Wilderness Experience

In the movie Karate Kid (1984), seventeen-year-old Daniel LaRusso and his mother move from New Jersey to Los Angeles. They live in an apartment with an eccentric handyman of Japanese descent, Mr. Myagi. When Daniel gets into fights with schoolmates and loses, Mr. Myagi promises to teach him karate. Daniel eagerly accepts his offer and shows up at his house for training. But Mr. Myagi makes him paint his deck, wash his car, and do chores with patterns like “wax on” and “wax off.” Frustrated with this routine, Daniel promises to quit when he realizes those patterns Mr. Myagi taught him are defensive moves in karate.

Moses was in the wilderness for forty years before God appointed him to lead the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. David spent decades chasing after sheep before he shepherded the Israelites. Elijah spent a significant time in the wilderness alone. Jesus and Paul would spend forty days and three years, respectively, in the wilderness.

John’s wilderness experience started much earlier and lasted much longer (like Moses’s).

“The child grew and was strengthened by the Spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he was shown again to Israel.” (Luke 1:80)

Like most children, John grew in stature, wisdom, and understanding. Unlike other children, he was strengthened by the Spirit. At the time of the apostles, Greek writers didn’t use capitalization for starting a sentence or divine or personal names as we do in English. Instead, all letters were written in capital letters. As such, John was strengthened by his own spirit (as in the NIV) or the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth (1:41), Zechariah (1:67), and John (1:15), most likely, John was strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

This strengthening happened in the wilderness, perhaps from when he was weaned until he started his ministry. In other words, between the first time he was shown to Israel as a baby and “shown again” (ana-deizis – ana “again” and deizis“to show”). The entire time, the Holy Spirit strengthened him.

John’s wilderness experience prepared him for his ministry, as Daniel doing chores prepared him to fight his enemies. It also pictured a spiritual lesson to the Israelites – John was in the wilderness, away from the temple, as they were without any communication with God. But John wasn’t alone; God’s Spirit was with him and strengthening him. Similarly, they weren’t alone; God was with them and was preparing them to receive his rule and king.

We all go through wilderness experiences in life when things go wrong, we lack friends, and we feel like God has abandoned us. We feel lonely and wonder, “Why me, God?” Foremost, we are never alone. God’s Spirit is always with us and strengthening us, even if we don’t see or feel it. Second, wilderness experiences prepare us for stronger and bolder ministries. Endurance in adverse circumstances builds strength and character. I’ve been told butterflies’ struggle to free from their cocoons and chicks’ struggle to come out of eggs strengthen their wing muscles. God’s Spirit strengthened John while he was in the wilderness. The same will happen if we believe God has purposefully allowed us to experience the wilderness and grow in him.