Off to a temptation of a start!
At the end of chapter 3, God says, “This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (verse 27 NKJV) Right on the
tails of this statement, chapter 4 begins with “Then, Jesus was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (verse 1, NKJV) God
declares Jesus as His Son and immediately Jesus is led to the wilderness, and
in preparation for the test by the devil, Jesus fasts.
The devil tests Jesus by tempting his
flesh. Have you been hungry before? Often, before certain blood tests doctors run
for physicals and check-ups, doctors will tell us to fast (not eat or drink for
a determined amount of time) so they may achieve accurate results on the
tests. Have you been told this before?
Most often, these fasts can be scheduled while you are sleeping and the
doctor’s appointment scheduled early the following morning.
There are a few medical tests, in
which I have had to fast for 24 hours or more.
One time in a hospital, they ran so many tests, I had to fast for a
week. The first three days, I remember
being very hungry. My body craved food
and water to drink. If someone had come
to me with a cheeseburger and fries, I would have gobbled it up quickly.
The devil
tempted while in the wilderness, even tempted Jesus by trying to play on pride
(“if you are the Son of God…..” (verse 3) and again, “if you are the Son of
God…..” (verse 4). This did not appeal
to Jesus. He knew what the devil was
doing. More importantly, Jesus knew who
He was (the Son of God) and had chosen to be where He was, doing what He was
doing. How did He get rid of the devil?
He spoke the Word, and told the devil to go!
Jesus ended the temptation, himself.
(read verse 10) Temptation
takes many forms, but every temptation by the devil is based on deception and
designed to distract you from keeping your eyes on God. Sometimes temptation looks like the long line
at the cash register trying your patience, like the driver on the road who cut
you off in traffic, your schedule and the demands of the day tempting you to
give up your daily time with God.
Whatever your temptation is? Know
that you are a child of God. Tell the
devil to go! And, speak the Word into
the situation.
What
temptations are in your life today? What
scriptures can you grab hold of in the Bible to speak out to the
situation? Why do we have tests? Is it to make us fail, or is it for us to see
what we know?
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