Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry." (Luke 4:1,2)
There is a common assumption among most Christians in the western world that God is never involved or responsible for the “bad things” that happen in life – and I am not just referring to the opinions of the "health and wealth" preachers. Even many mainline, fundamental, Bible-believing, born-again, evangelical Christians react with shock and even incredulity when tragedy and/or loss sweeps over their life.
What makes this so surprising is that the Bible clearly and repeatedly warns us that we are not exempt from suffering; in fact, we are often greater recipients of suffering because we believe. For example, both Paul and Peter inform us of this:
"…everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
(1 Timothy 3:12)
"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12)
For 1st century Christians, suffering was assumed. Religious freedom and tolerance were nonexistent; to vary from the community norm was almost always a deadly choice. Even within the Roman Empire, which was liberal by most ancient standards, the state carried out ten separate pogroms against Christians between 60AD – 300AD. It is estimated that as many as a million believers perished at the hands of persecutors during this period.
Still, our tendency is to view such persecution as ancient history, incongruent with our modern sensibilities. Yet recent research has found that the 20th century was more deadly for Christians than any previous era. In fact, as many as 20 million Christians perished through persecution during that time. The two biggest culprits were the Communists and the Muslims, which no doubt has fueled much of the hatred that exists toward both groups today.
It is easy to become hateful towards those who are guilty of such atrocities. But in order to do that, we first have to ignore one very important fact of Scripture: God, who is sovereign over the affairs of this world, must give His permission for any evil that touches His servants. Satan, the perpetrator of this evil, can do nothing without God’s allowance (Job 1,2).
This is given more evidence by what Luke states at the beginning of chapter 4:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
Jesus, who was full of the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit… into the desert: the wilderness, the eremos. Eremos means “a solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited place.” It was there that Jesus faced three things that are terrors to most people: loneliness, temptation, and starvation.
• Loneliness: Jesus had no human support or companionship. No one to hold up his arms (Exodus 17:11-13) when he became weak.
• Temptation: In the ultimate "mano-e-mano" moment, Jesus went face to face with the Prince of Darkness. The only resources He possessed were His faith in God’s Word, His hope in God’s Promises, and His love for the Father.
• Starvation: When someone fasts they pass through three stages. In the first stage, hunger is constant. But somewhere between the seventh and 10th day, the hunger subsides as the stomach shrinks. As the fast continues, the body first uses up its fat reserves, then begins to consume muscle and organ tissue. By then, irritability and lethargy are constant. Too weak to sense thirst, the individual becomes dehydrated. All movement becomes painful as the muscles atrophy and the skin becomes dry and cracked. The final stage comes when one is close to death, when the sensation of hunger returns. This makes Luke’s comment, “He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry,” much more poignant; Jesus was beginning to die.
It was at that very moment that “The tempter came to him…" (Matthew 4:3). Fortunately for us, Jesus both resisted and overcame all the temptations that were thrown at Him. But we need to be careful that we don’t overlook the fact that Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit and led by the same Spirit into the desert, was led there for the express purpose of being “tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1).
We don’t find Jesus faulting the Father, blaming others, or looking upon external causes or past bad choices as the source of His temptation. He who was without sin did nothing to deserve what He was suffering. In fact it was just the opposite: He was allowing Himself to be led by the Spirit; and it was the Spirit's purpose to subject Him to temptation.
Why? The writer of Hebrews explains:
"In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Hebrews 2:10)
"Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered." (Hebrews 5:8)
This also answers the question as to why God allows Christians today to suffer as well. Suffering first causes us to question the condition of our lives. It clears away the clutter from our hearts and minds and helps us to focus upon what is really important – as opposed to those things that just seem to be important at the moment.
Secondly, it compels us to seek answers to our suffering. We usually begin looking at the externals (a change in employment, career, spouse, location, relationships, church, etc.). Usually, addressing only the externals proves to be ineffective and the suffering continues.
Real and lasting relief comes when we stop looking outside and begin looking inside. Some might call it introspection, but it is far more than that. Introspection by itself can only produce guilt, shame, remorse, and regret. These are all only further symptoms of suffering, not the root causes.
In Psalm 139:23-24, King David exposes the root causes of my suffering:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Notice there are two things that God wants to show us: things we are often only willing to see when we are desperate for relief from our suffering:
• anxious thoughts: fears that control my choices.
• offensive ways: sinful behaviors that separate me from God and others.
Over my 42 years as a Christian, I have found that the only way that change can happen in my life is through suffering. When things are going well and I am prospering in body and soul, I am content. But when my life is troubled and solutions are not readily found, I begin to call upon the Lord in earnest. First I ask Him to make the problem go away. When that doesn’t happen, I begin asking Him to reveal the source of the problem. More often than not, He leads me to some inner fear or offensive way that has taken control of my thinking. Then I discover some hidden Isaac that God wants me to place upon the altar.
It was only when Abraham was willing to give up Isaac that God could say of him, "Now I know that you fear God…" (Genesis 22:12). And it is only when we are willing to admit to the hidden Isaacs in our own lives that we can truly fear, reverence, honor, submit to, and obey God with all of our heart, soul, mind, body and strength.