The desert and trust.
On the need for trust on our pilgrim journey.
I don’t think the desert is a pleasant place. I like to think Jesus thought/knew the same. After Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, the Spirit led Him straight into the desert but of course anyone would have preferred an easier beginning. But the desert was necessary for Jesus. And it is necessary for us today. For those 40 days as Jesus fasted, the spiritual depth He attained and the communion with His Father, must have been His nourishment. But He was still very much human as much as He was and is God and at the end of the forty days, the Scriptures say He was hungry. And that was when the devil came. The devil didn’t come on the first day or half-way through the fast but at the very end when he knew that Jesus was spent. And still, our Lord stood His ground, and immediately He resisted the three temptations, the angels came and ministered to Him.
I’ve never been to the desert but I imagine that the afternoons are scorchingly hot and the nights are very cold. And perhaps there are lots of wild animals, annoying insects that keep buzzing and sand that keeps getting in your eyes. The desert is the 21st century individual’s nightmare- people only visit for a few hours for the sake of tourism. And yet, this is where our Lord went before He began His public ministry.
So, the desert must be a necessity. Uninterrupted communion with God the Father must be vital. It must be important to starve the appetite and the flesh. It must be important to be uncomfortable. It must be important to go through hardship.
Jesus must have trusted fully in His Father’s provision and protection. As much as He is fully God, He was also fully man. And being a man, He must have had human limitations.
But He trusted that His Father would take care of things. He trusted more in what His Father was capable of than what He was capable of as a man.
If you have ever tried fasting or denying yourself in any form, you would realize and agree with me, that God’s grace is truly sufficient. You can actually do hard things. And you can do these hard things because you trust in God’s ability to take care of you.
Many, if not all seasons of life, call and invite us to deep trust of the One whom we call Lord and Saviour. We are called to trust more in His strength than ours. We are called to trust more in His intelligence than ours. We are called to trust more in His wisdom than ours. We are called to trust more in His provision than the wealth we supposedly have. We are called to trust more in His knowledge of the future than our own plans. We are called to trust God deeply.
And I know you know this, but I want to remind you that God can be trusted. There is no word He has spoken that He will not fulfill. And truly, look at the birds who neither toil nor spin and yet the Heavenly Father clothes them! Are you not worth more than many sparrows?!
To survive and thrive in the desert, you will need to trust God to the point where it seems a bit ridiculous. You will need to trust that He will feed you spiritually so that the physical hunger dulls. You will need to trust that you truly live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. You will need to trust that the One who called you into the desert will sustain you. You will need to trust like Jesus trusted. And you will need to remember that Jesus trusted and it ended in praise. The resurrection is the basis of our faith. Christ rose from the dead and defeated death and the devil and so now we can ask, O death, where is your sting? The story never ended with the cross. The story ended with empty grave as we will celebrate in some weeks to come.
We are not on earth to stay; we are pilgrims, pilgrims of hope. And pilgrims are people on a journey. Pilgrims are people who need to trust deeply and fully because they do not know what tomorrow will bring. So may God help us to trust in Him and Him alone. He is the only One who satisfies.
Wherever this letter may find you, I want to remind you of God’s love for you and His compassion towards you. He is not unaware of your struggles or your battles. He sees you, He hears you and He can be trusted. You are in safe hands.
I’m rooting for you!
💡Bible verses of the week:
•“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5
•“No one who hopes in the Lord will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.” - Psalms 25:3
•“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” -Hebrews 10:23
•“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” -Matthew 6:26-30
🖋️Quote of the week:
"Christ lived for thirty years in silence.
Then, during his public life,
he withdrew to the desert to listen to
and speak with his Father.
The world vitally needs those
who go off into the desert.
Because God speaks in silence."
— Cardinal Robert Sarah
To succeed in any situation we need to fully trust in God, we continue to pray for his grace to fully submit to him.
Thank you ❤️
Timely words, thank you Mymidoo 🤍