In the journey of life, God doesn't let us skip "the desolate places." Instead, He leads us directly through them. Why?
Chadron Bible Church Podcast
Not As the Crow Flies - Matthew 4:1-2 (The Journey of Life series)
(soft music) - Welcome to Shadron Burian Church, where we wanna have deep roots in Christ and in God's Word so that we will bear fruit for God, helping others to follow Jesus as well. Find us at shadronburian.org or on other platforms under Shadron Burian. Thanks for joining us. (soft music) - I was six years old when I first accepted Christ as my savior. I used to sit on the floor in front of my dad and his pastor and listen to them during Bible study and praying. And I remember one night I was watching my dad and listening to him pray. And I said, "You know, I want what he has. "I want to know this Jesus that he knows." And so when we got home, I asked him, "You know, Dad, would you please share with me? "Show me how to know Jesus." And we immediately went in and the to the bedroom and got on our knees and prayed and my dad led me. But it wasn't until later when I was at Scott's book Burian Church and in junior high and went to Marinatha Bible camp that I rededicated my life to occurs. Well, it's never easy. It's never, there are rocky paths and sometimes you get into the weeds. I know that I've gone off the path that he had for me. And I wanted to do things my way. And a lot of times, there were times, as a high school student, I was rebellious and very spoiled and thought that I knew more than my parents did, and especially my dad. But my dad was always a praying dad and he was always a patient dad. And the Lord gave me the perfect godly dad to guide me through those tough years. So there were times when it was pretty rocky and but I could always be, the Lord knows what you're doing. No matter if you think you're hiding in the weeds or behind whatever, and there are always valleys. You have high top experiences and I've experienced those but you know a valley is going to come. But his word is, he's faithful, his word is true. And I learned that going through all of those situations to know that he's a faithful, Savior, Lord, and friend. And he never let me stray too far without going through some circumstances that were great lessons that I needed to learn. You know that the older you get, we have several of those kinds of seasons and situations, but one in particular, that was the greatest difference that Christ made in my life was about 15 years ago. When I went through a situation where I was non-renewed in a position, you know, the Lord tells us we're going to have trouble and but he never fails us through that trouble. There's always a plan. He knew that that was coming. He knew what the pact was going to be. He knew the reasons for that and he knew what he was going to do with that situation. I didn't have those answers yet. And I really had to get on my knees and ask the Lord, what did I need to understand? What did I need to do? And how did he need to direct me in all of this? But what I found was in that situation that didn't happen overnight and it took a long time and it still reverberates years later. But God doesn't, he doesn't stop using whatever experience he's taking you through. In your weakest state, he is our strength. When he says that he is our strength and our stay, that's a promise that he doesn't give up on. He doesn't lie. That's the one thing he can't do. And so it was a kind of amazing journey how he walked me through that. Christians from all around that surrounded me in love and several of them came to me and had similar situations. And God used that situation to help somebody else when I went on and had a position someplace else. He used that situation in order to encourage and help someone else that was going through something similar like that. So he doesn't waste a moment. And I was so blessed with his faithfulness and his love and his guidance through all of that. Only can never find a greater friend than Jesus Christ and a more faithful friend. And who is so loving and so merciful in his grace is, when he tells you that his grace is sufficient, it really is. So the one thing that I do that I make sure I do is when I get up in the morning, I thank him. Even when I'm in a fuss, I'm honest with him. And I can say, Lord, I'm in a fuss today, but I wanna thank you for the hot water in the shower because I am just so grateful for that. But then that leads me to pray for somebody else or some other situation where somebody doesn't have water, where somebody has particular needs. And so in the midst of a world full of hate, he wants us to love on others. And so he leads me. He might lay somebody's need on my heart. This person needs encouragement. And so I take that to him every moment. You know, prayer isn't something that you make an appointment with the Lord. It's constant, it's continual. And I'm so grateful and I count my blessings all the time. And I think that's where we need to start is in that building, that loving relationship with him. - When you ask someone sometimes how far it is from point A to point B, they might say something along the lines of, well, as a crow flies, six miles. What they mean is that if you're a crow, you can fly over all of the obstacles, the hills, the valleys, the difficult terrain. You could get there in six miles, but what they're saying is, well, as a car drives or if you're gonna walk it, it'd probably take you in maybe 10 miles. So I saw a little cartoon where two crows were talking to each other. And one said to the other as a car drives, it's 10 miles, but we can do it in six. Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny. But, you know, we're not crows. And thank God, right? We're not crows, we're humans. And that means we don't get to just fly over some of the difficult and undesirable terrains that we're gonna go through in life. We don't just get to fly over the obstacles. I mean, I wish it were true that we could, but we can't. There are gonna be detours in this life, unpredictable twists and turns, obstacles, difficult terrains, uphill climbs, dark valleys, storms creep up on you. Just, you know, they sneak up on you just that fast in life sometimes. And it's just the way it is. It's gonna be, there's gonna be gardens in life. You're gonna feel like you're walking through a cool garden with shade, but there's gonna be moments where you feel like you're walking through the desert, through the, what we might call desolate places. And that's what we wanna talk about today. If you'll turn with me to Matthew chapter four verses one through two, it's gonna be our key text for today, Matthew chapter four, verses one through two. You gotta look at Jesus in the wilderness. Be helpful if we, or maybe in our alone time, our time at home later today to read through the rest of the account through verse 11, but for now we're just gonna stick with these two verses. It says, then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he then became hungry. And I always get a kick out of that. After 40 days, then he became hungry. But you guys get the point. So Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness. And the wilderness is used, this word wilderness is used 266 times in the Bible. It's in the ESV version anyway. Sometimes it's around, you know, it's somewhere between 250 to 300 times. This word wilderness is used. And it typically refers to a desert place, a dry place, a, you know, a barren, empty place. And a lot of times it's where God will lead someone to interact with him. Like he will bring them into the wilderness in order that they would have an encounter with him and draw near to him. That's what I think of when I think of the wilderness. Actually the word Kedish, Barnia, you know, that territory where the Israelites spent 40 years wandering around, that means holy place of wandering. So it's a place where they were tested and where the people met God and had their faith stretched sort of thing. Think about all the saints throughout the scriptures that came face to face with God and the wilderness who met God in the wilderness and were prepared in the wilderness. I think of Moses, you know, God had to get him out of Egypt and into the wilderness to prepare him, to be a shepherd for the nation of Israel. He had to go through difficulty. He had to be out in the wilderness alone with God. That's where he met God. That's where he heard from God. That's where God called him. It was in the wilderness. Israel prepared as a nation heard from God in the wilderness. Hagar maybe, Hagar alone, broken out in the wilderness, the desolate place. She hears from God out there. She actually, God, she meets God out there and she gives God a new name. She calls him Bear La Hyroy. You're the God who sees. You see me, even out here in the middle of nowhere in this dry and desolate place. And then we've got Elijah, exhausted Elijah, right? Bright exhausted for more than just running from Jezebel, running from, you know, probably exhausted from fear, some anxiety. God protects him and refreshes him out in the wilderness. David learns to be a shepherd out in the wilderness, not in the middle of nowhere. Without that, he never would have been probably that good shepherd that Israel needed without going through the wilderness. It was there, God protected him from Saul. When things went tough during his leadership in Israel, David had to flee to the wilderness same place Jesus went. It was in those rocky, craggy, hilly, you know, Judean hills between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea where God met David and protected him and prepared him. He authored 19 Psalms out there in the wilderness. And all these Psalms that we love that resonate with us when we're going through difficulties in life. Apostle Paul, he talks about how in his first few years after coming to Christ, he spent a lot of time out in the desert, you know, he talks about Arabia and Jesus appearing to him, giving him the gospel and him learning, you know, sort of relearning the scriptures to see that Jesus is the Messiah and how he's going to take the scriptures to the Gentiles. And aren't you glad that Paul spent a lot of time in jail? Right, because most of our letters in the New Testament are written because he spent time in jail, God slowed him down in jail so that he can write for us to receive God's revelation. And Apostle John, same thing, it was exiled to Pat most. He received the book of Revelation there. So again, it's just, you know, that's just a sampling of the saints in the scriptures, saint after saint after saint who went through the wilderness and drew near to God through it. We're called by God through it, prepared through it. And so God uses the wilderness. It's a place of testing, but it's a place where we draw near in that testing. Right, if it wasn't for the testing in some of your lives, you and I both know, right? I know if it wasn't for some of the testings in my life, I wouldn't draw near to God like I should, right? But when you're out in the wilderness, there's no one around, there's no food, there's no water, where else are you gonna turn? You're gonna look up, right? To the one who provides. See, I think that's just what God wants to do in our lives sometimes. So we look at, I think, the wilderness of life, like it's an obstacle or it's God's judgment. And, you know, I guess it can be, but sometimes I think that's just what God wants. It's not an obstacle, it's more of an opportunity, it's an opportunity for us to draw near to God, to seek God, and to hear from him, he's gotta get us out of the world, so to say, in order to get himself into us. Now, I don't, personally, you know, I don't wanna live in the wilderness. I don't know anybody who wants to live in the wilderness, but it is a must for us as saints, as God's children. It's a must for us to grow and become more like Christ in his sufferings. And, you know, Jesus, even Jesus, he's the same, right? He's the ultimate. Even Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. Did you guys catch that detail? The wilderness, Jesus going into the wilderness there was not an accident. It was not just some random event in his life. The Spirit led him into the wilderness. Actually, Luke says that he was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days. Not an accident. I just find it odd, guys, when you think about it, I've always thought it was odd, and I've always thought about why. And I don't still don't know if I have the answer for you today, but why on earth Jesus goes and he gets baptized by John. And this is like the beginning of his ministry. He's gonna start his ministry now. He's been baptized by John. I mean, just publicly announced as a Messiah. This is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased, right? The Father, the Son, and the Spirit were all there. It is baptism, and you'd think, here we go. The ministry's about to begin. Let's go to Jerusalem. Let's go to Galilee. But no, God says you're gonna go to the wilderness for 40 days where nobody is. And what's up with that? Sends him from his baptism into the wilderness for 40 days. Think of all the change that he could have done in 40 days or the lives or the preaching and teaching. See, the wilderness is important to God. God uses the wilderness, even Jesus needed a time in the wilderness, I think, to prepare him for ministry. If Jesus could get through that wilderness, he could get through anything he faced in his ministry. 'Cause what Jesus went through out there and that desolate place, you know, it was just awful. I'll talk about that more here in a bit, but desolate places cause us to slow down, don't they? Like if you're life, you can be going a hundred-ball an hour through life, right? Just thinking about climbing the corporate ladder and you're not slowing down at all. Just, you know, a foot to the floor, pedal to the metal type of life. That's the way a lot of us are living our lives. But what happens when some sort of sickness or something comes into our life? You know, there's a broken relationship, major broken relationship, right? We slow down, we seek God. And that's the most important thing anyway. That's what we need, that's the number one priority. That's what we should be all about. So the desolate places cause us to slow down, to seek God, to hear from God, to draw near to God. That's the main thing he wants us to do in life, isn't it? What's the number one priority? What's the number one command? Love God. Sometimes the desolate places slow us down so that we will actually draw near to him, instead of just, you know, pedal to the metal when we're just living on autopilot. And so, the wilderness, the desolate places, I think they're there to develop us and draw us near. You know, God, I heard someone say once, you know, God cares more about your character than he does about your comfort, right? He cares more about our character than he does about our comfort. You're gonna get something. Maybe you're in the wilderness right now, and I just wanna encourage you not to give up. Keep pursuing God, draw near to God in that place, because you will get something in the wilderness that you can't get anywhere else. And you're gonna need whatever God is teaching you in the wilderness, you're gonna need it for that next stage of your journey. That's been my experience. You know, the desert, the desolate places, they're not obstacles so much as they are opportunities to grow and to draw near to him. My most precious memories in my life so far are the desolate places. And the other interesting, you know, part of this text, for me, is the fasting part. It says that he fasted for 40 days and nights. And now, you know, Western Christianity, we don't talk about fasting a whole lot. Fasting is, you know, no one even knows when it started, really, because it's such an ancient practice. You know, when you can read about fasting in the New Testament, Jesus talks about the Jews fasting twice a week. Christians are really Christians. Apparently fasted twice a week as well on different days. But, you know, we don't talk a lot about fasting anymore, at least in our culture, but fasting, if you want to boil it all down again, it was the point of it was to draw near to God. You're going through a trial, you're going through a difficulty. The Israelites are in a battle, they cannot win. What do they do? Corporately, they fast together and they seek God's will. Well, now, like, the secular world, right? So, it has really caught on to fasting is like a, just because of the health benefits. So fasting actually has a cleansing effect on us, like physically and spiritually. Physically speaking, after like 16 hours, I was doing some research on fasting a lot lately. But after 16 hours, your body goes into ketosis, so like it's burning fat, right? And after, you know, a day or two, it goes into this, another phase called autophagy, which in Greek means self-eating. Your body apparently starts to eat up all the old, you know, the dead cells, some of the cancer-causing cells or something like that. So it just starts to, the body starts to cleanse itself. So it has a lot of health benefits. They said it'll clean up dead cells, it'll increase metabolism, reduce weight, lower insulin and inflammation and blood pressure. It could slow your aging, it can protect against or reverse diseases. So there's a lot of health benefits to fasting. It's something worth considering. I'm not a doctor or nothing, but Jesus didn't fast because he was concerned about his health, I don't think. Because by the time he went through 40 days with no food, he was anything but healthy. Okay, his organs were close to shutting down. I have no doubt about it. He was just like a shell of his old self. He was weary, he probably could, I bet he would struggle after 40 days to carry a gallon of milk. I mean, that's to the point of weariness. That's the point of exhaustion he was at. Skin sagging, bones showing. Actually, there was a Russian artist called Ivan Kramskoy. I don't know if I'm saying his name right. I don't speak Russian. But he attempted to paint a picture of Christ in the wilderness. And after his first painting, he went, man, there's way too much green leaves here. Way too much green, or he's way too plump. There's too much divinity, not enough humanity, right? So he went through and he repainted the picture. And his feet are all scratched up. He's in this barren, very barren desolate place, sitting on a rock, there's nothing around him. He's, you know, his clothes are all tattered. He's got wrinkles around his eyes. And, you know, just droopy look to his face. And if you've ever seen someone after, they've fastened several weeks. That's what they look like. Have you ever watched that series alone? I know I've mentioned it already in the sermon series that TV show alone. These people will go out into the wilderness alone, right? You might have 10 people, and all they can have with them is 10 items. And whoever survives alone in the wilderness the longest gets, you know, $500,000. Well, some of these people after eating little or nothing for several weeks, you know, they might go 60 to 90 days like that. They look like a ghost. They look like a shell of themselves. They do have wrinkles around their eyes, their cheekbones, you know, they lose that plumpness. You see their cheekbones. They just become a skeleton. And a lot of times that's actually what determines who wins is like, it's like, if they get to a certain BMI, like body mass index, whatever, they pull them out for health reasons, 'cause they're afraid that their organs are gonna shut down. Jesus was definitely at that point here. There's no doubt in my mind. And he probably didn't have much left in him. Maybe he felt like me yesterday with this head cold that I've got operating at like 10% capacity, you know. I mean, that would hit me hard at summer cold to do it, but so that's the physical cleansing that can take place though. I've talked a little bit about that, but then the spiritual side of the equation is, you know, again, you're saying, God, I need you more than I need food in this trial, in this testing. You know, my appetite for you, God, is more important to me than food. Fasting is like saying, I don't care about my will, I just want your will to be done. It's saying no to the things that control us, right? The things that drive me, the flesh, the sin nature, the, you know, maybe it's food or technology, whatever it is I'm living for, I'm laying that aside temporarily, 'cause I didn't want you to know, God, that I'm seeking you above all else. You know, my appetite for you is greater. I don't live by bread alone. Isn't that what Jesus said? The scripture he quoted. And so there's a physical cleansing and a spiritual cleansing. I don't know, I think of fasting as like pushing a restart button on it, on our lives in ways. It's like cleansing, a physical cleansing and a spiritual cleansing. And Jesus, you know, he aced it in a way. He aced this fasting thing. Man, the test, testing that he was under in the wilderness. Guys, if he ever went on that series alone, he would have been the winner. Yeah, let's just put it that way. Jesus has suffered like we have suffered and more so. You know, Hebrews 415, I'll read that for us. It says, if we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin, therefore what? Let us draw near, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So because Jesus went before us because he suffered, right? We can draw near to God ourselves. So I guess my encouragement to us this morning is that if you're in the wilderness today, maybe you're gonna go through one shortly, I don't know. I hope not, but I want you to remember to draw near there because you are gonna find something in the wilderness that you can only get there and you can't get it anywhere else. And God's gonna teach you some things that you need for that next stage in your journey. With that being said, I'm gonna skip some of my notes and I'm gonna fast forward to this quote. This is from Tim Bulke, he's got a book called Harbor 7, but what he says here really inspired a lot of what I talked about in this sermon. He says, "The journey has a way of taking us to places "we don't feel prepared to go. "And we need to ready ourselves "for whatever life has in store for us "and not let ourselves get stuck. "In the wilderness you wanna give up, don't do it. "Keep pursuing God one more day, one more day. "So to tell myself sometimes. "The truth is we need to keep moving "even though we won't always know what lies ahead. "You notice God never gave you a well-defined map "for your life and he just said, "Follow me. "As if he did, you probably wouldn't have followed him." Right? But he knows what he's doing, right? Many times we have no idea where we're going and we feel unprepared and often very alone. Nevertheless, one thing's for sure, we will never find the way if we are stuck, stagnant, and void of any growth. On my life journey, I think of many times that I have deviated from the predictable straight path. This is often where the real adventure begins. Journey involves movement, journey involves change, and risk is part of the equation. And so our excitement, adventure, disappointment, surprise, loss, spontaneity, grief, and anticipation. For those of us who focus on the destination, who long for the security of a well-marked map and the stability of a predictable estimated time, this is unsettling news. However, this is the reality we all face. We could try to protest, we could pull back and choose not to participate in the journey, but even when we stop going forward, life just moves on. We can choose to sit at the side of the road and watch our lives pass by like cars on a lonesome highway, complaining and wondering where the time has gone, or we can engage and embrace the journey even when it surprises us, confuses us, and disappoints us. So it's an extended quote, but I think it's worth reading and thinking about maybe rereading later, but if you're in the wilderness, keep pursuing God, keep drawing near to God, don't give up. Even when it surprises you, even when it confuses you or disappoints you, God knows what he's doing, amen? I want to finish just with a music video from Stephen Curtis Chapman. It's called Still, and I think it's a good music video that reminds us God can use things in unexpected ways. ♪ Kentucky Blue, you let me high up the mountain ♪ ♪ To show me the view, I said wherever this journey takes you ♪ ♪ Just trust me, I'm already there ♪ ♪ I had no way of knowing then ♪ ♪ Just how hard the rain would fall ♪ ♪ And how fierce would be the wind ♪ ♪ It's been beautiful and terrible, more painful ♪ ♪ More wonderful than I ever could've known ♪ ♪ But even so, still, I'm gonna sing ♪ ♪ About the one who's good at life to me ♪ ♪ Oh, his love is unchanging, his grace is amazing still ♪ ♪ I'm gonna praise the only one who always stays the same ♪ ♪ Oh, I know he is good, I know he is faithful still ♪ ♪ Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm still a mess ♪ ♪ And I've still got a heart with doubts and fears pounding in my chest ♪ ♪ And I've wrestled, then I've rested ♪ ♪ And I've trusted, then I've tested God's patience ♪ ♪ Like a foolish man, when I surrender once again ♪ ♪ And I call like a little child reaching up my hands ♪ ♪ He lifts me every time and he tells me he loves me still ♪ ♪ I'm gonna sing about the one who's good at life to me ♪ ♪ Oh, his love is unchanging, his grace is amazing still ♪ ♪ I'm gonna praise the only one who always stays the same ♪ ♪ Oh, I know he is good, I know he is faithful still ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And I will sing, I will sing of his faithfulness ♪ ♪ On my days I will sing of his faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh, I will sing, I will sing of his faithfulness ♪ ♪ His faithfulness ♪ ♪ On my days I will sing of his faithfulness ♪ ♪ Still, I'm gonna sing ♪ ♪ I'm gonna sing about the one who's good at life to me ♪ ♪ His love is unchanging, his grace is amazing still ♪ ♪ I'm gonna praise the only one who always stays the same ♪ ♪ Oh, I know he is good, I know he is faithful still ♪ ♪ I'm gonna sing, I will sing of his faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm gonna praise him still ♪ ♪ I'm gonna praise him still ♪ ♪ He is faithful, he is faithful still ♪ ♪ He is faithful still ♪ (dramatic music) (wind blowing) (wind blowing) (wind blowing) (wind blowing) (wind blowing) [BLANK_AUDIO]