It seems like when we’re out in the wilderness, and there’s nothing to rush toward, to distract us, and no other voices save the ones in our heads, we, like Jesus, wind up facing our demons, and in doing so, we come face-to-face with ourselves and the lies we tell ourselves. Is that the temptation? That we will believe those lies whether they come from within our own minds or are spoken by others? Is that what Lent recognizes?
Not just our need to resist simple temptation. Not just our need to sacrifice and deny our appetites. Those are good things but they merely scratch the surface of this season. Lent recognizes the wilderness and invites us to experience it and to see it as not only a normal part of the Christian faith but also as an important, formative part of it as well.
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Is a little wandering in life desirable? Yes. Can the wilderness be totally avoided? No. Not without a great amount of side-stepping, passivity or outright denial. Winston Churchill once said, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” Is wilderness something that we keep going through and keep going? Yes, determination to get through the something is helpful but I wonder if even the wilderness can be a Sabbath place to stop in that location and give God full command of our lives? God is not so much wanted as God is necessary for existence. To be blessed by God with provisions. To be blessed by God with insight. To be blessed by God with a wrestling match and to find a truer, more refined and deeper self.
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And if we stop in the wilderness, and take a look around, soon it doesn’t look so scary. It loses its power over our lives and instead becomes a place for the increase and strengthening of our faith. I don’t recommend and I won’t advise you to wish for more hard times in your life. That would be cruel. But when the hard times comes, as the wilderness becomes your location, I pray you not to succumb to temptation – to give up on yourself – but to stop, say no to the powers that seek to control your fate and instead rest in God’s grace.
