What has God Gotten me Into?

 

March 1, 2017

I always learn a lot when I’m writing; perhaps, too much sometimes.  I was writing the Who’s Offense and Who’s Defense . . . post and I had just finished the paragraph on how much Lord Jesus had suffered during His passion.  I had included every aspect of it I could, so people who don’t normally reflect on it could truly see how much He endured and see the weakened state He would have been in.  My intention for the next paragraph was to talk about how the devil attacks when we’re weak and remark the passion was the only time Lord Jesus was weak, when it dawned on me that wasn’t true.

He was a weak little baby when Herod tried to kill Him.  He was weak from hunger in the wilderness when the devil tempted Him.  His will was weak at the beginning of His passion when St. Peter tempted Him and He was weakened from all of the abuse heaped on Him during His passion.

What I noticed in all of this He was weakest at the beginning of each new phase of His life.  And the time spent in the wilderness was the beginning of His ministry.  Now, remember, I had just written a entire paragraph about all the suffering He had undergone.  Pair that with my observation about the timing of the devil’s attacks and I get the following thoughts: “I’m starting a ministry.”  “It feels like I’m in a wilderness.”  “What has God gotten me into?” 

Now, I know why at the beginning of this God wanted me to fix this magazine ministry firmly in my head as  a reality.  It looks like there may be some bumpy roads up ahead.  I don’t know what’s coming or if anything’s coming, but the Bible is full of wisdom.  So I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Lord Jesus was at His weakest at the beginning of each new phase of His life.  Nor that at the beginning of my new phase God teaches me this now.  I guess now I know I’m headed towards a weakened state and a prime target for the devil.

I’ve always thought that people do better when they know what to expect, so I’m thankful God is giving me a heads up.  Here are some things I already know to expect: this is going to be hard, you always feel the stupidest when you’re learning something in which you have no previous experience, and you’re going to make mistakes when you try new things.  I’ll need to take a closer look at the temptations of Christ and the Hebrews in the desert to see if I can’t get a better idea of what might else be coming.

I’m thankful I decided to journal the experience and that God inspired me to share it with others.  I’ll try to keep an eye out and remark on anything I feel is significant in this area.  If others can learn, then that is to the good.  Sometimes you just have to take one for the team.  Hopefully, it won’t be too bad.

The significance of this just hit me: today is the first day of Lent!

The funny thing about this is, while I feel like I’m in a wilderness I also feel as if God is raining down blessings on me at every turn.  So from my perspective it looks like God is getting me into something very good!

God bless!