Daily Lesson for July 12, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 1 verses 12 and 13:

12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

The Spirit drove him there. That’s an interesting statement, and really a quite stunning one when you pause to think on it. But the text is very clear: it was the Spirit that brought him into the wilderness where his faith was put to the test. 

And so it may very well be with us in our wilderness. We may think we did this to ourselves or somebody else did it to us. And that may oftentimes, maybe even most of the time, be true. But sometimes, and maybe the most important of times, it’s the spirit that brings us out into the wilderness where we can be tested, and tempered, and made strong.

We may wonder, “What is the difference between testing and tempting?”  Satan tempts, and his desire is that we falter in weakness. But God tests, and God’s desire is that we persist in strength. The Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness that he might grown strong, endure, and in the words of the prophet learn to “run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.”

We are in the wilderness now.  It is hard, and scary, and dry as caked West Texas dirt, and there’s rattlesnakes all over the place. And about every 15 minutes we may wonder if there is any way out. We wonder if we can really survive all 40 days. We wonder if we want to survive even another hour. 

And the Gospel says, it may well be that just like Jesus’ time in the wilderness, it’s the God’s Spirit who put us here and God’s angels who will see us through.