Trying Times

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  February 18, 2024

Click here to listen to the service

Read Mark 9:2-9
 
Today is the first Sunday in the season of Lent which is a time characterized as a period of self-reflection and repentance as well as a time when we are intentional about making sacrifices.
 
The 40 days of Lent begin with Ash Wednesday and end on Holy Saturday… the day before Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday as it is often call.  Now for those who have ever struggled with trying to do the math and realized there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday… rest assured… this is not that new math… the day counter for Lent does not include Sundays. 
 
And that is because the Sundays in Lent are to be viewed like mini-Easters… times for celebration and times to refrain from whatever sacrifice(s) one may have committed to for the season of Lent… whether that be giving up certain foods or activities or giving in to doing certain things like engaging in charitable work.
 
Historically, the season of Lent, in addition to being a time of fasting, has also been a time of preparation for baptism for new converts to the faith.  And as we take a closer look at our text for the morning… it starts out with Jesus being baptized by John in the Jordan River.
 
One might have cause to wonder why Jesus was baptized given the fact that He is the Son of God… after all it’s not like He needed to repent of sins or anything… and He certainly did not need to ask for forgiveness…
 
So, then what was the point of Jesus being baptized?
 
Well, there were several reasons scholars suggest for why Jesus was baptized. 
 
First, it served as the inaugural point of His ministry and mission to bring the message of salvation. 
 
Second, it demonstrated His support of John’s ministry. 
 
Third, it was an opportunity for Jesus to identify with our humanness and sin. 
 
And last but certainly not least, it provided us with an example to follow for what it means to be obedient to God.
 
Now, given what we read in verse 11, being baptized was absolutely the right thing for Jesus to do… because as the Scriptures tell us, “…a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”
 
However, no sooner than Jesus was baptized and God had given His seal of approval… the text indicates that Jesus was sent out into the wilderness… where He spent the next 40 days… being tempted by Satan…
 
And that is why, for the rest of our time together this morning, I want to invite us to consider those 40 days from the perspective of TRYING TIMES.
 
Now, as we look at this text, given the sense of immediacy that is generally associated with Mark’s Gospel… it is not all that surprising that we do not find many details about the TRYING TIMES that Jesus faced during those 40 days in the wilderness… 40 days which are symbolic of the 40 years that the Israelites spent wandering in the desert.
 
No, when it comes to that period… Mark simply says, “At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.”
 
On the other hand, if we turned our attention to the Gospel of Matthew or the Gospel of Luke… there, we would find a much fuller depiction of the TRYING TIMES that Jesus endured over the course of those 40 days.
 
According to both Matthew and Luke, Satan first came and tried to tempt Jesus by encouraging Him to turn stones into bread… which in the aftermath of a 40 day fast might have been enough to cause any one of us to succumb to the temptation… but not Jesus.  He simply responded, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4).
 
Not to be deterred, Satan also tried to tempt Jesus to prove that He is the Son of God by throwing Himself off the highest peak of the temple to see if the angels would come to His rescue and protect Him like the Scriptures declared they would.  But once again, Jesus did not yield to temptation and said, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:12).
 
Then in the category of “the third times a charm” …Satan made yet another last-ditch effort to get Jesus to give into temptation by claiming that he would give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world… if Jesus would just bow down and worship him.  And of course, this too ended in utter failure… with Jesus declaring, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8)
 
With a nod to all my baseball enthusiasts, I think that it would be fair to say, “One, two, three strikes you’re out, Satan!”  Because according to Matthew and Luke, once he failed to get Jesus to fall prey to his schemes, Satan went away… at least for a time.
 
Now, looking back at our New Testament lesson for the morning… Mark takes us from the wilderness and immediately focuses our attention on Jesus preaching in Galilee where He is proclaiming the good news, “The time has come… The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
 
Or as it reads in the Message Paraphrase, “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message.”
 
And those words ought to give us a reason to pause and reflect… especially as we find ourselves in the midst of what could definitely be described as TRYING TIMES.
 
Whether we are looking at what is happening in the political arena… or what is going on with violence on our streets… or what is occurring around the globe as wars continue to rage on in Israel and Palestine as well as Russia and Ukraine… I think it is fair to say that we are living in some truly TRYING TIMES.
 
But let me suggest that even when we find ourselves in the midst of TRYING TIMES, we can still have hope… because when all is said and done… we will likely come to the realization that there is a reason for the testing and trials that we endure…
 
Looking at 1 Peter 1 (6-7), as it is found in the Message, we read:

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

In other words, these TRYING TIMES serve a purpose… we can be assured that God is speaking to us even in the midst of our wilderness experiences… we just have to keep our hearts and minds as well as our ears open.
 
We should always be on the lookout for the lessons and blessings that await us on the other side of our TRYING TIMES…
 
And let me just say this… as hard as it may seem to believe in the middle of the storms we are going through… there really are brighter days ahead… we just have to hold on and keep the faith.
 
Thinking about this reminds me of an old Gospel classic by Andrae Crouch entitled, “Through It All.”  The lyrics to the song say:

I've had many tears and sorrows / I've had questions for tomorrow
There's been times I didn't know right from wrong
But in every situation / God gave me blessed consolation
That my trials come to only make me strong
 
I've been to alot of places / And I've seen millions of faces
But there were times that I felt so all alone
But in my lonely hours / Yes, those precious lonely hours
Jesus let me know that I was his own

And the chorus says:

That's the reason I say that
Through it all / Through it all
I've learned to trust in Jesus / I've learned to trust in God
 
Let me tell you that
Through it all / Through it all
I've learned to depend upon his word 

And the last verse says:

So I thank God for the mountains / And I thank him for the valleys
And I thank him for the storms he brought me through
For if I'd never had a problem / I'd never know that God could solve them
I'd never know what faith in his word could do
(By Andrae Crouch, © 1971, renewed 1999 by Manna Music, Inc.)

When I first heard that song, I was in elementary school… and I must admit that although the tune was rather catchy… the lyrics had little meaning for me at such a young age.
 
But when I listen to those lyrics now… they give me comfort and reassurance that no matter what storms are raging around us… no matter what TRYING TIMES may be coming our direction… we can trust that God will be with us every step of the way… for He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5). 
 
But not only do we have God’s assurance that He will be with us… we also have Jesus’ promise that He will be with us “always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). 
 
And one thing we can be sure of is that beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord’s promises are true!
 
So, let me just offer this word of encouragement… the TRYING TIMES in our lives are absolutely no match for God’s promises.  God is faithful… and just as Jesus was able to lean on the Word of God throughout His TRYING TIMES in the wilderness… we, too, can depend on the Word of God.
 
That means even if we find ourselves being tempted and tested in the wilderness like Jesus was, we have the assurance found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Whether we find ourselves in the best of times or the worst of times… Our God is faithful…
 
Nothing will ever be able to get in the way of God’s love for us or interfere with God’s faithfulness to us… and that really is good news for us today… that even in the midst of the most TRYING TIMES… we can feel safe and secure in the knowledge that God always has been and always will be faithful to us and will love us with an unconditional and everlasting love.
 
And if you know that to be true, I want to invite you to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: Great Is Thy Faithfulness #86.
 

Return to News