Quest 6 - Into The Wild
One of my favorite books that I read in high school was a book called Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. It’s an incredible tale of a young man who goes out on an adventure, fed up with society's standard of living. Christopher McCandless burns his car, money, and heads out to Alaska. Full of life, adventure, and hope. Tragically as we find in the first chapter… That’s not the experience he came to find. “Alexander Supertramp” is starving, on the edge of death, and completely lonely. The life he wanted to live, ended up being a wild experience he wasn’t actually ready for.
For better or for worse, that’s the experience that we find ourselves in as well. This week our quest reading spoke a word to me that I wasn’t ready for… but I don’t think that any of us are ready for the word that was spoken.
After Jesus had an incredible, spirit filled, God experiencing moment during his baptism… This is what happens next.
Mark 1:12-13, “Immediately the Spirit Drove him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.”
Not the experience most would expect. Most people would expect that after this spiritual moment, life would be a cruise. But it isn’t. This isn’t out of the norm either. Look at what happens to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament.
After the nation of Israel was saved from the Egyptians and had an incredible God experiencing moment… They were to spend 40 days getting to the promised land. They had sent some spies ahead of them to explore:
Numbers 13:25, “At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.”
40 days in the wilderness to get to the next spot.
Jesus… he took his 40 days and fought the temptation. Israel took their 40 days and ended up taking 40 years because of their lack of faith (read Numbers 14 for more information on this). The difference? One was ready for the time in the wild and one was not.
I pray and hope that we are all having incredible spiritual encounters with God. Where Jesus is communicating with us, changing our lives, changing the lives of others around us, and calling us to respond. When that happens I hope that we are FIRED UP.
Unfortunately, here's the deal… There is a precedent… Right after times are good, it’s easy for us to let our guard down and for Satan to attack us. Now I’m not saying there is a 40 day period where we need to be ready, but what I am saying is that life isn’t always perfect and there are times when you will be in the wild.
The question is, are you ready for the wild? Or are you wandering in the wild?
We have to be ready for it. The good news is that we can be ready for it. Jesus gave us the ultimate example of how to fight temptation in the wilderness.
Oftentimes Satan will test in three classic ways - Lust of the flesh, lust of pride, lust of eyes. Here’s how we fight each of those temptations based on Jesus' response in Matthew 4:1-11 and the story of temptation.
1. Trust God’s Plan
In each of these situations, Satan was trying to get Jesus to stray away from God’s plan for him. Satan wanted Jesus to take matters into his own hands. Frankly, for me that would have been pretty easy to do….If I have the power to do whatever I want, whenever I want then I am going to have a hard time following someone elses plan, but that’s what he calls us to do. Things may not always be perfect and the plan might not be going how you want it to, but if you really believe in what God wants you to do, then the short term feelings shouldn’t get in the way of God’s long term plan.
2. Trust God’s Identity
Satan looked at Jesus and tried to get him to relinquish the identity of God and to embrace the identity of himself. This happens to us often… we get to a certain point where we have been relying on God and He delivers. It’s this awesome moment, but what ends up occurring is the longer we are in the wild, the less that we believe in God’s identity. So that means we try to make ourselves the one in charge. In the wild, you have to hold onto the identity of God. He is a wonderful counselor, prince of peace, and a mighty God. Holding on to that will get you much farther than thinking of yourself and what you need to do.
3.Trust God’s Word
If you notice, every time Jesus rebuttals the temptation of Satan… he rebuttals using the word of God. The best thing we can do when we are in the wild is keep our eyes on the words of God. He will give you everything you need and say everything you need to hear. Many times when we go into the wild, we stray away from the Word. Don’t be in your Word in just the good times. Be in the Word at all times!
For some of you, you are in the wild right now. Trust God. Step into it. That’s how you get through the time in the wild. Don’t let the 40 days turn into 40 years like the nation of Israel. Be like Jesus, follow his example.
For others of you, you aren’t in the wild. But guess what? It’s coming. Prepare for it. Tackle it. Don’t be like Christopher McCandless. Be ready to fight through it because on the other side of it is the promised land.