And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil ...
(Luke 4.1–2, ESV)
All of us, at one time or another, experience the wilderness. I remember just such a season back in 2002. I called it a season for ‘burying my face in the dust’. As I tried to articulate my thoughts, I wrote at the time that I was ‘easily broken, like a twig in a gale ... The world sits heavy on my shoulders; even gifts are burdens that weigh like boulders.’
Eventually I pulled through. My spirits lifted, not least with the arrival of a beautiful daughter and a new calling as a father. Years later I was drawn back to today’s passage, and spotted something I hadn’t before. Jesus was ‘led by the Spirit’ into the desert (verse 1). In other words, his wilderness season was not a defeat or a mistake, it was part of his spiritual journey, one which God used to equip him for what lay ahead.
I too came to realise that what God had done in me was also significant in that season. It was undeniably painful, but also purifying. I learned my limits, but also my strengths. I had a greater capacity to empathise with others’ troubles. I was truly grateful at how strong and patient my wonderful wife was. And through it all, God had fathered me, and led me out the other side. Although, unlike Jesus' situation, some of my wilderness season had been of my own making, nevertheless I could affirm that I too had been ‘led by the Spirit’ through the desert.
Desert seasons are horrible. Nobody asks for them. Few of us see the point of them until much later. And yet, God is in them. As Elijah found out all those years ago, God does some of his best work in remote places. He is found not just in the wind and fire but in the gentle whisper, the sound of drawn-out silence.
And after Jesus had undergone his own testing, he returned ‘in the power of the Spirit’ (verse 14). Note the change of language – before, he was led by the Spirit; now, he was empowered. That is often the outcome of a fruitful desert time. We may carry wounds, but these very wounds become our source of authority and gifting. The pain of loss turns into a capacity to counsel others. Our new-found humility enables us to carry responsibility better. The spiritual disciplines we learn to counteract the desert experience become the practices which fuel our lives from now on. In other words, our weakness, surrendered to God, becomes our strength. We no longer live on bread alone – our physical capacities – but on God’s sustaining word.
Maybe this is a desert time for you. Take heart – God is in it. It may not feel like that now, but you will bounce back, in the power of the Spirit. ‘For when I am weak, then I am strong’ (2 Corinthians 12.10, NIV).
Heavenly Father, help me to trust in your goodness and faithfulness when your Holy Spirit leads me into the desert. Help me to remember your word, and cling to the promises you have made and the hope I have in Christ Jesus. When I am able to look back and understand how you ministered to me during my time in the desert, help me to pour out my praise and gratitude to you, and to be a blessing to others going through difficult times.
These Pentecost reflections were written by Revd Matt Trendall, a minister working in Milton Keynes. Check out his blog at www.dailyinspiration.org.uk.
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