Save Me

…save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Psalm 71.3 NIV

Sometimes life gets so unbearably tough that we feel powerlessness over our circumstances and like David, all we can say is “Lord – save me! Earlier this year, I preached on the meaning of Lent and spoke about Christ’s time in the wilderness. The Bible tells us that he was in the desert for forty days and forty nights experiencing severe deprivation and being tempted by the devil.

Most scriptural accounts of his experience concentrate on the temptations and not on his immediate circumstances. Yet his trial is equally important. He was in the desert with only the clothes he stood up in. The Bible tells us that he ate nothing and we assume he stayed near an oasis or a small brook as we cannot live for long without water. We also assume that Christ had no shelter from the day time heat of the desert, no fire for the extreme cold of the nights, no change of clothing and in our language; no bathroom, toiletries, TV or internet, no nintendo, no mp3 player, no dvd player, nothing to occupy himself during the twenty four hours of each of the forty days. He was just alone with his thoughts and with God. There were no distractions apart from the physical and possibly mental discomfort of being in such an inhospitable place.

How does Christ's situation compare with ours? How do we identify with his trial as our trial? It’s unfortunate that the author hasn’t told us anything about how Jesus felt during his time in the desert and how he must have wrestled with his hunger and with his loneliness. Or how he dealt with the possibilities of being attacked by wild animals or becoming ill through dehydration or heat stroke. Or how he would have coped if he had been incapacitated and therefore been unable to look after himself. Apparently, his survival skills were seen as secondary and less important to the lessons learnt from his resistance to the Temptations.

If we translate this into our century - what would be similar trials, particularly in the current financial and economic climate? Perhaps like us, Christ may have been homeless, jobless, sick or even on state benefits in an environment similar to the desert; lacking the basics to sustain life beyond the absolute minimum. If we are employed, housed, physically and mentally well, we do not necessarily escape the trials of the “desert” or the potential downturn in our economy. Poverty of spirit - being depressed, oppressed or suppressed in our daily life is equally a “desert” experience.

Christ was not an ordained minister in the religious sense of his day. He didn’t study theology at the synagogue. He was unemployed. With his disciples he was financially supported by women. We read in Luke 8.1 how Mary Magdalene, the wife of the manager of Herod’s household, Susanna and many others were helping to support him and his disciples, out of their own means. In the Gospels we read that even at his death women were there to attend to his needs. He was to all intent; homeless, jobless and penniless yet he was confident in his self worth through his relationship with God, our Parent. God provided the necessary resources to sustain his life and his ministry. In times like these we must look to the promises of God for the Divine to do likewise, for us.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isa. 41.10 NIV

May the Holy Spirit of God continue to save you from all that would deny your abundance of life in Christ.

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