Week 3 | Wilderness: From Temptation to Deliverance

In each of the first two temptations, the enemy questioned Jesus’ core identity by saying, “If you are the Son of God” and then went on to attack His belovedness or the delight of the Father. Here, the devil goes straight for the throat of Jesus:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve’” (Matt 4:8–10).

In this final temptation, the enemy does not challenge with “if you are the Son of God, then why don’t you _______.” He learned that his trickery got him nowhere. He simply offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. We can imagine the less than glorious state that Jesus was experiencing in that moment. Tired. Hungry. Holding on through the temptations. This temptation was “tempting” because it was an invitation (false as it may have been) to end all the suffering. 

Jesus had experienced the pain and danger of the wilderness, and He had also seen the pain caused by the kingdoms of the world. The people of Israel were under foreign occupation by Rome. Rome taxed the people and used the people and land for their own gain. This was happening all over the world. Jesus had been sent into the world, taking on a powerless, humble, and vulnerable form. Is it possible that as Jesus felt His own powerlessness to the extent the offer to stop all the pain was a real temptation? Is it possible that His heart of compassion was drawn into the mix and the tempter thought that in a weak moment, he could get Jesus to cave?

We are often tempted to exert power in similar ways as we mull over, “If I could do this or that, I could stop people from being hurt. I could stop hurt from coming to me.” The lust for power often starts in a place of compassion and concern. However, invariably, seeking power hurts others and our souls are compromised. 

At its peak, this temptation looks like this: If I were God, I would ________. Henri Nouwen suggested: “What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.”

At the heart of this temptation is the desire to define ourselves by what we do. Our abilities and strengths can become the focus of our lives. Our identity may center around how we secure certain outcomes. When we are not able, we get angry.

Rather than reacting to the tempter, Jesus responded simply with the words, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

In 1 Samuel 7:3, we read: 

And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

In Deuteronomy 6, we find the words of the first part of Jesus’ response followed by: “You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you” (v 14). In the Old Testament, people worshipped and bowed down to “gods” who promised certain outcomes: a goddess of fertility or a god of war. Our temptation is the same. We look to ways we can control life and make it bend the way we think is best. 

Jesus’ response demonstrates the contemplative foundation of releasing outcomes. To worship God alone, we are invited to trust that being His son or daughter is enough. We humbly surrender to God and all of who He is: His wisdom, strength, power, love, and mercy. We let go of any false gods which promise control.

What false gods are you tempted to worship? What do you believe will give you a sense of control? Can you let go and trust that God is lovingly holding your life?

For the next moments, in the quiet of surrender, ask the Lord if there are idols to release. As you notice and see what you desire to release, put these things in God’s hands and hold out your empty hands before Him. You might repeat this several times.

Prayer: Lord, I surrender to Your goodness and grace. I release my compulsion to secure outcomes and trust that You are more than capable to lead my life. Amen. 

Week 3 | Wilderness: From Temptation to Deliverance

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:5–7).

In this second temptation, the enemy once again asks Jesus to “prove” Himself: “If you are the Son of God …” Again, this temptation was relevant to where Jesus found Himself. He had been in the desert for 40 days – all alone. 

In this temptation, the tempter is targeting God the Father’s declaration that His Son is beloved. The internal questions that frequently surface are: Does anyone care? Am I seen? Do I matter to anyone? What do I need to do to get people to show up for me?

We live in a world where it can feel like we need to prove ourselves in order to receive love and affection. It may have been ingrained in us at an early age. “If you are a good little boy/girl, you can have dessert.” “If you clean up your room, you can have a friend come over to play.” Seemingly innocuous statements can set a foundation of seeing love as something we earn through good behavior. We learn how to think of ourselves in terms of how others are receiving us.

The specific temptation here is to define ourselves by what others think of us. If the enemy could shift Jesus’ gaze away from the Father, he may have been able to tempt Jesus to prove that He was worth the Father’s love. In the challenge to “throw yourself down” from the pinnacle of the temple, he was asking: Don’t You trust that God will show up?

So too, we often use the language of God “showing up” or not showing up. Jesus does not. His response to the temptation was to say, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” More specifically, we might insert the word “love” to say it is the “love of God” that we do not test because that is what the enemy was challenging. The reality is that God is always present with us. His presence does not come and go, and it is not earned.

In Jesus’ response, He referenced Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.” Massah is a Hebrew word that means “testing” and it was at Massah in Exodus 17:1-7 that the people tested God as they quarreled with Moses. They asked two questions: “Did you bring us out here to die?” (v 3) and “Is the Lord with us?” (v 7)

When we are in a wilderness time or space, it can feel like we are not going to make it and we may ask that first question. It is the second question that reveals the heart of the matter: Is God even with us? God’s love is His presence with us. One way the enemy works on us is that he arouses doubts like, “If things hurt this bad, is God even with me?”

The contemplative foundation that carried Jesus through this temptation is that God is always present, always loving us. Therefore, whatever happens, we can see it through the lens of His love and presence. There is no need to do anything drastic like jumping off the temple to prove His love.

Our hearts often want to get some proof or an assurance of His presence and love. So we complain and use the word “if.” We might engage in some variation of the phrase, “If God really loves me, then _______.” When we believe this way, we are vulnerable to doing things to be seen by others.

The invitation in this temptation is to sit – to rest in His love. We return to His gaze in which He calls us His beloved. We hear Him say, “I see you and I know you. I understand you.” We release the questions in trust. We are delivered from the cycle of needing to prove ourselves and/or needing God to prove Himself. His love holds us. He is always present with us. He is always loving us.

Quiet your heart and simply rest in His love. As you notice distracting thoughts or even a resistance to sitting in His love, allow those thoughts to simply pass – not needing to fight them or resist them. Notice the ways that God is present with you and loving you. 

Prayer: Lord, please calm and quiet my soul, like a weaned child with its mother. May my soul be like a weaned child within me. Amen. (Psalm 131:2)

Week 3 | Wilderness: From Temptation to Deliverance

Jesus encountered three specific temptations that questioned and contradicted what He heard from the Father at His baptism. In each response from Jesus, we observe foundational elements for living in God’s gaze – for living contemplatively. The enemy frames the first temptation as a challenge.

And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘”Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matt 4:3-4

The tempter tries to throw Jesus off by suggesting that if He was really the Son of God, He should prove it. Certainly, as Jesus was experiencing hunger, the “proving” was relevant to His current situation; turning the stones to bread would have been a demonstration of being God the Son. 

The first temptation targets Jesus’ living as God’s delight. God’s delight in us means that He is involved and will provide for us. Without saying it directly, the tempter was questioning why God’s provision was not present. So, Jesus is tempted to take matters into His own hands, and to depend upon Himself and His gifts to satisfy His hunger.

Jesus had the resources to take care of Himself, but He responds by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 in which God gave His people manna in the wilderness so they would have to depend upon Him. In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6), Jesus invites us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” as an expression of depending upon God for what is needed.

So too, our tendency is to define ourselves by what we have – to use our resources to take care of ourselves on our own terms. In Philippians 2:6, we are reminded that Jesus did not use His position as God the Son to His own advantage but took the identity of a servant.

When Jesus says that He “does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” He is affirming that He serves God the Father. What moves and motivates Jesus is what He hears from the Father. While we can understand that “every word that comes from the mouth of God” is a reference to Scripture, a fuller understanding is that Jesus listened to the Father in prayer. 

This temptation means that we try to amass things (finances, positions, reputation, power, etc.) in order to find a sense of security. The invitation as we notice this temptation is to return to the gaze of God. In the gaze of God, we see His delight and that He provides what we need. At the heart of God’s provision and delight is the ability to listen for His voice and His heart in all things.

In John 4:34, Jesus shared with His disciples, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” In other words, what sustained Jesus was the heart of God, because someone’s “will” and “work” istheir heart. Indeed, Jesus lived by every word of the Father’s heart. In this, He was able to see what the Father was seeing. 

Is your food (what sustains and satisfies you) the heart of God? 

What satisfies and nourishes us determines what we see. As we return to the gaze of God, we see Him, and we see what He sees. As we see with His eyes – with His heart – we are delivered from evil. We are delivered from living independently and on our own terms. As we see, we receive an awareness of God’s delight and provision. “God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.” (Psalm 23:1 MSG)

Take a few moments and prayerfully assess what satisfies and sustains you. Do you have a tendency to define yourself by and rely upon what you have like money, gifts, talents, resources? Whatever you discover, release your independence and return to the gaze of God as your food.

Prayer: Lord, I am asking You for one thing–that I may dwell in Your house all the days of my life, to gaze upon your beauty and to meditate in Your temple. Amen. (Ps 27:4)

Week 3 | Wilderness: From Temptation to Deliverance

Jesus had heard the voice of the Father at His baptism, and now in the wilderness a different voice was speaking. 

For Jesus, this testing of His connection with the Father was met with being in His gaze: He surrendered to His Father’s plan for Him (“You are My Son”), sat in His love (“the beloved”), and saw the Father’s provision for Him (“in whom I delight”). Scripture companioned each part of Jesus’ response: worship God alone; do not put God’s (love) to the test; and man shall not live by bread alone. 

What helped Jesus in these times? The contemplative practice of discernment. He was able to abide in the gaze of God because He discerned the voice of the enemy and let go of that which wasn’t true. This would not have been easy. Jesus had been alone and had not eaten for forty days.

The Scriptures invite fasting for a variety of reasons: grieving, mourning over our sin, seeking God and His guidance, and preparation. Moses fasted for forty days before receiving the Law (Exodus 34:28), as did Elijah before encountering God at Horeb (1 Kings 19:8). And so, in preparation for His public ministry, Jesus also fasts. 

After Jesus fasted for forty days, He would have certainly had significant physical weakness and discomfort. And many people report a mental and emotional clarity that comes with fasting. Undoubtedly, Jesus’ fast prepared Him for the discernment needed to encounter what He did in the wilderness.

Jesus’ discernment was rooted in Scripture and fueled by fasting. Not eating during that time was a physical, bodily fast; so too, there was a fast of sorts in the landscape and situation. The desert itself was a release of comfort, and the silence and solitude offered there was a release of the noise of the world. Thomas Merton explains: “The Desert Fathers believed that the wilderness had been created supremely valuable in the eyes of God precisely because it had no value to men … It offered them nothing. There was nothing to attract them. There was nothing to exploit.”

As we dwell in a wilderness place (whether of our choosing or not) where we are offered nothing of value, we are stripped of our ordinary resources and left open to God. This aids in our discernment because the noise of the world and voice of the enemy can get mixed up with our legitimate needs. Satan’s temptations to Jesus were all rooted in real needs: the need to be secure, the need to be seen, and the need to be safe. 

When the enemy offers us solutions to our needs, it can sound like a logical way to approach things. It would make sense that we use our resources and strengths to turn stones to bread if we are hungry, but discernment helps us see that this is not living in God’s gaze. With discernment, we are able to distinguish other voices from the voice of the One who calls us by name.

As we encounter temptation, we are invited to slow down into a spacious place in which to listen and be attentive. In a world where we like things fast and even value having other people tell us what to do and how to do it, discernment requires a personal, full-bodied participation.

In the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8-11), God led Adam and Even into discernment when He asked three questions:

• “Where are you?”
• “Who told you that you were naked?”
• “Have you eaten of the tree?” 

These three questions form a beautiful framework for discernment. When we find ourselves pondering a situation, we start with asking: Where am I? We consider the state of our soul, our body, and our mind. Second, we ask: Who is talking to me? We examine the source of the thoughts or voices coming our way. Third, we ask: What will satisfy me? God asked, “have you eaten from the tree?” to invite an examination of how they had sought to meet their own needs.

Even more basic is to ask this question: Am I experiencing the love of the Father right now? Do I sense the nearness and presence of God?

When we ask these questions (which may often take some time to answer), we can experience freedom because we either stay in the gaze of God or step back in. We return to the voice of love. And so, when we practice discernment, the wilderness becomes a place of deliverance and redirection. Additionally, as we encounter any longings, can we redirect them to God? And as we stay with that longing, we come to know that all our longings are met in Him.

Consider a current difficulty, temptation, or confusion. Ask these questions of discernment.

Prayer: Father, lead me not into temptation, but may the wilderness be a place of my deliverance to live in Your gaze as I listen to Your voice of love. Amen.  

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) 

Week 2 | Connection: In the Gaze of God, Matthew 3

The contemplative rhythm of Jesus leads us to embrace a posture of listening. Ultimately, listening is more about our perception and awareness than about audibly hearing something. It’s about seeing what God sees. When we come to the quiet place with God – that inner room of the heart – we surrender to the voice of God that names us, we sit in our belovedness, and then we see what God sees as we trust His provision.

We wait.

Listening prayer is attentively waiting before God to receive whatever He gives, keeping your heart open to whatever God says. If He seems quiet, you might receive that as His desire to simply to be with you – not needing to share anything except His loving presence. 

It can be helpful to remember that listening prayer is about relationship, not performance, outcomes, or controlling the agenda. If you notice any of those things, simply let them go. Things “happen” during and because of listening prayer but it is often not obvious. Much of how we experience God is deeper than even our awareness.

Practice: set a timer for 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes. Enter the time by simply praying a Scripture such as:

“Speak for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Sit quietly and keep your heart open. At the end of the set time, review what you noticed. You can’t do this wrong, so simply notice with gratitude.

As you close, give thanks.

Week 2 | Connection: In the Gaze of God, Matthew 3

The heart of living in the gaze of God is actively listening to Him. Many of us were discipled in a “belief-centered” system in which becoming more and more grounded in theology and doctrine is what it means to follow Christ. While not taking away from the importance of theological belief, it is important to note that the contemplative way of Jesus is a “relationship-centered” system.

Relationship is about interaction, giving, receiving, and listening. Theology provides a discernment and is necessary, but it is not the point. It is one thing to know cognitively that God loves us, and it is another to hear Him say it to us. In fact, we only become grounded in the love of God when it becomes an experiential, relational reality.

As we engage in listening prayer, we are listening in on God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) loving us. Often, we sense His love. Other times, we hear, “I love you.” Still other times, it is the sound of silence (cf., 1 Kings 19:12) that holds the space.

Listening to that voice of love requires intention, time, and space. While we can access God’s voice at any time, learning to listen well occurs as our “powers of discernment (are) trained by constant practice” (Hebrews 5:14). The process can be difficult. In The Inner Voice of Love, Henri Nouwen commented on what it is like to listen to God’s voice of love: 

It will take a great deal of time and patience to distinguish between the voice of your wounded self and the voice of God, but as you grow more and more faithful to your vocation, this will become easier…

Our vocation is to live in the gaze of God. This is our first and primary calling. The voice of our wounded self describes the ways we are tempted away from the gaze of God and instead to look for what He gives us in other places. Next week, as we look at the temptations of Christ, we gain discernment regarding the voice of the wounded self. 

Our wounds can lead us to having a protective, closed heart. For many of us, hurt, pain, and disappointment have led to a self-protective posture. Because of hurt, we make promises to ourselves: I’ll never open my heart to someone, I’ll never be poor, I’ll never be a victim, I’ll never be looked down on, etc. Our wounds become the spokesperson for our lives, and we make decisions and chart courses based on own woundedness rather than the love of God. 

Listening to that voice of love requires us to have an open, soft heart. The writer of Hebrews (quoting from Psalm 95) three times implores the reader:

Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts …  (3:7-8, 15; 4:7)

This verse assumes that God speaks and that we can listen. If we are going to listen, we are implored to keep our hearts open and receptive. In this moment, is your heart open to God’s voice? Are there things that have hardened your heart? 

Take a few moments and talk to God about the condition of your heart. Ask Him and then notice what He brings to your awareness. As you become aware of anything causing hardness, surrender it to God. Place it in His hands. After working through what God brings to your attention, sit quietly in trust.

Prayer: Lord, I open my heart to You. In Your mercy, help me to keep an open heart that is willing to listen. Amen. 

Week 2 | Connection: In the Gaze of God, Matthew 3

As we engage in contemplative practice, we experience a shared awareness with the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:16 expresses the reality that “we have the mind of Christ.” This is an intimate picture of our shared awareness. As we surrender ourselves to God in quiet prayer, we are opening ourselves to the mind of Christ.

In the profound prayer found in the middle of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we see the Trinity at work leading us into the experience of being safe, seen, and secure as we surrender, sit, and see.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. 

Ephesians 3:14–21

Notice the way this passage parallels the words spoken at Christ’s baptism: the Father names us, the Son grounds us in love, and the Spirit strengthens us to see (know) that love at work in us. We are invited to knowthis “baptismal” identity in the context of prayerful attentiveness. In the last part of the prayer, notice the confession that this knowing happens beyond what we could ask or think. And the “knowing” of His love is an experiential knowing that goes beyond knowledge. These are realities that we become present to in quiet prayer.

In prayer, the Lord affirms with our spirit that we are safe, seen, and secure. Romans 8:16 makes this clear: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” As we hear the voice of the Spirit – as we rest in His gaze – we are listening in on the conversation (prayer) that is happening between Father, Son, and Spirit. Notice what is written a few verses later: 

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27

Jesus is a part of this prayer as we read in Hebrews 7:25, “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” 

This is explained in the Gospel of John, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (16:13–14).

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are holding us in prayerful conversation each moment. Truly, we are always on the mind of God. And as we enter into listening prayer, this is what we hear.

Certainly, there are times when the prayer shared within the Trinity is a quiet holding of our lives. So, while we may not have any words, there is a knowing – a sense of God’s presence and love.

Set a timer for a few minutes and simply listen. Surrender to His presence, sit in His love, and seek to see what He sees.

Prayer: Lord, may I be strengthened by the Spirit in my inner being, knowing the expansiveness of Your love. Amen.

Week 2 | Connection: In the Gaze of God, Matthew 3

The Father affirmed to Jesus that He took delight in Him. While we may think of delight in purely sentimental terms, it is much more robust and concrete than a mere feeling or emotion. It may contain emotion, but the force of delight is involvement and empowerment. 

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and foretold the coming “servant of the Lord” (or, Messiah):

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him … Isaiah 42:1 

The first line contains parallel phrases. “My servant” and “My chosen” are connected. “Whom I uphold” and “in whom I delight” express parallel ideas as well. The Father delights in the Son and He upholds Him. Specifically, He “upholds” as He puts the Holy Spirit upon Him. We see this in Christ’s baptism as “the Spirit of God descending like a dove … coming to rest on Him” (Matthew 3:16).

To delight in someone is to be actively involved in their lives. In Philippians 2:13, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  The word eudokia (translated as “good pleasure”) is the same word the Father speaks over Jesus at His baptism. So too, just as God the Father is delighted with Jesus, He delights over us and works in our lives. He is involved. Like a parent who shows up to their child’s soccer game or helps with homework, God is not distant or aloof, but actively involved.

We see this expressed beautifully in Psalm 18:19 as David says of God:

He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

When we receive His delight, we see how He is involved and how He is with us. As we receive God’s delight, we perceive God at work in the world around us. In many ways, this is the fruit of contemplation – to see God.

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:3). The one who is pure in heart desires or delights in one thing. That “one thing” is God Himself. The pure in heart meet God’s delight with their own. Psalm 37:4 echoes this reality: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” We meet His delight with our own and we receive the desires of our hearts because our desire is Him.

To delight in God is to desire and to be involved with Him – to see what He is doing and to participate. When our delight meets His delight, we trust that He is at work even when we can’t see it. Often, we do not see what God is doing in the moment, or see what He is doing until later, but delight keeps us waiting.

We watch and wait with a sense of joy and freedom, because God is always delighting in us. Over time, as we learn to wait and watch, a spirit of gratitude and a sense of His love takes hold in our hearts. We see even when we don’t see. Thomas Merton observed, “To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us — and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.”

When our desire and delight is God, we see His delight. We see and know, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). 

In this moment, take some time to see with the eyes of your heart. Quiet yourself before Him and delight in Him. Ask that you might see God’s delight in and around you.

Prayer: Lord, I receive Your delight. I trust that You are involved and active in my life and the world around me. May I see with Your eyes. Amen.

Week 2 | Connection: In the Gaze of God, Matthew 3

As people of the first century heard the Father call Jesus “the Beloved,” something very specific would have come to mind. In the Old Testament, the word beloved is used 42 times and 26 of these are in the Song of Songs. 

The concept of beloved speaks to deep intimacy and knowing. The oneness of the marriage relationship is a picture of the oneness between the members of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit) and the oneness between God and His people. 

We long for the intimacy of God. We were created with a need to be known, seen, and understood. In using the word beloved, God is saying: “I see you. I know you. I understand.”

Just before the people of Israel were delivered out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery, we read the following in Exodus 3:7-8a:

Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heardtheir cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

This is an intimate description of God’s relationship with the people of Israel. They were in distress, and they groaned as they cried out for help. God saw them. He heard them. He knew.

As we walk through life, we may feel like we are all alone as we ask questions like: “Is there anyone who understands? Is there anyone who knows? Is there anyone who sees me?” When we experience such things, we can let God love us. He is always loving us. That is the concept of being His beloved. The invitation is to receive God’s seeing and knowing of us. 

How do we do that? The book Joyful Journey suggests that we engage the practice of using our imagination to hear God engage us with His love, utilizing the framework of Exodus 3 of being seen, heard, and known.

It can be helpful to journal this exercise. 

• We begin by considering our situation and imagine God saying, “I see that you (insert your current experience and perhaps the state of your soul).” 
• Next, imagine the Lord saying, “I hear what you are saying to yourself (insert the words, concepts, and ideas that are framing things for you).” 
• Then, use your imagination to hear God saying, “I know this is (insert how you are feeling) for you.” 
• Finally, hear the Lord saying, “I’m glad to be here with you and I can do something about what you are experiencing,” and then sit quietly, noticing what the Lord might be saying to you in this moment.

Quite often, we just don’t or can’t let God love us. We may pray about things and ask God to act, but being the beloved is an invitation to receive His love and see all that He is doing through a lens of being seen, heard, and known.

Will you let God love you?

Consider this poem “Let Your God Love You” by Edwina Gately:

Sit with Him, knowing that you are His beloved. As you sit quietly, let everything else fall away – thoughts, requests, words, feelings. In the “emptiness” before God, let His love for you, His care for you, move from your head into your heart.

Prayer: Lord, help me to sit quietly, still, alone, empty before You. I receive Your gaze. I receive that You know and understand me. Help me to receive Your love. Amen.