Welcome the Wilderness Sample

You’ll Get What You Need 

When at times it feels like we have been walking through the wilderness for days, weeks, maybe even years, one of the first things we’ll begin to do is bargain. That’s when we start saying things like, “God, if you get me out of this, then I’ll follow you forever.” When that doesn’t work, we start looking for anything around us that could act as a distraction or quick pain relief. While none of that provides long-lasting satisfaction, we’ll definitely trade eternal contentment and rest in who God is for the quick fixes of right now. 

Even Jesus is tempted to do this in Matthew 4:3–4. Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness, knowing Jesus must be hungry and desperate to make his way out of the vastness of the trial. 

But Jesus knew something we often forget: Jesus refused to trade what he knew he would need later (dependence on God) for what could have been immediate relief in the wilderness. 

The wilderness will make you willing to make delusional deals to give up what you really want to get what you think you need in the moment.

Thankfully, because Jesus has already walked the wilderness before us, he will be there with us to give us the same strength he had until we walk out of the desert, closer to him than ever before.