THE WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE.

THE WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE. 

Matthew  4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

Jesus didn't fast just because he wanted to. He fasted because that's the best option in the situation at hand. The wilderness is a place without food nor water. The definition I got from Google for wilderness was
ˈwɪldənɪs/
noun
an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region.

You don't eat and make merry at such a place, not because you don't want to, but because that's how it ought to be by reason of the prevailing situation and condition. The situation at such a place leaves no room for eating and drinking. Our circumstances many a times determines our actions and reactions in life. Our actions and reactions is often predicated on what life deals out to us. A lot of us are putting up behaviours and deeds by which people are identifying us. But given different situations and circumstances, we would have done otherwise. That's not who we really are nor what we really want to do should things be different.. But given the situation, We have no option but to do or be thus. A lot of us are doing certain things due to where we have got to as at now in life, and not really because we wanna do those. Our location on the road in the journey of life, is a location that necessitates the actions we are taking. In Ghana where I hail from, the weather is hot in most of the months and thus my choice of clothes, by reason of the prevailing whether, are those that will allow free flow of air on my body, not ones that will tightly fit my body so that air can't freely flow on. Should I travel to a country that's in winter and thus heavy snow fall, my dressing, if I want to survive, necessarily  must change. That's not a matter of whether I like it or not. It's a matter of necessity. Jesus' situation in the wilderness,  bears resemblance to what I have just explained. Jesus fasted 40 days and nights because that's what the situation at the wilderness demands whether He liked it or not. It's at such crucial moments in our lives, when likes and dislikes, no matter what good reasons one has for which he or she prefers one or the other, must be set aside to do what is necessary, that we miss it. Yeah, we normally miss it at that junction of life. Our likes and dislikes, and comfort set in the way of executing necessities. But thats where your wisdom Is tested. Will you refuse to put on winter jacket in winter season just because you don't like wearing winter jacket? Will you refuse to work hard just because that robs you of your comfort when you know shame and disgrace, is what lies ahead of you should you fail to succeed? Are you the type that puts likes, dislikes and comfort or even convenience ahead of what is necessary? Do you think Jesus liked fasting? If that's really the case at least the record of Him fasting that long should have been two, and on different occasions, not just one. Obviously you will do more than once, what you like doing. When it is recorded of you to have done jut once, what it is believed to have been your like, then It wasn't your like. It was recorded of Jesus praying many times. I won't debate on that to have been His like. He liked praying. I can't say same of Him on fasting. Do you think he was comfortable? The Bible says he was hungry afterward. Hunger ain't no comfort! But at some critical moments in life, it's not about what you like or don't like. It's not about what you are comfortable with or is convenient for you. It's about what MUST be done. It's about what's necessary. When coming out of the water after the baptism, the Bible never records of Jesus coming out with a basket full of bread and fishes. Neither was it recorded of Him receiving provision from anybody as aid in times of hardship in the wilderness. Nor is it recorded he personally had food on Him.
This stands to reason He went to the wilderness empty, that's without food and water and he went alone. So being all alone without food and water in the wilderness, a place described as inhospitable, and one of the meanings of inhospitable is barren, it won't be an over statement nor exaggeration to say Jesus had no option there on the wilderness than to fast. I mean, without food and water? Check the scriptures carefully, you will see it written plain and clear that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. That is it! This is the actual reason that caused the Holy Ghost to lead Jesus into the wilderness. It was to be tempted of the devil. The fasting was Jesus' own initiative that was ofcourse very very necessary looking at the prevailing situation and the challenge ahead. That's what gave him the fortitude and tenacity to withstand the temptations and eventually overcome. And a lot of us must always appreciate God in all situations,  good or bad. If any of us was to be in Jesus' stead, we would have complained and murmured till probably we even fail in the assignment God has given us. It would have been, "O God the wilderness is too hot. O God there is no food. O God I need water. O God there Is no pillow here. O God this or that or even both this and that." But you have no idea God is actually helping you and working on your behalf even in the bad and worse times of your life. Which would have been better and serve as a good environment and atmosphere for Jesus to have fasted?

1. Staying home with Mary and Joseph his parents and his brothers with everybody going about their usual normal duties and they getting hungry as every normal human being gets hungry and eating breakfast, lunch and supper all under Jesus' nose.
OR
2. Going to the wilderness away from all the possible distractions and interruptions He would have inevitably encountered at home should he not have been led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.

Over to you now. Obviously, you would realise the best place in the options above for Jesus to have been to make this 40 days and nights fasting and prayer less stressful to do was the second option. The wilderness. You thus realise that it was by no mistake that amongst the many places Jesus could have chosen to have His fasting, it was only the wilderness the Holy Spirit found good enough to lead Jesus to have Him tempted of the devil. He knew, it would in turn be a conducive place for him to fast and pray that long, for the spiritual fortitude to stand the temptations of of the devil. Nevertheless, it's no reason to think Jesus had it easy fasting 40 days and 40 nights just because the fast took place in a "helping environment" so to speak. One obvious characteristic feature of fasting is hunger. When we fast, we get hungry. So was it really necessary for the Holy Spirit to inspire the writer of the book of Matthew to have included that after the fasting Jesus was hungry?  I mean, that was very much expected. We all expect Jesus to be hungry after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. We all know. But yes it was necessary.  It was very necessary for us to be told he was hungry after the fast, so as to dissolve any such possible thought of We thinking the whole fast was so supernaturally orchestrated by God that, the Holy Spirit working through the conduciveness of the environment (No human interference,  food or good drinking water), rid Jesus of all possible stress and strain that's associated with fasting and could have prevented the success of the fast, and everything went on smoothly for Jesus. No. The Holy Spirit wanted us to know that even though Jesus went to the wilderness by His leading, and the wilderness, as compared to other places,  was the best place for Jesus to have embarked on His 40 days fast, He still felt the stress and strain that fasting comes along with. But the thing is, what ever stress and stain He felt, is better of there in the wilderness than other places he would have gone to fast, most likely home. And this is where a lot of us Christians miss it. Our eyes are so fixed on the present stress and strain of what we are going through,  so much so that we lose sight of how worse it could have been but for the intervention of God. Yes the situation is bad. But trust me, the devil didn't plan just the bad for you. He wanted you at the worse place. You are at that bad place only on the ticket of God's intervention, and even that bad place you are,  is God's perfect place he wants you so as to set you in the place of Victory.

Being tempted of the devil to eat a delicious food prepared at home after fasting forty days and nights, and being tempted of the devil to command that stones be turned into bread for you to eat after fasting forty days and forty nights, which of these temptations are you most likely going to fall to? You realise here that, regardless of the challenges, stress and strain Jesus must have encountered following the leading of the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to fast forty days and forty nights, it was still the best place to be. And lo and behold, He had the victory there. Jesus' victory over the devil in that particular period, took place on the wilderness, where Jesus had to fast 40 days and 40 night. Jesus' victory took place at the very place of core hunger, challenge, stress and strain. Many of us, like Jesus, have been led to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. And the wilderness atmosphere and conditions has necessitated that we fast because there is no food for us on the wilderness where the Holy Spirit has lead us. And it seems to us God hasn't been fair to us. It seems to us God is punishing us with hunger. We feel like God has lied to us. Because even though we didn't want to go to the wilderness, We thought, based on the verse one... 'Matthew  4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil'... we are only being led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and then that will be it. We thought even though the temptation will be hard we can survive it regardless. And we syched and braced ourselves up for that. But on reaching there we realise there was more to it than we knew and thought. We only reached the wilderness of our life only to realise, per the magnitude and intensity of what the devil is coming at us with, and the absence of food, fasting inevitably is necessary. And there comes our shock. and there begins our complaints and murmuring. But Jesus stepped up His game. Even though the revelation in the Verse 1 was that He was being led of the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, on reaching the wilderness, additional unpleasant and hard activities that will precede the temptation became necessary. Fasting forty days and nights. What will He do? Will He back off? No! Thats what some of us would have done. But not in the case of Jesus Christ our Lord and master. He did the opposite. He braced Himself up and took up the challenge.

Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights! May we be enlightened by God to step up our game whenever we find ourselves in bad situations better than the devil meant for us. May we see the good in how bad God has made a situation that could have been worse, and take advantage of the reduced and controlled intensity of the state of our conditions, and go the extra mile in doing what is required of us to meet the need of the hour and the demand of the day like Jesus fasted 40 days and nights prior to the temptation and indeed overcame, that we also may overcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Amen.