“…when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8

The first eight verses of Luke chapter 18 are entitled The parable of the persistent widow. These verses are about persistent prayer. Five chapter after, we see our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ praying on Mount Olives, as “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 23:44).

Twice, in that garden of Gethsemane, Jesus warned his disciples:

1. ‘When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”’ Luke 22:40
2. ‘Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”’ Luke 22:46

Do we still heed Jesus’s warnings? Please, pray that you may not enter temptation.

Submit to God

I think we very much underestimate our sin. “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep…” (Proverbs 6:10) and the devil may devour us (1 Peter 5:8). In our spiritual laziness, the Apostle Peter poignantly reminds us this: Submit to God, Resist the devil. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” I Peter 5:8-11

Do you know that your time in the wilderness is ordained and approved by God? Do you find that hard to believe? Let’s look at Jesus our Savior, who also was fully man as well as fully God.

“It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 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 1:9-13

Jesus is baptized. His father proclaims Him as His beloved Son. And then the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness.

Do you see that order? Jesus being driven into the wilderness was as much the will of God as His baptism. To be honest, I find that shocking. Up until a year ago, I thought the wilderness seasons were seasons I brought on to myself, like some misfortunes that fell on me because of some sin or sins. O God, have mercy.

In the wilderness, you get to be face-to-face with Your Savior.
In the wilderness, the Lord tests you to see if You will obey Him.

“See that your relationship to the living Savior is what it ought to be. Live in His presence, rejoice in His love, and rest in Him.” The Prayer Life by Andrew Murray

In the here and now, God is still sanctifying us. The work of sanctification was done when we chose to die to sin (Romans 6:2), and to crucify our old selves with Christ Jesus (Romans 6:6). But we must keep in mind that the work of sanctification is not a one day event. It is a continuing work. So God often chooses the wilderness to carry out His continual work of sanctification!

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Romans 8:1-2,8-10

In the wilderness, like in any other season, you will be tempted to walk according to your flesh. You will be tempted to complain (Numbers 11:1), to rebel and to grumble against God (Numbers 14:2). All along, you may forget that God didn’t bring you into the wilderness to kill you, He brought you into the wilderness to bring you closer to Him.

The wilderness is meant to bring your heart closer to God.

In the wilderness, your soul will thirst, hold on to God lest you “dig for yourself cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all” (Jeremiah 2:13). God is the only fountain of living water (Jeremiah 2:13) that will quench the thirst of your soul. Do not be deceived, the moment you abandon God is the moment you will start digging up cracked cisterns for yourself.

“Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord . “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:12-13

I plead with you brothers and sisters, do not put any confidence in the flesh. We are no longer in the flesh (Romans 8:9) but now Christ lives in us, “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

Submit to God.

Tested

“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord . Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.” Deuteronomy 8:2-6

God brings you into the wilderness:

1. For you to remember Him
2. To humble you and test you
3. To know what’s in your heart, whether you will keep His commandments or not.
4. To make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
5. To chasten you.

Above everything, in your wilderness,

1. Keep the commandment of the Lord God
2. Walk in His ways
3. Fear Him

“Besides, if we are in the wilderness, is not God the God of the wilderness? Were not His greatest marvels worked when He led His people about through the howling wilderness and fed them with manna and revealed Himself in a fiery, cloudy pillar? Where did Hagar look to Him who saw her, but in the wilderness? Where did Moses see the Lord in the bush, but at the backside of the desert? Where did Elijah hear a voice speaking to Him, but away there in the wilderness? And where did David, the Psalmist, meet with his God, but in the lone, solitary land where no water is? O my soul, if you are in the desert now, expect your God to meet with you. Open now your eyes and expect to see Him display His grace. Now that you are as the dry ground, He will pour floods upon you. Now that you are empty, He will fill you with His divine fullness. Your poverty prepares you to apprehend His riches. Your inward death prepares you to receive His everlasting life. Therefore, have hope and rise from your depression and fear.” C.H Spurgeon

In the wilderness or not, God? You are my joy.

“Teach me Your way, O Lord ;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name.
I will praise You,
O Lord my God, with all my heart,
And I will glorify Your name forevermore.
For great is Your mercy toward me,
And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.” Psalms 86:11-13

In Jesus’ name I pray and I forever commit my spirit into Your hands, Lord God.