Lent, Day 13: the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness

The Judean wilderness was John's training ground, his school yard. There is some speculation about what he did there (see tomorrow's post), but it is clear that the wilderness shaped who he was as much as what he did. In the Judean wilderness, there are streams of water and moments of life, but there is much more of what we might call nothingness then of anything else. Yet this is where the Spirit sent the Lord after his baptism, and this is where John found his preparation for prophecy. Why?

"Oh God, you are my God; I shall seek you earnestly; My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you, In a dry and weary land where there is no water."