TUESDAY October 15th
Luke 4:1-4
‘And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”’
We will consider today the first of the temptations that are recorded for us that Jesus was faced with as he spent the time in the wilderness. Notice it says that the three that are recorded happened at the end of the forty days. We don’t have a record of every attack that the devil would have brought to Jesus in the forty days, for there is no doubt that from day one, the devil would have sought to distract Jesus.
It is Peter who reminds us that the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking out those who he can devour, (1 Peter 5:8). Adam faced the devil in the Garden of Eden, and he failed at the first hurdle (Genesis 3), but Jesus who became the second Adam, faced the devil in the wilderness and we are so grateful that he prevailed.
You and I are faced with the prowling devil every day, he will use his myriads to try to catch us out and to trip us up in so many different ways, it could be through our peers, it may even be through a family member, a work colleague, it could be through something we do, somewhere we go, even something we may read or watch.
Notice it says that Jesus was hungry, and so the temptation was to do with food. ‘Command these stones to become bread’. Whatever it is that we allow ourselves to hunger after, the devil will use it to try to tempt us, that is why we need to learn from the example of Jesus, and as he replied ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’ so we also must reply to the enemy of our soul, ‘we don’t live for the things that you have to offer me’ and then add to it the very words of Jesus himself which is that it is those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be the ones filled or satisfied.
Are you hungry today, and I mean spiritually hungry, don’t be tempted to be filled or satisfied with the things of the world, the carrot(s) that the devil dangles in front of you, the result will be that you will end up with a spiritual belly ache, you will be spiritually starved and end up spiritually dead. Jesus who is our example, who resisted the devil and the temptation to change the stones into bread, is himself the living bread , he is also the living water, feast on him, feast on his word and know what it is to be spiritually alive and spiritually satisfied.