The Wilderness Experience
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: -Luke 4:14
The key word that I want to stress in the above verse is returned. Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit. Returned from where? Even God’s Son had a wilderness experience, where leanness took hold, and trials came:
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. -Luke 4:1-2
And from this, Jesus returned. That is to say, it came for a purpose: it had a beginning, and thankfully, it also had an end.
Wilderness: for a set time
God designs wilderness experiences—that is, times of trial and testing—for a purpose. He uses them to prepare us for His work, and to refine us as gold in a fire. Accordingly, they can be incredibly painful and difficult. But an important note must be made: it is not forever, but only for a certain amount of time. (Though we down here on earth don’t fully know the length, God knows the duration.)
Shipwreck in the Desert, Carl Haag
God never intends for us to remain in the wilderness. It is always in passing. When the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they dwelt in tents. They were never commanded to build houses in the wilderness. God had a better place for them: He wanted to bring them into the promised land.
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. -1 Peter 4:12-13
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