Luke 4:1-13

New International Version (NIV)

4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

This passage is very familiar to many of us. Christ temptation in the wilderness. I, in fact, have preached on it and wrote a blog on it a couple years ago. (An Opportune Time)

But as I reflect on it today I am struck by two things. First, temptation can come through our weaknesses.  As much as we may think we have it all together, the Devil knows better.  He knows what our weaknesses are. Of course most of us have not gone 40 days without food, but we all have those desires within us that are as strong as any craving for food can be. Acceptance, greed, lust, whatever our point of weakness is, the Devil knows it. The question is, do we. Jesus knew he was hungry. But he was prepared for the temptation he would face.

The second thing that strikes me is that it is not just our weaknesses, but also our strengths through which temptation can come.   You see the Devil offers Jesus everything. And this may seem odd at first glance, after all isn’t everything rightfully Jesus’ anyway? But that’s my point. Everything was rightfully Jesus’.  He had willingly given up his right to everything by becoming obedient to the father (Phil 2). The Devil new this and played off the deep down desire to be all that he truly was.  Jesus more than had the right to everything, He knew he would have it all again, after completing his mission.  It is to this that the Devil played.  The Devil say’s, “You know that it is all yours anyway, so why go through all of this.   I’ll tell you what, I’ll just give it to you.  You only need to do one little thing.”  But again Jesus was prepared.

So I am reminded that I need to know my weaknesses and my strengths.  What are those things I want but do not have?  What are those things that I have and do not want to let go of?  But knowing is not enough.  I have to ask, am I prepared?  Jesus did not rely on his own strength to resist but relied on the word of the Lord.  His strength was found in His knowledge of God’s word and His relationship with the Father.  These things can only be reached by spending time in God’s word and in prayer.

Lord help me to know you.  I pray that I would not rely on my own strength but in you alone.