I believe that most often we tend to think that if we are ‘led by the Spirit’ it would be into a much better place than where we normally spend our time under temptation by the devil and tossed around by his cohorts. But have you ever stopped to ponder why God allowed the Holy Spirit to lead Jesus into the desert where He would be tempted, tried and starved? Meditate with me on the Word of God today and seek to know what God might want to teach us in this familiar story.
DATE POSTED Sunday, 2022-11-06
WRITTEN AT: Ormond Beach, FL
BY: Ed Algreen
SCRIPTURE FROM: Luke 4:1-2
TRANSLATION: The Voice (VOICE)
BIBLE TEXT: 1 When Jesus returned from the Jordan River, He was full of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit led Him away from the cities and townsand out into the desert. 2 For 40 days, the Spirit led Him from place to place in the desert, and while there, the devil tempted Jesus. Jesus was fasting, eating nothing during this time, and at the end, He was terribly hungry.
APPLICATION: Surely, you’ve heard about the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, or the desert. And that God’s perfect Son was tempted – verbally, though abstinence from food, through power struggles backed by Scripture, and yes through temptations by Satan himself. We were taught about how Jesus countered Satan’s use of Scripture, with His own quotes of Scripture given to Him by the Holy Spirit, and we heard about how Jesus stood firm to His Father’s will for His life. But why did the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into such tough times? Shouldn’t the Spirit have instead placed Jesus into a temple where sinners needed the Lord, or among the sick where people needed healing, or in the midst of the discouraged and depressed where He could have shown His love, compassion and hope for them? Oh, dear friends, those are the types of things we may have been tempted to do, but God’s ways are much greater than our ways; His thoughts much deeper than our thoughts; and His knowledge of what is, and what’s to come, is off the chart compared to our knowledge. It seems evident that God wanted to show Satan once again who is in charge, and that His Son had equal authority and power to Himself – both to enact what God commands, and to submit even under extreme pressure, for the will and benefit of the Father. It’s like God wanted to show off His precious Son that He sent to earth to save the world from sin. Satan is known for messing with anyone who promotes his enemy – God. So God was sure that Satan would have a field day if he ever had the opportunity to work on Jesus. So God seemed to have deliberately set this up for Satan so that He could show off the power, the dignity, and the overwhelming will of Jesus to honor His Father even under extreme circumstances. Satan needed to know that Jesus was off limits to him because He was much more powerful, and closely in tuned with the Creator. This, my friends, presents a challenge for us to think about. What do we do when hard times come; when temptations seem to hit us on every side; when it seems like God has separated Himself from us? Are we strong enough and committed enough to show Satan who our Father is? Will the world know for sure that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world? While the world may not go to battle with us to watch us fall or fail, they are looking for children of the most high God, who will stand firm in their faith like they would expect. You see, I believe that many will remain on Satan’s side, until they can see proof of those who are truly led by the Spirit like Jesus was. It may behoove us to thank God for our circumstances, and ask Him for strength to endure until He sees us safely through them, after His work is complete. Instead of questioning God, let’s learn to stay closely connected to Him so that He may use even us in His mission to reach the lost, encourage the disheartened and lead the wicked to His righteousness.
BLESSING(S) NOTED: Jesus was successful in overcoming the temptations of the evil one. He was led into the circumstance that Satan used to tempt Him. Oh, that we would draw close enough to God to accept His leading, even if it seems overwhelming to us at the time. May God always work out His will in our lives everyday – for His glory!
PRAYER: ‘…. And lead us not into temptation….’ These are very familiar words from what many call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. But Lord, if You led Your very own Son right into ultimate temptations by Satan, how can we possibly feel like we would be exempt from temptation. Perhaps we should be consistent in asking You to lead us into circumstances where we can show off Your power, Your love and Your forgiveness. Teach us Lord to wait on You, to listen and obey Your every command, so that Your perfect will might be accomplished for Your good and Your Kingdom’s sake. Please help us to think of opportunities that You send our way, instead of whining about our setbacks and worries about what it all looks like in our sight. Please excuse our pride and humble us into Your service. AMEN!