Week 3 | Wilderness: From Temptation to Deliverance

In Hebrews 5:8, we are told that “Although he was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.” In what sense did Jesus have to learn obedience? If we understand obedience relationally, obedience is not merely outward action, but the inward action of trust and love in which we honor (obey) another person. The word “responsive” could fit here as well. Jesus learned responsiveness through suffering. 

In His humanity, Jesus needed to nurture His connection with the Father. He needed to strengthen and reinforce His responsiveness. This happened through suffering – through being tested.

In Matthew 3, Jesus was baptized and His connection with the Father was affirmed as the Father spoke from heaven. Then, in Matthew 4:1-11, we observe that “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus’ time in the wilderness was not pleasant and it was also not accidental. The text says He was hungry, and in Mark 1, the presence of “wild animals” is highlighted. In addition, Mark 1 pushes further the idea of being “led” (from Matthew 4) by saying that He was “cast out” or “pushed out” in the wilderness by the Spirit.

Hunger, isolation, danger, and weariness deepened Jesus’ identity and human experience of God the Father. The wilderness is a place of transformation – a place of deliverance. In the wilderness, each part of what was affirmed at the baptism was challenged and tested.

The enemy’s temptations took each part of Jesus’ connection and questioned it.

The enemy was seeking to stir up anxiety, shame, and anger with the three temptations. Of course, Jesus responded beautifully and did not fall for the deception. Anxiety would have led to breadmaking. Shame would have led to a jump. Anger would have meant kneeling down to the enemy. Jesus models a way for us as we encounter what we confront in the wilderness.

It is in the wilderness–times of suffering or disorientation–that we experience those same three temptations. This is the enemy’s pattern for all temptations which is to move away from the gaze of God. We see it in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve. The tempter brought disorientation as he said, “Did God actually say …?” Notice the parallel with Matthew 4:

• “the tree was good for food” – “command these stones to become bread”
• “a delight to the eyes” – “throw yourself down (from the temple)”
• “make one wise” – “to be given all the kingdoms of the world”

It is in the wilderness that our reliance upon anything other than the gaze of God is brought to the surface. We may be unaware of ways we are looking elsewhere. The wilderness brings it out. We are challenged in the deep places of our soul. Questions arise, doubts surface, loneliness emerges. And, we experience pain It is at the margins –in the wilderness places – that we learn obedience (responsiveness) to the gaze of God. 

If we allow ourselves to feel the temptations and to confront them, we can be quite uncomfortable. We often choose avoidance, denial, and distraction from the harsh places. Jesus models attentively walking through the wilderness – as we abide in the difficult place. He did not run. We can try to run from suffering, or we can receive it. God won’t force us to enter the school of His love when we suffer, but He does invite us. We receive (or, welcome) suffering when we abide with God in what we are experiencing.

And we welcome the wilderness because we know it is for our deliverance – our learning to live in the gaze of God. Indeed, as we abide with God wherever we are, any wilderness becomes a place of deliverance rather than simply a place of temptation. This is at the heart of what Jesus taught us to pray in the Sermon on the Mount.

Take a few moments today and prayerfully notice: Are there things in my life that I am avoiding, denying, or distracting myself from? Ask God what it will look like to abide in Him.

Prayer: Lord, I welcome everything that comes to me to today because I know it’s for my healing. I let go of my desire for control, approval, and security. I let go of my desire to change anything. I open myself to Your love. Amen. 

(adapted from The Welcoming Prayer, Thomas Keating)