The Desert

"The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and He remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him. After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God: 'This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.' " - [Mark 1: 12-15.]

It always strikes me as strange and yet somehow, fitting, that the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert. The Spirit's involvement means to me that it was God's plan all along that Jesus would retreat to a dark place, and face down His demons.

I have lived long enough to realize that most of us have spent considerable time of our own in the Desert. Examples around me abound--

A Lost Boy of Sudan walked for three years to escape the bulldozing destruction of the Muslim Brotherhood. His parents were shot, his sister was dragged away. Finally, seemingly safe in a refugee camp, the brotherhood hunted down the Lost Boys and bombed the camp. The Lost Boy survived, but came to America alone, without any family.

An aunt, in an extended family, went swimming in the surf one moonlit night. She never returned. To this day, it is not clear if it was an accident. The prospect of suicide keeps rearing its ugly head. Few mention her name any longer, above a whisper.

A beautiful young woman left behind the abusive family of her childhood. She married, and her husband doted on her, as the treasure she clearly was. After bearing him two beautiful children, she was diagnosed with cancer. She died before age 50, leaving him to raise the kids alone.

A beautiful young lady grew up in a wealthy family. She was the first woman in the family to go to college. She was pretty enough to do some modeling, smart enough to have a career before marriage. But her family left her all too often to be raised by the housekeeper and the cook. Anxious and depressed, she believed when she found her beloved, that she had married well. But her husband was a drinker, so it was as if there was a mistress in the marriage -- the bottle. And the alcohol led her husband to lie in another's arms.

A Christian woman received a tragic call one day. Her son and daughter-in-law had been killed in a hit and run accident. Their only child, in the car with them, was alive but permanently brain damaged. The woman's granddaughter is being raised by the "other grandparents", in another country.

A Christian woman faces daily, the demons of childhood abuse at the hands of her brother. He went away to war and did not come home alive. She was the only one at the funeral who did not cry. Her family thought she was heartless.

These are all true stories or composites of true stories.

I used to think that my own story was far worse than anyone's on the planet. People have told me that-- as if that would make me feel any better. People say, "Yours is the worst story I have ever heard." After awhile, I realized that this is a distinction that I do not want!

I think that I have meandered in My Desert for a very long time. People have said to me, 'You have GOT to get out of this Desert of yours.'

I agree that we can spend a lifetime wallowing in it. Look-- Jesus did His time in the Desert, then He got out.

But I also think that The Desert is an organic time. You never know how long you will be there, when you enter it. Just as you believe that your dark time may be done, more ugly demons rear up. Demons that you need to face and even talk back to, the way Jesus did.

As I am emerging from my Desert, I am beginning to become acutely aware of others' Deserts. It takes losing everything, coming back and recognizing that God is all we really have-- before we can develop deep compassion for others. It is sadly true that our own pain can be sometimes so blinding and intense that we miss the obvious suffering of those all around us.

There is a very significant sentence in this Scripture about the timing of Jesus' exit from the Desert. This verse says, "After John  had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God." This is what my first year Biblical School teacher would have called "a pregnant sentence." Tossed off as a seemingly casual phrase, it is suffused with significance.

Jesus spent His prescribed time in the Desert, wrestling with Satan. When Jesus emerged, John was arrested--- and beheaded. I think about this and realize, it took Jesus' time wrestling in the Desert, for Him to be fully ready to take up where John left off; yet become even greater than John. God knew this, He planned on it!

This Lent, we are called into The Desert. It is a dark time, it is a troubling time. But The Desert can be a distinctly rich and fruitful time. As we emerge, we recognize with utmost clarity, where God is in our lives. And where Satan is . . . .

We are never alone in The Desert. We always have God.

I pray that as Christians, we are FOR one another, not against. The pain of my Desert can mean nothing at all, if I cannot go forth with love and gentleness, speaking God's Word and healing others.


[Related Posting: "Lenten Meditations", Feb. 27, 2013; "The Color of Lent"; Feb. 27, 2012].

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2015. All Rights Reserved.