Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Luke 4:1-13
“Trusting God in the Wilderness”
On this first Sunday in the season of Lent, we are given the story of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. This story is probably the reason why the church chose to make the season of Lent last forty days. From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (the day before Easter), excluding the Sundays, Lent is forty days in which Christians are encouraged to pray, fast, and give.
And Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness before he began his ministry was likely intended to remind Jewish Christians of the forty years that their people spent in the wilderness, after escaping from Egypt, and before finding their way into the Promised Land.
Those wilderness times, whether measured in days or in years, had a lot in common. First of all, they both included struggle and hardship. Besides not having the usual comforts of home, there wasn’t much to eat, and finding essential things like water was very difficult.
You may remember that God provided the basics when they were needed, but the Hebrew People didn’t get anything extra to store up. They had to trust God day-by-day that they were going to … Read more »