TD Jakes - Surviving in the Wilderness
Use your power to satisfy your need. Turn something that isn’t into something you want. Y’all are quiet now because some of you are sitting beside a stone. Some of you knew that it wasn’t bread when you married it. You knew there was no bread, but you said, «I’m going to turn it into bread.» You can’t turn a stone into bread; you can’t turn stones into bread. Jesus said, «You will not tempt me to see stones as bread.» Are you tempted to see stones as bread? For the record, stones are hard; bread is soft. Have you married something hard, trying to make it softer? Because that is the temptation that comes upon you after the fast. After you have spent yourself, you can’t trust yourself not to see stones as bread. He says, «You shall not tempt the Lord your God.» Then he takes him up to a high place, and when he goes up to a high place, he shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
Now, I was at that high place—it’s Mount Nebo. It’s the same high place that Moses went to see the Promised Land. He couldn’t go in, but Mount Nebo is high enough that you can see for miles and miles. You can see Jordan and Jerusalem. You can see Jerusalem and Tel Aviv from Mount Nebo; you can see a lot of land, but you can’t see all the kingdoms. So he took him to a high place and showed him beyond the sidelines what he would give him. He showed him Jerusalem, the city that Moses was happy just to see. «I may not get there with you, but I got to see it.» He knew what Jesus wanted before he showed it to him, because Satan will never tempt you with something you don’t like.
Quick story: I was going through a test, and this woman was calling us all the time, a long time ago, years into our marriage. You know this story, so don’t tighten up. At two o’clock in the morning or three o’clock in the morning, she said she was going to die, her husband was going to die, and we were going to get married. All our children were going to die; she’d kill all of you. All our children were going to die, and we were going to get married. It was aggravating; it was nerve-wracking. I called a spiritual mentor and said, «What do you think about this?» She said, «Are you attracted to this woman?» I said, «Not at all. Do you want this woman?» Absolutely not.
She then asked me, «Don’t you think that if the devil was going to tempt you, he would tempt you with the woman you wanted?» Then she asked me, «What do you feel when she calls?» I said, «Rage.» She said, «That’s the temptation.» So the next time she calls, I want you to resist rage and worship. I’m just telling this to help somebody. So instead of getting enraged and tossing threats at each other and threatening to run over her with the car and stuff like that, because I was growing in the Lord—I was growing; I wasn’t there yet—don’t judge me. When she called again, I said, «Oh, I bless you, Lord! I bless your Holy Name; there’s nobody like you, Lord. You’re holy in the earth. I give you the glory, and I give you honor, and I give you praise, and I’ll lift you up.» And she started screaming.
You might be fighting the right devil with the wrong weapon. Jesus is at the end of his fast, and the enemy is now tempting him with the pride of life. And by the way, you are offering Jesus what’s already his, because the Earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; all the world and they that dwell therein. How are you going to offer the bread to the Bread when he is the Bread of Life? The enemy is always offering you things you already have, counting on you not knowing it to need them. And Jesus has been living life. And let me tell you what living life is: living life is like going to Six Flags; it’s up and down. You’re laughing and crying; you’re screaming and threatening the man, «Let me off this thing!»
Why do I do that? Because you don’t get to get out of it because the ride gets rough. Jesus' first lesson to us is to teach us that one moment you’re being affirmed by men and God, and the next moment you’re in the wilderness, in the fast of your life. And that’s normal. One moment you’re talking to your father, and the next moment you’re fighting with your devil, and that’s normal. One moment you’re reconciling with your friend, and the next moment you are by yourself. That’s life; that’s normal. Jesus exemplifies faith and transition. Yeah, you keep waiting for faith to stop the movement. You gotta have faith in the movement. Life is going to do what life is going to do, and it doesn’t mean you don’t have faith. It doesn’t mean God is judging you just because you’re in a wilderness.
By the way, a wilderness is a dry place; very few things grow there. A wilderness is a place of isolation, a place of unpredictable temperatures; it is hotter than fire during the day and ice cold at night. You can’t dress for it; you can’t prepare for it; you have to survive it. Some of you are in a wilderness. You may be living in a city, but you’re in a wilderness. You have a nice condo, but you’re in a wilderness. You have two kids and a dog, but you’re in the wilderness. You are in a wilderness right now because nothing is growing, nothing is moving, and it is dry. You are alone, and you are wondering, «Where is the God who opened up the heavens last month?» Now that I’m in the wilderness. And that’s why I had to preach this message, because we only see God in the magnificent; we don’t see God in the mundane. But God reveals himself in the mundane, wilderness places of your life.
Does anyone need this? You can see God when the choir is singing and everybody is shouting. You can see God real well, but you can’t see God when you’re driving home from a job you lost. You can’t see God when the doctor says there’s a lump in your breast. You can’t see God when the principal says, «We’re putting your child out of school,» and you don’t have a place to put him. You needed him to go to school because it was good for him, but it was good for you too. Now you have this scruffy kid at home not doing anything, and nobody to take care of him. His actions have complicated your life.
Talk to me, somebody! Have you ever had someone else’s life complicate yours? And you’re trying to figure out what you’re going to do because «Where is God in my wilderness?» By the way, the fast is over, so why am I under attack now? You bring me up here and show me all the kingdoms, the luster of which you will give me if I just bow to you. But it is written that I should only serve the Lord my God, and I will have no other gods before me. So though I’m hungry, and though I’m weak, and though I will weep over Jerusalem, I will not bow for Jerusalem.
Watch this! So the Bible says that as Jesus experienced in the wilderness, he continued being weak from the fast but not falling. He is now against the rocks. Now, everybody will understand that phrase «against the rocks,» but Jesus is now against the rocks. I’m against the rocks; I can’t walk any further, I can’t talk any further, I can’t pray any louder. And one writer says that Jesus is up against the rocks, watching in the presence of beasts. The beasts are waiting on him to die because we see him as Savior, but the beasts see him as dinner. You gotta understand that many people see you as an opportunity, and they’re just waiting to catch you against the rocks.
So Jesus is against the rocks, and the wild beasts are just waiting on him to pass out. Then the Bible says that the angels came and ministered unto him. The angels didn’t say anything when he was on the mountain, they didn’t say anything while he was fasting, and they didn’t say anything while he was tempted. But when the beast got ready to devour him…the reason I like this text is that I know what it is to be against the rocks and know that the beasts are waiting on me and see me as dinner. I know what it’s like to see the glare, the red glare of the eyes of the enemy say, «I got you where I want you, and I am going to take you out.» I know what it’s like for the enemy to come at the most inconvenient time when I’m at my tiredness, at my weakest, hungry, and I’ve been fasting.
I know what it’s like for the enemy to come at the most vulnerable moment in your life and say, «I’m coming in to kill.» But I also know what it’s like for the angels to come in and rescue me out of stuff. I know what it’s like that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. I know what it’s like for God to show up in the moment of your calamity because the Bible says that the angels of the Lord encamp about those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.
And I want to tell you right now, your angels are on the way! I know you’re tired; I know you’ve been up against the rocks. I know it’s been harder than it should have been. I know you’re out of food, out of strength, out of friends, and out of fellowship. I know your life looks schizophrenic—that it’s the best of times and the worst of times—but your angels are on the way. And if you get this out of the message, you’ve got the whole message: God is not going to see His children now up against the rocks and not rescue them. We have a God that will send angels coming at you in every direction.
And in case you don’t believe it, let me get some witnesses. The reason the car wreck didn’t kill you is that the angels covered you. The reason you survived stuff that other people drowned in is because the angels covered you. Let me go a little bit higher: the reason you got the job was not your degree. There were people who had more credentials, but they didn’t have more favor. When God gets ready to minister to you, God will minister to you. The reason you are here right now is because the angels are in your wilderness. I can’t get you out of the wilderness, but I can’t get your angels out either. I want you to know that you can learn whatever state you’re in to still be content.
Whether I’m in the Jordan, whether I’m on the mountain, whether I’m in the wilderness, the one consistent thing is that the angels are always there. You don’t seem to understand what I’m saying, but the angels are wrapping all around you right now. I’m glad; if you want to wear a mask, I’m glad. If you got on PPP, I’m glad. If you got on special clothes, I don’t care what you got on. Your greatest force field is that the angels of the Lord encamp around you. And I don’t want to insult you, but the reason you haven’t lost your mind is not because you didn’t have trauma. But when your mind was coming unglued, the angels of the Lord encamped around you. And when your enemy was glaring at you and seeking your position, it was the angel of the Lord that went in the boardroom and got your job back. If there’s anybody in here that ought to give God the praise, it’s people who’ve got angels in their wilderness.