Matthew 4:1 | I Grow In The Wilderness

0:00In full transparency, yeah, I've kind of had a bit of a tough week at home, I don't know, I've just kind of been really frustrated with myself for how I've handled things, just kind of blah. You know what I mean? I think we all get there sometimes. Yeah, we definitely do. So I got a text from a friend of mine, and she wanted to tell me that she was praying for me, but she also wanted to remind me that God could be using this to grow and teach me, and I don't know that part really stuck out to me. Oh, yeah, here, what you're saying, I think a lot of times when I'm having a rough go of it, maybe it's the same for you. My brain can lean towards thinking, like, what have I done wrong? Where did I mess up to end up here? And maybe you catch yourself thinking that way too. Like, if things are hard, it's got to be because I've made bad choices. This is naturally the consequence, but the Bible tells us that that's not always the case. Yeah, if you read the book of math, you chapter four verse one. It says, then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. It was the Holy Spirit who led him there.

1:01Jesus wasn't in the wilderness because he had failed or because he was distant from God. He was there because God wanted to bring him even closer. He wanted to build Jesus's dependency on him. And it's a great reminder that not every wilderness or valley that you go through is punishment. If things have been hard lately, maybe, you know, like McKinna's friend encouraged her, God is trying to show you something. Maybe he's trying to get your attention or grow your dependency on him. And just like how Jesus responded when temptation came into the wilderness, you can respond to it not with willpower or grit, but with the word of God, with the gospel.