Encounters with Grace: Grace in the Wilderness

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. – Matthew 4:1-2

I’ve been thinking about wilderness.

Not the beautiful, Instagram-worthy kind of wilderness—the kind with majestic mountains and pristine lakes and perfect lighting. I’m talking about the other kind. The hard kind. The kind where you’re lost, or scared, or running out of resources. The kind where you don’t know how you’re going to make it through.

That’s the wilderness Jesus enters in today’s Gospel reading.

He’s just been baptized. He’s just heard God say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And then immediately—immediately—the Spirit drives him into the wilderness to be tested.

Forty days. No food. Alone. Facing temptation.

And here’s what strikes me: Jesus doesn’t go into the wilderness because he’s being punished. He goes because the Spirit leads him there. The wilderness is part of the journey. It’s where he’s tested. It’s where he learns who he is and what he’s made of.

I think we all have wilderness moments. Times when we’re tested. Times when we’re stripped down to the essentials. Times when we’re not sure we’re going to make it.

Maybe you’re in a wilderness right now. Maybe it’s a health crisis, or a relationship that’s falling apart, or a job you lost, or grief that won’t let go. Maybe it’s just the slow, grinding exhaustion of trying to keep it all together.

Here’s what I want you to know: Grace meets you there.

Not by making the wilderness go away. Not by removing the testing. But by reminding you who you are.

You are God’s beloved. Just like Jesus. And that’s enough.

The wilderness doesn’t last forever. But while you’re in it, you’re not alone. Grace is with you. The Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness is the same Spirit that will lead you through.

Hold on. Keep going. You’re going to make it.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Travis