‘Then Jesus returned from the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, He was hungry.’ Luke 4:1-2
I have been thinking about why so many seeds that have been planted have still not sprouted and recently read about the seed of the Chinese bamboo tree which takes five years to sprout from the ground. Every single day it must be watered and fed fertiliser or it will die. It looks as if nothing is happening from the outside but actually the tree is developing a massive root system and putting solid foundations in place. Then all of a sudden, in the fifth year it grows 80 – 90 feet in just 5 to 6 weeks.
As we look at Jesus’ life, we know He spent 30 years waiting before commencing His short and very intense 3 year ministry. As a child we also know He grew up obeying His parents and that He ‘grew in wisdom and stature’ (Luke 2:52). If Jesus needed to grow and develop, how much more so do we as individuals and organisations?!
Can we learn from Jesus’ time in the wilderness and when He was hungry and tired? It was the Holy Spirit who led Him into the wilderness immediately after He had been baptised and had His identity affirmed by God (Luke 3:22). Once there, He was tempted by the devil. We need to recognise that this can happen to us all when we feel depleted of food and rest. All the lies and temptations which Jesus faced in the wilderness were refuted by His knowledge of the Word of God (massive root system) which challenges us to remember how important knowing and rooting our identity in God is, but also having scriptures to hand to help us deal with unhelpful thoughts, feelings and temptations before they take root. We can also take comfort from simply clinging to His words in times of waiting and crying out for breakthrough. Therefore, I wonder what each of us can do to water and nurture the seeds which have been planted and take another step towards awakening our ‘sleeping giant’.
Prayer – Lord, we recognise that sometimes we are too eager to move past the times of preparation, but that they help us to grow and develop our root systems. Help us to root ourselves firmly in You. Show us how we can water and nurture the seeds you have helped us to plant and to help these seeds to have a most fruitful time of preparation to enable each one to sprout and fulfil Your plans and purposes. Amen