I will not go into the details of the temptation experience because I have done this before in part four of my article Temptation to Temple. We do know that the wilderness experience has come about by the leading of the Holy Spirit in order for Jesus to experience and overcome temptation. What is the reason for the wilderness you are in at this time? For some, it's to overcome temptation and to defeat sin patterns in their life. For others, it's a dry place of testing to see if the person survives in the wilderness. For many, the true purpose may never be told. However, we see in verse eleven that at the end of the wilderness experience that Satan had left and the angels of God came down and ministered unto Jesus. It was now evident that Jesus had "passed the test" and completed his purpose in the wilderness.
I have noticed that the term 'wilderness' is now being used and discussed more and more as the time in life where one feels spiritually, mentally, and physically stagnant, burned out, and depleted. I have gone to numerous web pages and forums and both read the posts present and also posted my observations about the personal wilderness I am experiencing. I am discovering that more and more people are experiencing the same things I am currently experiencing. It is a confirmation of the test for echo that I am not the only one who is going through the wilderness experience. Whether we call this wilderness something else in the past or if more awareness to the wilderness experience is being discussed, the experience shows that in order to go to new levels of intimacy in Christ we have to go through them and come out a better man or woman at the end of the experience.
The now defunct Christian singing group Dakota Motor Company once stated in their song "Wasteland":
I've been through the wasteland and
It's only a mile ago from here
Now it's a memory but
It's only a smile ago from here
That is the beauty of the Christian journey as we walk with Christ. We are going through this wilderness and wasteland but in the end, we will come out of the wilderness. Even though we will grow in leaps and bounds, the wilderness will still be close to our heart because the wilderness will have an everlasting impact upon our life. Growing older and wiser and seeing the wilderness growing farther and farther away, one has the memory to make the wilderness appear like it is right down the street from you. Like the Biblical men of old, going out to the wilderness figures so prominently in their spiritual development. Therefore, going through the wilderness will have an enormous impact on your spiritual development. If you notice in the Matthew story and in the stories of other Biblical men and women mentioned, earlier, there is some supernatural power of Christ that manifests and flows out of your life once you have survived and accomplished the learning task God had in mind for you.
In summary, the wilderness experience is very critical to the current and future growth and development of the Christian. Mighty men and women of God experienced the same types of environments in order to be molded into the man and woman God wanted them to be. If one looked at the end result of the wilderness experiences, one will notice that the aftermath of the experience increased their faith in God while empowering these people to go forward in their spiritual callings. Moses ended up leading God's people out of Egypt, John the Baptist ended up proclaiming 'one greater than he', and Elijah defeated, exposed, and bought down Ahab and Jezebel. The wilderness is not a pretty place, but the wilderness is a testing ground and a 'development' center of spiritual character. Yes, we as humans are leery and afraid to be in the wilderness. Why do we become leery and afraid? Because some of the time, we are not able to see fully the blessings and opportunities for ministry that open up for us after the wilderness experience. We are only able at that time to see the 'now' and see the bad circumstances that permeate the 'now'. When Elijah fled to the wilderness to die after the joyous victory over the prophets of Baal and the death decree was issued on his life, Elijah saw the circumstances of the 'now' and the fear that there would not be a 'now' tomorrow or in the near future. We are like Elijah where we do not see the end and the other side. However, like God brought the edifying and encouraging word to Elijah that gave him the strength to continue, the person in the wilderness experience that loves God will hear the still small voice of the Lord and receive that encouraging and prophetic word that causes us to rise up the next morning and go forward. You and I will go to the wilderness for some entwined reason in order to bring us to a defined calling where we end up being purified by a refined fire.
The length of time spent there is not the measuring stick of the character building process. It is the end result of the learning experience in the wilderness that defines the measuring stick of the character building process. Many roam to-and-fro in their wilderness ready to cross over while some stay still to learn what it takes to go forward. Where the wildernesses of the Old Testament consisted of barren lands and desert sands, the wildernesses of the Christian take him to the empty places of the heart. The wildernesses take us to the isolation of secrecy where the issues of sins that hold us back are magnified in their appearance because we do not have any longer the busy environments to camoflage ourselves into. The contrast between the human being and the wilderness circumstance is deeply defined apart from each other to where one can see the frailness of our humanity but also see that in many ways, we are tougher in some areas than we think we actually are. It also shows us that in some areas we are weaker than we think. This works both ways. The wilderness is not the Alcatraz we are sent to for committing a crime in the cosmic. Instead, the wilderness is located on that straight and narrow road we chose to travel to fullness of Christ in our everyday life. Some people will have just one wilderness experience down their straight and narrow road wile others will see multiple wilderness experiences like a person who passes through many cities in his car going from point A to point B.
Many who experienced the river will one day be like Jesus and will be led out of the river by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for some tests and trials. However, Jesus shows us that overcoming these trials while one is weakened is possible. It is after these trials that the ministry will come down upon your soul to build you back up. Are we now afraid to enter that wilderness because we saw too much of the dance, the power, and the party and we think that the Christian walk one everlasting party? I hope not. I sense deep inside of me that many people will be in a rude awakening once the "holy hangover" kicks in after being (in their own words) "drunk in the Spirit" wears off. After the lights were turned off after the party was over, will these same people think the wilderness is because of some 'secret un-confessed sin in the cosmos' and will try to deny the wilderness and keep alive the now dead party? Time, willingness, and experience will tell.
Lord, right now in the name of Jesus, I want to praise your name for seeing my way through the wilderness experience. Lord. I know that I too am guilty of seeing the 'now' to the point where I can not see what lies ahead of me at the end of the wilderness experience. Lord, as a Christian people chose to leave the river and then enter the wilderness, I thank you for the provision you have provided in the barrenness of this experience. I, and other Christians, express gratitude and praise your name for what you will do in our lives after the wilderness. Help us to learn what you really wanted us to learn and to overcome and conquer the "wild" in the wilderness. All these things I ask in Jesus name I pray, AMEN!
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