How many of you have gone camping? Now how many of you love camping? Have you ever traveled near your destination only realizing you forgot something, maybe something important? It happens for sure, but just like life itself, to go camping we need to be prepared. You just don’t know what you will encounter, so you need to be prepared. Once I remember sleeping in a tent when a rainstorm came and turned our tent into a waterbed. We just weren’t prepared. Very interesting experience.
There was a story I came across of an older couple from Vermont who wrote a letter to a particular campground in Florida while planning their future camping trip. For this couple, living in Vermont and traveling to Florida was definitely a wilderness experience. With the greatest intent to try and prepare for such a long journey, they drafted a letter to the campground owner and asked if they had a toilet on site. The couple felt sort of embarrassed putting down that word in the letter, so they came up with the initials, BC, meaning Bathroom Commode. So the note read, “Does the campground have its own BC?” When the campground owner received the letter, he was perplexed with the initials BC, but he came to the conclusion that the couple was asking if there was a local Baptist Church, so the owner wrote this letter in reply.
“I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take pleasure in informing you that a BC is located nine miles north of the campground and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away, if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late. It is such a beautiful facility, and the acoustics are marvelous…even the normal delivery sounds can be heard. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now a supper is planned to raise money to buy more seats. I would like to say it pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it surely is no lack of desire on my part. As we grow old, it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you do decide to come down to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you, and introduce you to all the other folks. Remember, this is a friendly community. Sincerely, Campground Owner.” I tell you, I’m certain when the couple read that letter, they most assuredly changed their camping trip plans.
Humorous as this story is, I will give the older couple credit for trying to be prepared before taking such a long wilderness trip—and although campground camping isn’t exactly a wilderness excursion, it does bring up a serious question. How prepared are we to journey into the wilderness? Do we have everything we need? Are we fully and truly prepared? Honestly, there are times when we don’t really know the answer to that question until it’s too late. The wilderness I’m referring to is a place everyone has and will encounter in this life. In the new testament Greek, wilderness, (er'-ay-mos), means a desolate and isolated place. These are words that I know none of us like to hear and mostly would love to avoid, however, as you will see, without the wilderness of life, we are not what God designed us to be.
In starting our journey this morning, in the Gospel of Mark chapter 1, Jesus is now on the road to begin His mission and show the world why He has come. Immediately following His baptism, we see God has given Jesus a direction that most of us would hesitate to follow. Let us start at verse 12. “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came from the heavens: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” 12 And immediately the Spirit *brought Him out into the wilderness. 13 And He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving Him.”
As we carefully look at this, did you notice where Jesus receives a reception at the local church in celebration of His baptism? Did you hear of the cheers and praises to God for Jesus decision to follow God? What we are witnessing friends is the beginning of Gods Holy work—an immediate action for Jesus to go forth into the wilderness and obediently serve His heavenly father, which did not include going to the local Walmart and getting the goods needed for this wilderness trip. What we see here is Jesus fully depending on God the Father period. Does this sound familiar to something we should be doing? It should!
Why the wilderness? Why not Nazareth or Israel? Because you see friends, throughout scripture, there is no ministry, no decision and no mission that does not come with it’s time in the wilderness. Its when we are alone, desolate and isolated that we truly discover God’s power. It is in these times where our faith, our strength and our trust in God should shine forth and remember the words of God saying I am with always wherever you go! Could God get us to move in His direction without trials and wilderness travels? Absolutely! However, as we are living with sin, our struggles are more than just merely being painful! Listen to Pauls letter to the Ephesians, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” The areas of our lives that we cannot see live and reign at our doorstep every day. The wilderness is where God sends us to help us grow stronger to face these spiritual forces of darkness. Its not a punishment. We grow by being put to the test, by being always ready in being prepared for the wilderness travels!
Listen to Peters first letter, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
In other words, We live by faith, not by sight!
I would like to leave with you a few items to help you in the wilderness travels that you will come against. First, In the wilderness, God specifically reveals Himself. In the darkest of places of your life, God is trying to tell you, He is your light, and nothing can compare. In the confusing maze of the wilderness, you learn to let Him be your guide. In the wilderness, He separates you from the influences of the world, as so to bring you closer to Him.
Second, When God takes you to the wilderness, you do NOT GO ALONE! Psalm tells us “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Hell, behold, You are there.”
Third, In the wilderness, God withholds that which you have come to depend on other than Him. Maybe you came to depend on your job to provide. God removes the job for a time, so that you will learn to depend on Him. Maybe you came to depend on your own strength or stamina. Then God brings weakness into your life, so that you will learn that your strength is in Him. You see it as deprivation. God sees it as preparation.
Last but certainly not least, God will be faithful to you in whatever wilderness you are facing. “In the wilderness … you saw how the LORD God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place. Deuteronomy 1:31. I am your God says the Lord, and you are my people. It is not in God’s DNA to set us up for failure.
In closing, friends, as hard as it may sound, when we are in the wilderness of life, don’t think of it as a punishment, think of it as God is preparing you for something much greater. Pauls second letter to people of Corinth tells us “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Friends, when we spend quality time with God in and out of the wilderness of life, we should do so with the full intent to become true disciples of Jesus Christ. I heard this mentioned just recently to me—where in the whole bible, is God asking for volunteers? God is not asking for volunteers, God is calling for Disciples! In order to do this, we, His chosen people must be put to the test. Being in the wilderness friends does not mean we give us or lose hope. We are to endure like a good soldier of Christ knowing always Christ is with us to empower and strengthen us while being prepared for the journey ahead. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Being prepared for the wilderness is something we need to strive to do each and every day—as Jesus tells us clearly, Be prepared at all times. 2 Peter tells us Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. Amen.