God's Strange Pattern

A famous NFL coach once told his players, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all!” It’s true that staying in shape and mentally sharp can pay off late in the game when both teams are getting tired.

Late in the game is just when Satan attacks. When Satan attacked Jesus in the wilderness during his forty days of temptation, Satan discovered that the strength of Jesus stretched beyond His own physical limitations: His strength came from living out the will of the Father.

The season of Lent is patterned after these forty days of temptation in the wilderness that Jesus experienced at the beginning of His formal ministry.

The Gospel of Mark tells us that this journey into the wilderness did not begin on a whim. Mark 1 and the parallel accounts of the other Gospels (Matthew 4 and Luke 4) note that Jesus is “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness.

From a worldly perspective, the timing could not have been worse! Before the Spirit leads Jesus away from the crowds and into a place of isolation and fasting, a spectacular event occurs: the public baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

By the time of Jesus’ baptism, John is a well-known figure, and the crowds follow him everywhere, including to the Jordan River to be baptized. Jesus seems to interrupt the gathering with a special request that John baptize Him. At first, John is hesitant, but after Jesus persists, John obeys and baptizes Jesus.

The crowds, already in awe of this moment, witness a voice from heaven—the voice of God the Father—affirming the role of Jesus as Messiah. Mark records, “And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:11).

Here is where things turn strange, at least from a worldly perspective. Good marketing would say that Jesus, after being affirmed by the most popular man in the area (John the Baptist) and by an audible voice from heaven, should make the most it. He should immediately begin preaching right on the spot, moving John aside, taking his followers, and allowing the momentum to drive His own ministry and popularity forward.

But that’s not how it happened. Immediately after the baptism, Jesus is led (Mark actually uses the Greek word that is better translated “cast out”) into the wilderness by the Spirit of God. 

Wes Tracy, a former longtime editor of Holiness Today, once said that we would like for God’s pattern to go something like this: wilderness, call of God, new beginning. In reality, God tends to work this way: call of God, then wilderness, and then new beginning!

God is not concerned about building momentum in the traditional, fame-centered sense.

Rather, God is more concerned with setting aside Spirit-led, God-focused time of preparation in order for our new beginnings to match the calling He has given to us.

May the season of Lent be this kind of journey for us all as we move toward resurrection and new beginnings!

Charles W. Christian is managing editor of Holiness Today.

Written for devotions with Holiness Today.

Please note: All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of original publication but may have since changed.