“At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:12-13).

Get this:

• Jesus just launched his public ministry by being baptized in the Jordan River.
• While being baptized, God spoke to Jesus saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).
• The very next thing that happens after the baptism and the amazing affirmation of how the Father loves the Son and is well pleased with the Son, is that the Spirit sends Jesus out to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.

Say what?!?!

God loved Jesus. God was pleased with Jesus. And God sends him out in the wilderness. There’s nothing out there. There’s no one out there. Not only does God send him out into the wilderness but God sends him out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan!

Say what?!?!

So, you’re telling me, you can be at the center of God’s will where God is absolutely delighted and pleased with you, and still find yourself out in the middle of nowhere being tempted by Satan?

Yup.

How do you like that?

You see, you cannot determine whether God loves you or not by circumstances. You may not know it in the middle of nowhere, but you’re not alone there. God is there. You may not feel it in the wilderness in the midst of being tempted and tested by the devil, but God is absolutely thrilled and pleased with you.

Friends, please, do not allow your faith to be shaken by your circumstances. God is with you. God loves you.

There is never a there where God is not there.

And you can take that to the bank!

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens every he accepts as his son” (Hebrews 12:5-6).

Love.

What do you think of when you hear that word?

Discipline, rebuke, chastening.

Not on your list?

It’s not on the list for most modern day Americans either.

But God tells us that because he loves us, he disciplines us when we go astray. He rebukes us when we are wrong. He chastens us when we’re about to go astray.

Why does God discipline, rebuke, and chasten? Precisely because he loves us. He wants what’s best for us.

Our society lives under the illusion that God is a benign, soft-hearted, compassionate figure who just wants to do for us what we’d like to do for ourselves.

That’s insane. That’s not God. That’s a Genie. That’s a wish-giving ATM.

John Piper writes, “A child needs to feel profoundly secure, profoundly loved, cherished, and enjoyed, AND profoundly under authority. And those are not contradictory.”

What John Piper writes about children is also true for children of God.

We are, at the same time, profoundly loved, cherished, and enjoyed, AND profoundly under God’s authority and care because he loves us.

You can be absolutely secure in that.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Sandyhook.

Uvalde.

How are we to make sense of such heinous acts?

The world says it’s mental illness. We need to invest more in the mental health of people.

It would be good if there was more resources available to deal with the mental health issues facing our country.

But that’s not the solution.

There is nothing human beings can do to fix what’s wrong with human beings.

Read that again.

There is nothing human beings can do to fix what’s wrong with human beings.

If there was a way that we could fix ourselves, we would have done it by now.

The solution is not a human solution.

That’s what the Bible has been trying to tell us for all of human history.

Mass killing of children in school. That’s not mental illness. That’s just plain evil. It is darkness. It is satanic.

There is only one solution to the problem of sin, evil, and darkness. His name is Jesus Christ. God sent his only Son to die on the cross, to descend into hell to destroy evil, sin, and darkness. He rose again from the dead on the third day having defeated death, sin, and evil.

The only hope for our world is the Savior of the world. His name is Jesus. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”