Mark 4

 What do you think Jesus experiences in the wilderness?  Dis Jesus actually see Satan or weee the temptations by the evil one in His thoughts?  What was it like for Jesus to wrestle with each temptation?  Dis the angels protect Jesus from the wild beasts or did they each bow down in gentleness before the Creator?  But it’s clear that the wilderness experience was a conflict between evil and good. The evil spirits weee out to get Jesus while the angels ministered to Him. One thing that hits me is that Jesus quoted Scripture as His key weapon. 

“Christ himself was tempted, not only to teach us, that it is no sin to be tempted, but to direct us whither to go for succour when we are tempted, even to him that suffered, being tempted; that he might experimentally sympathize with us when we are tempted.” - Excerpt, The Gospel of Mark - Complete Bible Commentary Verse by Verse by Matthew Henry

“When Jesus is sent out into the desert, he is acting out the great drama of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, spending forty days in the wilderness instead of forty years.  Jesus receives affirmation through God’s voice from heaven and understands the ultimate reality that God reveals. How would this prepare him for being “in the desert forty days” where “the satan tested him” and he “was with the wild beasts”?” - Excerpt, ‘Mark’ by N.T. Wright

“You’ll never find your identity in applause. It waits for you in the wilderness (the inner room or secret place), where no one is watching and only God speaks your name.”

“From Isolation to Intimacy

Loneliness can feel like exile. But in the language of the Spirit, exile is often the beginning of encounter, belonging, and formation of a new identity. The ache of absence can become the womb of intimacy. It takes courage to sit with that pain, to stop numbing, and to start listening. But if we stay with it—with open hands and a soft heart—we’ll find that our God hasn’t abandoned us. Instead, God’s Spirit invites us into a deeper and more holistic kind of knowing.” - Graham Joseph Hill