Spirit Led Wilderness?

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. (Matthew 4:1 NLT)

Doesn't this verse sound odd to you? I expect the Spirit to lead Jesus to a lot of places but the wilderness is not one of them. And the purpose of his leading? To be tempted. Something doesn't add up here.

When we think about God's leading in the life of Jesus & our lives as well, we often only expect him to lead us to happy places. Don't we often expect to be led to comfortable places? To be led to places of blessing & abundance? But if God led his Son into a place where temptation would happen, what does that mean about how he would lead us?

Eventually God leads his Son to the cross. Not only to die a painful physical death but to bear the weight of the sin of all of mankind. He bore the wrath of a holy & all-powerful God. And all of this was not accidental or bad luck or unfortunate but ordained before the foundation of the world.

So what would God do to us & with our lives for his glory & will?
This just kills the idea of God existing for our comfort & happiness. God exists for his glory & our happiness is found in that.

We have to reorient our minds & hearts to not expect God to lead us to just places that protect or comfort us. God will lead us to places we don't understand & will lead us into difficulty. If he did it with Jesus, won't he also do it with us?

But this won't be for nothing. The temptation of Jesus was all part of the redemptive plan of God & the difficulty we face with God will be for his glory & redemptive plan as well.

So the next time following Jesus & the leadership of the Holy Spirit gets uncomfortable just remember, it is all part of God's leading & redemptive plan.