Jesus, after his baptism, “was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts.” Most of us know what that feels like; we can relate to being surrounded by the wild beasts of temptation. In the interminable wilderness of our sin, in the deep darkness of our lives, it sometimes seems as though wild beasts may be nipping at our heels, or maybe even gathering together in a ravenous horde to gobble us up. At those times, there seems to be no escape from the willful desires of our minds and hearts that separate us from God. It feels hopeless.

Jesus found that, when he suffered temptation and wild beasts, “the angels waited on him.” The angels wait on us too, enabling us to face our temptations squarely, to recognize the hold they have on us, and to let them go. Jesus calls us to repent and return to the Lord, trusting that “the kingdom of God has come near” to blow away the heavy clouds of darkness from our lives. Therein lies our hope. The Lord is waiting for us to open a tiny crack in the door of our hearts that we have so tightly closed with our sinful choices so that the light of God can enter with transforming grace.

In the church year, Lent comes to open our eyes to the wild beasts of temptation to which we have fallen prey, to remind us of where we have missed the mark, to show us how we have ignored our relationship with God, to provide the opportunity for metanoia—to turn from our self-centered wickedness and once again walk in the way of the Lord. The six weeks of the Lenten season provide ample time for us to tame the wild beasts and get right with God “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” (BCP, p.265)

May we each experience the holy angels of God waiting on us in this penitential season banishing the wild beasts of temptation from our lives.