The Good Times and the Bad Times

This morning I read the first half or so of Mark 1. When I read the account of Jesus' baptism and then what followed, I stopped and pondered. After Jesus was baptized (an act of submission to God the Father), He was tempted by Satan for 40 days. In the desert. Alone. Well, alone until the angels came and cared for Him.

So I got to thinking....

Have you ever gone through a period of good times, only to go through a really bad time? You keep thinking things just can't get any worse, but they do. Unfortunately, during the good times, we often forget about God. We don't pray regularly, we don't read our instruction manual (i.e., the Bible), we let our church attendance slide or at least don't really put our all into it when we're there. So then when the bad times come (which they do because we live in a fallen world), we're not prepared for them.

Jesus experienced a good time (His baptism) and then immediately a bad time (the temptation by Satan). I'm sure He was pretty hacked off about it at times. Good grief, stupid Satan! Just leave me alone! But He was prepared. How was He prepared? He was prepared with Scripture. Also, He was attended by angels. When we are combatting evil, we need God's people attending us. That will probably mean that you need to reach out and ask for help. We can't all read each other's minds. So we have to reach out.

I pray that you are daily preparing yourself for whatever you may face and are developing relationships with people who are doing the same.