As we journey through life, we often find ourselves in a desert kind of place. A place that feels desolate, lonely, harsh, and perhaps unfamiliar. And we might even feel the compulsion to escape and run to more familiar landscape. However, we are invited to resist that temptation for it is in those dry, desolate, lonely places that the Father does some of His best work. It is in those places where our souls become dry and thirsty that we unwilling to settle for clichés and easy answers. The stripping and unmasking of the desert are so good for our souls. If we desire God, the wilderness is where transformation occurs.

The 40 days of the Lenten Season is an invitation to journey like Jesus did in His 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. In many ways, Jesus’ wilderness time was a redemptive “redo” of the 40 years that the people of Israel spent in the wilderness. He faithfully endured temptation, danger, and fasting to model something for us. He was giving us an example of how to faithfully navigate the vicissitudes of life. In Lent, as we engage in a fast or discipline of some kind, we are following “in His steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)