The Wilderness Teaches Us to Pray

I recently led a little Bible study at our Wednesday evening prayer meeting entitled “What the wilderness teaches us.” I leaned for the main point on a little section in Zack Eswine’s The Imperfect Pastor, because it was a profoundly helpful point for dealing with difficulty and trial, or the wilderness. Hopefully you agree. 

Context

Luke wants to show Jesus as the Son of God, seen in the fact that unlike Matthew’s genealogy (which shows Jesus’ Jewishness by taking him back through David to Abraham), Luke takes Jesus all the way back to Adam, who is then called “the son of God” (3:38). While that might seem strange, it shouldn’t be. Israel is called the son of God at several points (Ex. 4); and being the first made in God’s image, we should expect that Adam is son-like in a way that the other species are not. 

But immediately after the genealogy, which is itself a break in the narrative, following Jesus’ baptism where the Spirit of God came down on him, Luke says that the Spirit then drove Jesus into the wilderness for a time of testing. So: a) Spirit is on Jesus at baptism, b) Jesus in his humanity descends from Adam the Son of God. c) Then the Spirit drives him for testing. And the first thing the devil says is “If you’re the Son of God…” (4:3). It’s clear what Luke is saying: To give the Holy Spirit He has, Jesus has to endure the same kind of temptations both Adam and Israel, God's sons, did. For how could Jesus save humanity if he wasn’t tested like we are? 

Testing

This testing continues for 40 days (4:2). Imagine a month and a half of no relief, just constant testing, all day, every day, and hunger. And these temptations were the same types of ones we go through (Heb. 4:15). The essence of sin is getting things God promises us not on God’s terms; so temptation will be consistent with that. Thus the devil says, “I’ll give you the kingdoms of the world if you’ll bow to me.” Jesus would get the world as his inheritance eventually, but he had to wait so he could receive it on God’s terms. Satan’s temptation is essentially, “The Father is lying to you—he won’t give you the kingdom; you need my advice,” similar to Genesis 3: “God’s lying to you—he won’t give you eternal life; you need my advice.” 

As an aside, Jesus’ withstanding temptation means that he can truly help us in temptation (Heb. 2:18). When we’re tempted, the temptation ends one of two ways: Either we use our God-given escape rout (1 Cor. 10:13), or we give in. But Jesus, as Thomas Goodwin said, truly knows how to defeat it because he stared it down and never sinned. Therefore only he knows how strong the pull is. 

Afterward

Back to Luke: He survives the temptation, then it becomes clear that he is a man of prayer. See Luke’s comments in 5:16 and 6:12: Jesus prays a lot. He prays so much that the disciples ask him to teach them (11:1). Why did the Son of God, of all people, need so much prayer? 

Here’s Eswine’s answer, and I think it is beautifully said: In Jesus’ time of great testing in the wilderness, a time of testing beyond what we can imagine, he learned to bring all of his burdens to His Father in prayer. The wilderness taught him to only have God (Ps. 73:26, 143:6). Then when the testing was over, he’d had enough practice that prayer was second nature even to his human nature. 

This is exactly why Hebrews 5:8 says he learned obedience through what he suffered. It isn’t that he had been disobedient before. But that in his testing, he learned to submit himself to His Father’s will. Imagine, “Father, will this ever end?...Okay, I guess I have to wait.” In so doing, he learns to step into God’s will and trust him. 

Teach Us

This all explains his answer to the disciples asking “Teach us to pray.” He gives them the so-called Lord’s prayer, which is a deferent submission to God’s Kingdom, will, and leading, where the pray-ers only self-concern is for forgiveness, essentials, and holiness (11:2-4);. After teaching them the Prayer, Jesus then gives them a lesson on asking, seeking, and knocking; and then he promise the Holy Spirit to those who ask the Father (11:13). 

Seems like a strange promise: Why the Holy Spirit? Because to live like Jesus, seeking God’s will and Kingdom, it will lay you low like Jesus was, and you will need His empowering Spirit. In essence, the disciples say “Teach us to pray,” and he says “Okay, but you’ll go through the wilderness, and you’ll need the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit will, therefore, be God’s answer to your prayers.” 

That probably didn’t excite the disciples very much, especially considering that the next thing after the Spirit’s leading Jesus into temptation was Jesus proclaiming the Spirit’s presence on him for the jubilee year, which almost got him killed (Lk. 4:16ff., cf Is.61:1ff.). But the wilderness teaches obedience to God’s leading, and trust that He will be your defender and defense. And that is the purpose of the Father giving us His Spirit.

Or in other words, it is through the wilderness that God's Spirit teaches us to pray.