a quiet time of a different kind

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came…

Pastor and author Zack Eswine reflects on how this “quiet time” that Jesus experienced has implications for our “quiet” times:

You wrestle a fiend who wants to cause you doubt about who you are to the Father...In this quiet time you wrestle lies about your being beloved. You place confidence in his promises...Jesus sifts through all these ugly accusations, temptations, memories, fears, and lies to detect the Father's voice and stand there among the sentences [of Scripture]. 'It is written,' he affirms. By this act, Jesus does what we cannot so that we too can sort through in the silence what the sentences affirm when everything devilish, beastly, and barren tries to tear us down or mislead us.

This is a quiet time of a different kind.”

The Imperfect Pastor, 162-163

I am frequently plagued by ugly accusations, temptations, memories, fears, and lies. Frequently.

What ugly accusations, temptations, very real memories, fears, and lies is Satan hurling at you today? I’m sorry friend. I truly am. But Jesus holds out for the possibility for both of us this afternoon to tell Satan to go to hell, and he reminds us to listen to the Father’s voice among the sentences of Scripture.

You are his beloved child. (1 John 3:2)

He loves you so much he gave his one and only Son for you. (John 3:16)

There is therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. (Romans 8:1)

Go now, and believe this: God loves you.