The Desert | Encounter with Our Enemy
Series: Simple. Quiet. Present. | Bible text: Matthew 4:1–11
The desert is a place to which God leads us – sometimes against our will, sometimes we seek it out deliberately. In the silence, inner voices become audible and spiritual struggle becomes apparent: disordered desires, the world and the devil try to lead us away from God. Jesus shows us how God’s truth exposes lies. Yet He is not merely our example: Christ has won the battle for us. The wilderness leads us deeper into our encounter with God.
A few years ago, a team of researchers from the University of Virginia carried out an interesting experiment. The participants were placed individually in a room free from distractions. They were given a choice: they could sit alone in this room for 15 minutes and let their minds wander. Or they could administer an electric shock to themselves. To do this, an electric shock strap was attached to their ankle. They could press a button themselves. This would cause a powerful but harmless electric current to flow through their body. The astonishing thing was: two-thirds of the men and a quarter of the women actually chose the electric shock rather than spending 15 minutes alone with their thoughts. One scientist summarised the result as follows: most people seem to prefer doing something rather than doing nothing – even if that ‘something’ is negative.
Blaise Pascal (17th century): «All of humanity’s misfortune stems from the fact that people cannot stay quietly within their own four walls.»
Friedrich Nietzsche (19th century): «When we are alone and silent, we fear that something will be whispered in our ear; that is why we hate the silence and numb ourselves with socialising.»
Why is that? Perhaps because silence isn’t really that silent after all. When external distractions fade away, our inner voices become audible. And perhaps that explains why we find the desert so difficult. There is little there to distract us. We fall silent – and encounter not only God and our own hearts. Sometimes we also encounter our enemy there.
In the first two sermons, we saw that the desert is God’s classroom. And it is a place where we encounter our own hearts. Today, we are looking at our encounter with our enemy. And that raises a crucial question: Which voice should I believe?
God sometimes leads us into the wilderness
Matthew begins: «After that, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, so that he might be tempted there by the devil» (Matthew 4:1 NLB).
So it was not his own idea or initiative. He was led into the desert by the alluring voice of God. Another biographer of Jesus, Mark, puts it even more strongly: «Immediately afterwards, the Holy Spirit urged Jesus to go into the wilderness» (Mark 1:12 NLB). In exactly the same way, the Holy Spirit regularly works in our hearts too. He invites us to withdraw from our work, our busyness and all our distractions, and to enter into silence, simply to listen and wait on God. We do not have to wait until life forces us into the desert. We can choose to create our own ‘desert’ times: a time without a mobile phone, a walk on our own, a morning with the Bible, an hour of prayer or a time of fasting. And we, too, will discover that silence is not simply a place of spiritual well-being, but a place of struggle – the place where we encounter our demons.
For when the external voices grow quieter, we eventually hear the inner voices. This is precisely what the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers of the early Church experienced. They deliberately withdrew into the desert. Not simply to escape the world. They went into the desert to learn how to fight. Because when I fall silent, my struggles do not disappear. They become something I can experience.
Markus gives a brief account of this desert incident: «For forty days he was tempted there by Satan. He lived amongst the wild animals, and angels looked after him» (Mark 1:13 NLB). The desert scene features Jesus, the angels and wild animals. The wild animals symbolise a place of struggle.
Perhaps you’ve experienced this: you sit down, wanting to pray – and suddenly all sorts of thoughts spring to mind. You start to feel restless and reach for your mobile. Perhaps you realise: I’m used to running away from myself. The desert forces us to look within. And it creates space to listen to God.
In the desert, we learn whose voice to believe
Jesus spends forty days in the desert. Physically, he is at the end of his tether. He is hungry. But spiritually, Jesus is by no means at a low point. He is physically weak, but spiritually at his peak. For his baptism is just around the corner. The heavens open. The Father says: «This is my beloved son, in him I have great joy» (Matthew 3:16 NLB).
So Jesus goes out into the wilderness, drawing on a deep experience of the Father’s love. And then the Tempter appears: «If you are the Son of God […]» (Matthew 4:3 NLB).
The father says: «You are my beloved son.»The enemy says: ««If you are the Son of God.» God affirms our identity. The enemy calls our identity into question. And that is exactly how temptation often works for us too. «You’re not enough.» «You’ll have to prove yourself.» «God isn’t really looking out for you.»
The struggle often doesn’t begin with our behaviour. It begins with our thoughts and the voices we choose to believe. The ancient Desert Fathers spoke of three great enemies of mankind: the world, the flesh and the devil. And we can also recognise these three levels in the temptations of Jesus.
The meat
«[…] turn these stones into bread» (V.3 NLB). Jesus is hungry. This need is not wrong. The temptation lies in satisfying this need independently of God. This is the flesh: our disordered desires for security, recognition, control or gratification. The question is: will I follow my desires – or trust in God? «Jesus replied, ‘No! The Scriptures say: ’Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’» (V.4 NLB).
The Devil
Jesus is then led to the pinnacle of the temple. The tempter even quotes the Bible: «Jump! God will catch you.»In other words: proof that God loves you. We, too, recognise that voice: «Lord, if you really love me, then you must now …» But Jesus replies: «But Scripture also says: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’» (V.7 NLB). We do not need to force God to prove His love to us.
The World
Then the Devil shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world: «I want to give you all of that.» A crown without a cross. Glory without obedience. Success without devotion. Glory without obedience. The world says: You must become great and assert yourself. Jesus chooses God’s way. Not the shortcut. Not glory without the cross. But obedience.
In all three situations, Jesus responds with God’s Word. He does not argue with the tempter. He anchors himself in the truth. «If you follow my teachings, you are truly my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.» (John 8:31ff NLB). Remain in his word. Recognise the truth. Experience freedom.
The desert brings the voices to light. And then we may ask: What does God say about this? Not every thought is true. Not every fear is a prophecy. Not every feeling reflects reality. We must learn to discern: What is my heart saying? What is the world saying? What is the enemy saying? And what is Jesus saying? The longer we remain with Jesus, the more familiar his voice becomes to us.
Christ wins the battle for us
This story isn’t a moral lecture! It doesn’t say: «Jesus resisted temptation. So do your best and do the same.»No. Matthew tells us something far greater. Jesus stands firm where others have failed. Adam was in the Garden. Everything was good. No hunger. No loneliness. No desert. And yet he listened to the serpent’s voice.”.
Jesus finds himself in the exact opposite situation: in the desert, hungry, alone and physically exhausted. And yet he remains faithful. Jesus is the new Adam. He passes the test where mankind has failed.
And the struggle does not end in the desert. The desert already points to Golgotha. There, too, Jesus is tempted: «Well then, why don’t you save yourself and come down from the cross!» (Mark 15:30 NLB). Prove who you are. But Jesus stays. Not because he couldn’t have come down. But because he wanted to save us. That is why Jesus is not just our role model. He is our Saviour.
When we are tempted, we are not alone. Jesus has gone before us on this path. The Letter to the Hebrews says: «This High Priest understands our weaknesses, because he has faced the same temptations as we have, yet he was not found guilty» (Hebrews 4:15 NLB).
Jesus knows what it is like to struggle. He knows hunger, loneliness and temptation. That is why we can come to Him with confidence. Not just once we have triumphed, but right in the midst of the struggle. Our hope does not lie in our always being strong. Our hope lies in Christ, who has remained faithful.
Perhaps that is the key question of this sermon: «Which voices shape my life?» The voice of my fear? My guilt? My performance? Society? The tempter? Or the voice of Jesus?
That is why we need the desert. Not because God always speaks to us there in spectacular ways, but because so many other things fade into the background there. There we learn to discern, to take God’s Word seriously and to counter lies with the truth. Mark tells us that Jesus was cared for by angels in the desert. The desert was the scene of the struggle. But it was not a place of separation from God. The Spirit had led Jesus there. And the Father had not forsaken him.
The desert is not the destination. But it can become a place where we learn to listen, to discern and to trust. And once we have learnt to recognise the voices of the enemy, an even deeper longing grows within us: not merely to know which voice we should not believe, but to get to know the voice of God himself ever more deeply.
Not just to face the enemy. But to encounter God.
Possible questions for the small group
Read the Bible passage: Matthew 4:1–11
- What «desert periods» have I experienced in my life – whether involuntary or deliberately sought? How has God worked within me through them?
- What happens inside me when it becomes quiet? Which thoughts or inner voices become particularly loud then?
- Which of the three realms – the world, disordered desires or the devil – do I personally find most challenging to my faith?
- Which lie or thought do I keep coming up against – and which of God’s truths do I want to set against this lie?
- What, specifically, might a «time in the wilderness» look like for me next week, during which I consciously draw quiet and listen to God’s voice?
