Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.  Luke 4:1

When I read this passage,  I wonder why the Holy Spirit would lead Jesus into the wilderness. 

Jesus had just been baptized, and I would think that, if motivated by His human nature, He would be eager and ready to start his career.  This had to be a major spiritual moment for Jesus, and wouldn’t He want to savor the moment?  Why didn’t the Spirit give Him time to just enjoy life?

And why into the wilderness, of all places?

Sometimes we think that the Holy Spirit will always lead us “beside still waters.” (Ps. 23:2) But that doesn’t seem to be true, because sometimes we are led into difficult situations, places that we really don’t want to go, or aren’t intending to go. 

An example from my own life where the Spirit has taken me somewhere I had not really considered seriously going is my involvement the Diakonia program – a lay education program in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod which provides a spiritual journey to those who wish to become more involved in their church or better understand their faith.  It meets once each week for two years during the school year and classes are about the Bible, Christine doctrine, Christian ethics, church and society and discerning spiritual gifts.  As you can read just from the amount of class time, this is a big commitment of time and energy. 

When a friend asked me if I had heard of it, I said that I had, and it sounded interesting but didn’t know if I could do all the work.  She pushed me enough to take it with her, and I enrolled. I can’t help but feel it was the Holy Spirit who led her to talk about it, and who led me to commit to taking the course.  In the class, the Spirit is leading me to go a lot of places that I’m not the most comfortable in going, some that even seem to be a wilderness to me.  But in that wilderness, I’ve learned a lot more about my spiritual life and faith. 

In Lent might be the time that one does consider to go where the Spirit may lead, even into something that may seem to be a wilderness.  Maybe Lent is the time to leave the comfort zones we like to be in, and go into the spiritual wild places where we might find hunger and solitude and uncertainty.  Perhaps these are days we intentionally let go of things and see who God is really calling us to be and what God really wants us to do. 

And as we take this journey, we need to remember that we are never alone, because even as the Spirit has led us on a different spiritual path, this same Spirit is right there with us, guiding and protecting. We need to put our faith and trust in God that he is calling us and has a special purpose for us in life, empowering us to accomplish that purpose.. And at the end, whether it be 40 days or 40 weeks or 40 years, we will be changed and view our life in a new perspective.