At the school of God

Friday September 3, 2021

"The child (John the Baptist) grew and was strengthened in spirit. He remained in the deserts until the day he presented himself before Israel." Luke 1. 80

At the school of God

Mary, pregnant with the Holy Spirit, comes one day to visit Elizabeth, her relative and the future mother of John the Baptist. The child that Elisabeth has been carrying for 6 months quivers with joy inside her. The Holy Spirit animates him already before his birth. Like any child in his mother's womb, he is already a human being, capable of reactions and emotions. John the Baptist parents were old at the time of his birth. They certainly did not have the privilege of being able to raise their child for long, but God took care of his education.

Like Moses and many other servants of God, John the Baptist was trained far from the world, in a desert. From his youth, "he remained in the wilderness until the day of his manifestation to Israel" (Luke 1:80). He leads a difficult life there. He does not eat bread and he does not drink alcoholic beverages (Luke 7:33). It feeds on what the desert provides, grasshoppers and wild honey. Like the prophet Elijah, he is dressed in a garment woven from camel hair. This garment was that of the poor and also that of the prophets (Zechariah 13:4). He thus makes it clear that the expectation of the Messiah is a time of fasting, repentance and sorrow for the Jewish people, not yet a time of rejoicing.

Trained by God in the desert school, John can begin his ministry. He preaches in the Judean Desert, a sparsely populated area west of the Dead Sea. He brings nothing of the world, but only the Word of God. He is but one voice, a mouthpiece for God (John 1:23). His message brings nothing that draws men's attention to his own person, but rather to the need for repentance.

Of course, we don't have to live physically in a desert for God to train us. But God can take us through hardships, a school of patience in trial, to form our character, to deepen our faith and to root it in the scriptures. Our generation needs new "John the Baptist" to prepare "the way of the Lord" in the hearts of men (Mark 1:3).

To be like him a spokesperson, let us be trained in the school of God !

Source (Pleasing the Lord)