquer a promised land and to reap the promises of God. We can similarly apply such examples to our own personal life. We can learn several things about these "wilderness moments".

1. The wilderness experiences are God's idea
In all examples, it was God who directed his people into the wilderness. The wilderness has a purpose - a place of preparation, a place of enlargement. We must learn to humble ourselves before God, to learn and draw from God and at the end of the day, emerge from the wilderness stronger, and enlarged.

One example is how while David was in the wilderness, he journeyed to a village with his men and found it sacked by his enemies. The bible says that whilst his men wept bitterly, David wept before the Lord. Here we see two different kinds of weeping. One is bitter, the other is a pouring out of emotions before God, to humble oneself before God and strengthen oneself in the Lord. David committed himself to God and relied on Him, pursued, overtook his enemies and recovered all.

2. The wilderness is a testing process
In an assembly line, the testing process is one whereby the quality of goods is tested and if they pass inspection, they will attain a stamp of approval. How we respond to the wilderness experiences determines whether we are approved to go on. In this time of pressure, whatever is in our heart surfaces and is externalized, allowing you to see the good and bad qualities in our life.

Israel escaped Egypt under the leadership of Moses. However, their lives had been made bitter by their brutal taskmasters. Despite experiencing a spiritual high after they had gained their freedom, the trials such as the bitter water, after the red sea experience exposed the similar bitterness in their heart. However, Moses did not blame God or complain that it was unfair, he turned to God and God revealed himself as the God who heals.

How do we pass the wilderness test with a distinction?
Here we can look at the example of the Israelites as they were going to enter the Promised Land. Here, they were at the last lap, where they were shown the vision and the promise, but also the obstacles they had to overcome in order to attain them. Here we see that they cried and wept with self pity, complained to God with a victim mindset. God had little mercy on that generation and they were condemned to wander in the wilderness with only few of this generation being able to enter the promised land eventually.

Caleb was someone who passed this test with a distinction. We can see how God regarded him in Num 14:24. "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will i bring into the land where into he went; and his seed shall possess it." We can see that Caleb was first a servant, who learnt to yield to God and fulfil his purpose in God. He had a distinctive and different spirit and he fully followed God. He stilled the negative talk of the Israelites, he saw the trials as an opportunity to go to the next level, and he learnt to offer his life as an offering to God and rely on God for all things.

Here, the important thing is the breakthrough. Many live a life of prayer, but few live a life of breakthrough. The bible teaches us that we must pray until we get a breakthrough in God. Once we gain that breakthrough, then we can move on to bigger challenges, bigger promises in God and gain even greater breakthroughs in God!

Thus, when we go through our own personal wilderness moments, we should not hide and withdraw. We should trust God - He is in charge! We know that he will never let us go through more than we are capable of. He will offer us a means of escape such that we can bear it. If we turn to God and hold fast in our faith in God, He will help us through and we will emerge in the power of the Spirit!

*sermon from Rev. Mike Connell