In the Wilderness – Luke 4:1-13
As the Church of the West, we are far more familiar with the God of the mountaintop than the God of the wilderness. When suffering crashes into our lives we often wonder where God is, and Lent is an annual practice that teaches us to find His presence in our wilderness. The Wilderness is a place of harsh clarity, an uncluttered discomfort, where our hearts are laid bare before God– and we discover one that is always there.
As the people of God, tell time differently.
Whether we are aware or not, our calendars shape us.
As the Church, our calendars are patterned after the life of Jesus.
In each season, we are guided to reflect on a different moment in the life of Jesus. This is a guide that year over year shapes our identity, our practices, and our story.
Advent & Epiphany – God with us.
Lent – God prepares us.
Easter – God for us.
Pentecost – God in us.
Ordinary Time – God through us.
Lent is a season of preparation; dedication to repentance, abstinence, and fasting in order to prepare one’s heart for the celebration of Easter.
Lent is a season of preparation in the wilderness.
The Wilderness in Genesis
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.”–Genesis 1:1-2
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground. –Genesis 2:5–6.
cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
–Genesis 3:17-19
Genesis 3 closes with humanity leaving the Garden and returning to the wasteland of their own making.
The Wilderness in Exodus
16…‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” –Exodus 7:16.
And in their idolatry and stubbornness, they live as nomads in the wilderness for forty years.
The Wilderness in 1 Kings 19
“Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 8 And [Elijah] arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.”
And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper [or a thin silence]. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”–1 Kings 19:7–13.
There Elijah confesses his distrust of God; he repents of his mischaracterization of the God of Israel. God meets him in the wilderness, but that's only after Elijah abandons his post and gives ups.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the biographers of Jesus, each tell the story of our Messiah’s experience in the wilderness of Judea.
“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan [river] and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days being tempted by the devil.” – Luke 4:1-2
And that ancient serpent makes an appearance again; tempting Jesus to turn rocks into bread, to give in to ambition, and to take power for himself.
Jesus patterned His life off the story of scripture and the love of his Heavenly Father.
In response, may we pattern our lives after the one who overcomes the wilderness.
And Lent is an annual practice that stips back distractions and teaches us to find His presence in our wilderness.
The main theme of Lent is repentance.
“return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger,abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.–Joel 2:12-13 (ESV)
Fasting is the practice of going without food and drink(excluding water) for a period of time.
Abstinence is the practice of creating margin in our daily schedule for the purpose of reorienting our lives towards Christ.
Corporately we will practice this on Ash Wednesday and every Sunday with 15 minutes of preservice prayer.
