Scripture

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Observation

The Holy Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for a confrontation with the devil.

Jesus fast for 40 days and nights and becomes very hungry.

Application

This verse is very confronting for us if we let it be!

We don’t think of the Holy Spirit as placing us in a state of weakness and trial. After forty days of fasting, Jesus would have been very weak in the flesh, but forced to become more dependent on the Father. Hence He was weak in the flesh but strong in the spirit.

It is at this place that satan comes to tempt Jesus. We must marvel at the sheer cheek of satan to test the Son of God.

If Jesus was tempted so thoroughly by satan, we must not ignore the reality of temptation in the lives of his followers. This is a constant reality of the Christian life. If satan tempted our Lord, he will surely tempt His followers.

Satan’s temptations come to us the form of the three G’s – gold (that is, love of money and possessions), glory (pride), and girls/guys (ie sexual or romantic sin). These are the wounds in human psychology that become chinks in our spiritual armour. Every Christian will find that they have one or more of these three. We must be vigilant of satan’s probing all the days of our life on earth.

I believe that the Holy Spirit leads us all into some form of wilderness to be tempted. We think of temptation as a negative, but in fact it is a positive. As we learn to rely on our Heavenly Father for courage and the ability to stand firm, He builds up our spiritual muscles to make us more holy.

Prayer

Father, when the day of testing comes may I be strong in you. Grant me grace to stand firm in you. Amen.