NOT ALONE

Mark 1:12-13

“And the spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.”

This is not one of my favorite Bible stories. It is dark and scary and I just don’t like it. But in reading and thinking about it, I am given pause to see it as potentially very helpful to us. Most of us, like Jesus, have found ourselves in terrifying desert experiences that were certainly not of our choosing.

Like us, being in this desert was the last thing Jesus wanted. We are told He was “driven” into this circumstance. In imagining this I can almost see Jesus arguing, pleading and dragging His feet as he is literally thrown into this hellscape. When there, He found himself surrounded by wild animals (perhaps jackals, and hyenas, hissing snakes, and deadly scorpions). And then to top it all off, Satan was ready to use the circumstance of Jesus’ terror and weakness to tempt Him. The howling, the snarling, the slithering snakes went on and on. It must have seemed to Jesus like an eternity of suffering with no end in sight. Forty days is a symbolic way of telling us that it was a long long long time.

Life can certainly dish up some pretty terrifying experiences for us all. Experiencing a contentious divorce, losing a loved one to death, experiencing financial ruin, being betrayed by a trusted person, or enduring a serious illnesses can be just as a real a desert as the one where Jesus found Himself.

When we find ourselves in these circumstances the wild beasts of fear, anxiety, doubt, anger, hopelessness and pain often relentlessly circle and nip at us too.

Let’s be honest and admit that we hate feeling this vulnerable, this out of control, this alone. We try to fend off the untamed, the unsettled, the undomesticated and unpredictable parts of our lives. We hope faith, or prayer or church might put a hedge around us. But the fact is that every hedge we build falls apart in the face of these kinds of wild things.

So it is especially comforting to notice while Jesus was in this place He was not alone. We read that He was surrounded by attending angels.

These angels did not medivac Jesus out of this situation. They did not drive the animals away or throw Satan out. Instead they were there to hold Him, to tend to his wounds, to bring water, and comfort Him.

Debi Thomas in her book “Into the Mess” says, “It is worth holding onto this image of Mark’s crowded desert because the austere and complicated landscape he describes, the bizarre menagerie of despair AND solace, and accompaniment, is where we live”.

Life dishes up some pretty terrifying, unwanted, gut-wrenching circumstances to us all. AND, we are accompanied in these places. We are attended to. We are seen. We are held. We are NOT alone.

I”m reminded as I write this of the names given to Jesus in the Bible. Among many names there are these:

“God of all comfort”

“A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief”

“Counselor”

“Prince of Peace”

And we are assured over and over again that we will not be left alone, EVER!

In Matthew’s gospel we read that the very last words of Jesus to His disciples were,

“And surely I Am with you always, even to the very end of the age.”

I know it is hard to actually realize God’s loving presence with us. After all God’s presence must be felt and not seen. But I am sure that to help us out God sends His angels to us like he did to Jesus. I’m also sure that most of the time our “angels” go undetected.

Many years ago I was going through a heart wrenching break up with my partner. It felt like tears were just barely behind the surface of my eyes all the time. I remember going to my physical therapist for back pain. I just wanted to hold it together long enough to get through that session. When her tender healing hands touched my aching back the tears flowed uncontrollably.

She did not ask for an explanation. But when she was finished there was such caring compassion in her eyes. I knew I was seen and had been loved. She was an angel.

An angel may be a kind nurse, a loving partner, an understanding friend, or simply someone holding a door for us or helping us pick up what we carelessly dropped.

We all could tell dozens of stories of being “met” like this. God provides company and solace where we least expect it, and sadly seldom see it.

Opening our eyes and hearts to these companions along the way can help us see how much we are not doing this alone.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an EVER-PRESENT help in times of trouble.”

Debi Thomas goes on to say, “ There are angels in the wilderness. They don’t always come with cures. They don’t hand us the control we crave. But they come as messengers of unfailing love. They come because the God who knows that we are dust, the God who drove Jesus into the wilderness, stands with us in our pain and keeps sending the angels to us.”

So my friends I leave you with a verse from one of my favorite hymns. It was written in 1847 by a man dying of tuberculosis. He wrote:

“Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.

Though darkness deepens, Lord with me abide.

When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

God of the helpless, oh abide with me.”

And I offer this prayer for us to take into the days ahead.

Oh God, our friend and ever-present help, give us eyes to see your angels. Give us solace in our pain, and bath our weary souls in your love. Amen