Love Overcomes Daily Devotion #5 2/15/16

Day #5

Larry Trotter

Words of Love

1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. Luke 4:1-2 NIV

Overcoming the Barrier

The passage describes the first of many of Jesus' retreats for prayer, fasting, and discernment. When I say first, it's the first that is recorded in Scripture. One would think that at 30 years old he had slipped away on many occasions to connect with the Father and reflect on the mission ahead. Who's to say that the devil didn't follow him on other occasions? But this time, the stakes are much higher. Jesus has now claimed his place in the mission to renew all creation and has gone public. Perhaps still damp from his baptism and with his Father's affirming voice still resonating in his soul Jesus sought the refuge of solitude to think and pray. A close reading of the passage indicates that the devil had been with him the whole time perhaps suggesting alternate plans that would get Jesus off topic and circumvent his sacrifice that would start the clock ticking on the devil's potential to wreak havoc on humankind. But the devil saved his "A" material until Jesus was most likely in a weakened position. He was hungry. After 40 days, no doubt he was hungry and weak. The spirit-enriching solitude of his retreat was possibly teetering precariously close to spirit-exhausting isolation that could have been a barrier to fulfillment of his mission.

This week's devotions will continue to explore isolation, the barrier to fullness of life addressed this past Sunday. There is a fine line between solitude, which can be instructive, and isolation, which can be destructive. The fact that the Scripture even mentions that Jesus was hungry implies that his humanity was subject the same demands as ours. It's a physiological reality that isolation impacts our bodies, which exacerbates its impact on our minds and spirits. Prolonged isolation, understood as being removed from relationships, causes stress that can, over time, impact the body to the same degree and result as smoking and obesity. As the soul breaks down, so does the body, which impacts the soul, and the spiral continues. The devil was counting on that with Jesus. What he didn't count on was how Jesus would respond. We'll continue with the passage and explore that, tomorrow.

Prayer

Caring Father, touch my spirit and alert me when I am about to move from helpful solitude to hurtful isolation, and use me to help someone else who may be struggling to discern that fine line. In Jesus' name, amen.