February 26, 2020 was the beginning of our walk through Lent – a trail that would traverse over a mountainous wasteland – a time to re-evaluate our lives and focus on what God has so richly blessed us with.  His own Son, Jesus, spent those first days of His ministry, walking through a barren land.  He fasted and spent time in quiet contemplation, communing only with His Father and the enemy He’d come to defeat.

He was tempted by Satan. That crafty father of lies, used God’s own scriptures to try and cause Jesus to stumble, but the Son of God fired back with His own scriptural responses.

Many years prior, Moses led the Children of Israel across the Sinai desert in search of a promised land of milk and honey – a land that they could call their own and allow them to be free at last.

Most times spent in the wilderness are reserved for testing, sharpening, shaping, redesigning and redirecting.  We’re experiencing a sort of wilderness right now and it isn’t restricted by a desert.  This world we live in is infested with a virus that has no cure. It has no boundaries.  It plays no favorites.  It is a deadly disease that has forced us into isolation.

Back on Ash Wednesday, COVD19 was localized to one area of the world.  During the entire season of Lent, it has become worldwide.  Did God bring this to the world to punish us?  Is it a wakeup call for us to return to Him?  I don’t believe so.  God doesn’t work that way.  He will use this situation for good even though we can’t begin to imagine how that can be.  What good could possibly come from this?

It’s already begun.  Families are communicating with each other in a whole different way.  We’re using the tools available to us now to “meet,” check up on each other, order food and supplies, do business, work from home and so many other ways.  Our children are using technology to learn and us elderly are finding out why the internet is so useful.

We’ve been reminded how important we are to each other.  We’re not taking anything for granted like we used to.  We’re using our minds to come up with solutions.  We’re putting others first.  We’re beginning to make the most of every moment we have.

We will come out of the wilderness some day – hopefully sooner than we expect.  In the meantime, we can rest assured that God is in charge.  He will give us the means, the wherewithal, the gumption and spirit to survive.  He already did, in fact.

Today as we think about Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, let’s remember the love of God and the perfect lamb who went uncomplaining to His death for our benefit.  The wilderness will soon come to an end and paradise awaits.

HOSANNA TO THE KING OF KINGS!