And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

--Parallel verses:
Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭4‬
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Times of testing, seasons in the wilderness of life … they come to all. I have seen these, time and again. God allows them to happen to draw us close to him. Think about it…if we were not tested, we could simply go through life thinking we could get by on our own strength. But God allows for this to happen so that we will go to him and work through our sinful responses and then have a holy response to the testing.

I find it interesting that John the Baptist was sent into the wilderness prior to the beginning of his ministry. I believe this was, in part, so he would be tested and learn to draw close to God. What other purpose could there be? Jesus was also tested in the wilderness. So was Elijah, when he waited there after it stopped raining and the ravens brought him food.

I, too, have been involved in a season of testing lately, but not in the literal wilderness. In these seasons, there can be conflict and issues in our family, at work, in our church, and in our neighborhoods. And I think one of the biggest temptations is to blame others for these times of testing. Think about it … it is easy to do. Everyone around us is a sinner, some saved by grace. So, if we deflect our testing into blame instead of working through it, we don’t have to do the hard work God wants us to do on our own hearts to draw close to him. Many times this can take the form of ANGER, GOSSIP, and BITTERNESS. Sadly, this response can come from inside the church as much as outside the church. And it is extremely damaging.

And sometimes we are the “angerer” or gossiper, and other times we are the one receiving and entertaining this anger or gossip instead of calling it out. Both are sin. When we are faced with times of testing, we must take the example from Jesus, whose first defense was not to remember the source of his physical testing, food, but the source of his spiritual fulfillment — God’s Word.

He allowed the testing to happen because he wanted to be close to his Father. So as a model, we can allow the testing God allows to happen to us in this life to draw us close to him too. The opposite model is to allow anger, gossip, finger-pointing, and blame to sabotage our relationships with God and others. What will we choose today?
Will we give and receive gossip? Anger? Blame? Or will we give and receive grace and draw close to the God who saves us? LET IT BE SO!

Lord, I know you allow wilderness-type testing for all of us. You know my heart. You know I need to grow in your grace. Teach me seek you out more in times of testing as realize those around me are broken people just like I am, sinners saved by grace. May I be full of your heart for the lost and love and give grace and mercy. Thank you for the models of John the Baptist, Jesus, and Elijah. You provided what they needed in their times of testing and you will also do that for me.