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Read Luke 3:1-20 every day this week. This is the account of the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry. Each day this week, if possible, choose a several different translations and ask God to open your eyes to new revelation from His Word.
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Luke 3:1-3 (NIV)
“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar— when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
One of my all-time favourite songs is “Just let me say” written by Geoff Bullock. There are so many great lines in the song such as “The depth of grace, the forgiveness found to be called a child of God”. I have listened to, and sung this song so many times and yet it never grows stale because of the truth of the words.
The other line in this song that I want to bring to your attention is “Let me find You in the desert til this sand becomes Holy Ground”. Very often we consider the desert a barren place where everything is dry and infertile. Well, even if we find ourselves in such a place, God is still there and wants to bring life and refreshment to our hearts and lives.
The scripture is full of accounts of people being in deserts. In our verse today, we see one of the most famous people in the Bible. Verse 2 says ‘the word of God came to John…in the desert.’ Luke 1:80 tells us that John ‘lived in the desert’ and so this wasn’t a temporary residence that was a result of some bad circumstance. It was where John chose to be. It was the place of preparation for him and was key to him receiving the call and commission from God.
I’m sure that none of us would choose to live in a desert. It’s much, much nicer and easier to live in a place where basic provisions and amenities are plenteous. That’s exactly the point here. John needed to rest entirely on God and to trust Him implicitly until the Word came. When it did come, John was ready. We rely on far too many materialistic ideals and then wonder why we can’t hear God speak to us. God wants to speak to us – as His children it is our birth right and so, just like John, perhaps we should make every effort to abandon ourselves to Him and to His call?
- I’ve said this so many times since we started these devotions, but as we’re getting new subscribers all the time, I think I should repeat it this week. As an exercise for the whole of this week, after reading the devotion, switch off your phone, turn off the TV, get rid of all distractions and assume you’re actually in a desert with God. Open your heart to what He’s saying to you and record your thoughts in your journal.
- Read Luke 3:1-20.
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