Learning from time in the desert

Yes, I am back after a loooong spell away...Jesus spent forty days in the desert, I have spent six months there! Well, not really in the desert, just in school. At times, talking spiritually, it has seemed like the desert. Instead of studying the historical books, I have had my nose stuck in medical terminology and anatomy. I yearn to be an expert on the book of Isaiah but instead have become quite knowledgable in Microsoft Word. But my life is changing, just as the life of Jesus is changing dramatically this week. I will talk about my life later, right now I am desperate to share with you the Lord has laid on my heart. It is my Saviour I want to share!

I want to start with the season of Lent. We are almost to the end of Lent and hopefully we have been taking a really good look at ourselves. I think of it like going to a day spa for the full treatment....you take off your clothes and wrap yourself in a towel. They take all the pretty polish off your toes and fingers and stuff cotton between each toe. Then they wash all the make-up off your face. They put hot wax all over your top lip and under your eyebrows. They brush all the body and curl from your hair, wash it and put color all over it. Then after twisting it up on your head they put a plastic bag over it or even worse foil your hair. Looking in the mirror, you don't feel beautiful, you feel stripped, naked, ugly, and you can see every flaw in your skin, every wrinkle you have, and every bald spot! To become beautified (as they say) we had to be stripped down to the bare us. Spiritually we should have done the same... stripped all the fluff away and taken a good hard look at the real me! Lent should prepare us spiritually for the gift of the ressurection and in the examination of ourselves we should be humbled and growing closer to God.

So here are some lessons I have found! First, if we are not tempted we will never know if we will really obey. We can not show obedience if we haven't had the chance to choose to obey. Our convictions are only strong if they hold up under pressure. Jesus was tempted in the desert and he had to hold up to the pressure. This gives us an example of how we should respond when we are tempted and tempted we will be. But temptation is a good thing. It strengthens us and allows us to evaluate whether we are just talking the talk or really walking we profess to believe.

Jesus was tempted when he was tired, hungry, alone and most vulerable. We need to pay attention to this and realize that the devil is looking for that window of time we are vulnerable so that he can tempt us. When we are under stress, physical or emotional we are vulnerable. When we are lonely, tired, when we have big decisions to make; he is there waiting to pounce on us. We must stay on guard at all times against Satan's attacks. Jesus is there for us, he understands that we are tempted....Hebrews 4:15 "(Jesus) has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin." He is willing and able to help us. We need to come to him!

Second, Satan used natural desires to tempt Jesus. Jesus was hungry...that is a natural desire. How often does Satan use natural desires to tempt us? Money is a natural desire, acknowledgment, attention, love and sex are all perfectly normal desires. In God's time and God's way these things can be satisfied. But, when we give in to the temptations of the devil and give in to these normal desires in the wrong time and the wrong way we are in trouble. Jesus was hungry...and he had the power to turn the stones into bread but the timing was wrong. God had him in the desert to fast, not to eat! Deuteronomy 8:3 says, "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

Thirdly, Satan tried to tempt Jesus by telling him to jump from the highest point of the temple. He told Jesus to throw himself down and God would send angels to scoup him up. He was testing the emotional human need for security. Would God protect his son? Will God protect us, our families, our children? How many times does Satan use this in our lives to keep us unsteady, unfocused, unsure?! Over and over and over again! But God is not our magician in the sky. We cannot ask God to pass some security test on our demand just to reassure ourselves that his protection is over us. It says in Deuteronomy 6:16, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test". We have to know our bible, trust the words of our heavenly father and know that he is ALWAYS watching over us and protecting us. After all, he made us and loves us so much that he surrendered his son to a horrific death for us! "...this is what the Lord says-he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel; 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour." Isaiah 43:1-3. Need I say more?!

And the fourth way Satan tried to tempt Jesus out there in that old desert was by appealing to his need for status, power, achievement. Satan took Jesus to a very high mountain and enticed him with all the "kingdoms of the world and their splendor". All these could belong to Jesus if he would just bow down to Satan and worship him. How quick and easy that would be! How many times has the devil tempted us with the psychological need for power, achievement, status? How many times have we, in little ways or large ways, bought into that. Do we crave the materialism and power that the world has to offer? Take a really good look at yourself. Do you want to be in charge of that committee to serve the Lord your God or because it makes you feel powerful and better than the rest. Do you only offer yourself and your service to things that put you out there in the public display, i.e. bible study leader, Sunday school teacher, youth leader, soccer team mom. Would you be as quick to committ if no one knew anything about you and your service? Would you be as quick to offer your service if you were never seen and your name was never mentioned? No power, no admiration, no significance that the world can see. The real truth was that the kingdoms were not Satan's to give. They belong to our creator, our God. The temption for Jesus was to side step God's plan and take the world as a political ruler right then. But then what of God's plan for Jesus to save the world from sin. Satan wanted Jesus to focus on wordly power and not the plan of God. Thank God for us that Jesus resisted that temptation. Again, the scripture Jesus himself quoted to Satan was "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only" Deuteronomy 6:13.

Will we be tempted? Yes, even Jesus was tempted. Will we fail and sometimes buy into temptation? Yes, but we have the gift of forgiveness and redemption because Jesus stayed on track with God's plan and didn't give into temptation. Can we sin less? Yes, because we have tools to help us along. We have a loving and forgiving Father who watches over us. A father that is with us always and we can call on at any time. He has given us his words to gain strength and direction from. He has also given us examples on how we should respond to temptation, his own son and his trials and tribulation in the desert. And then we also have family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ that will help us here on earth to keep to God's plan and resist straying on a plan of the devil.

As we head into this most holy of weeks let us take a real good look at ourselves. If we haven't already, let us kneel before our Father and beg his forgiveness and ask for his help. Let us resist temptation and surrender ourselves to the Father's plan each and every day. Help us to exit the day spa being humbled, stengthened and growing closer to our Saviour!

"Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will bcome a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations." Isaiah 51:4-5