Getting Through It

9/21/2016

Luke 4.4 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’

I can only imagine what was going on when Satan came to tempt the Lord. We must remember that Jesus was hungry after forty days and nights of not eating. Physical weakness is a powerful thing. Defenses mean little in the presence of physical weakness.

The first of the three attacks was low-hanging fruit: the adversary knew Jesus was hungry and weak. So offer food. Make a physical appeal to a physical weakness. But what the devil didn’t realize was in His physical weakness Jesus had become enormously spiritually strong. Physical weakness directed in the right way produces spiritual strength.

I don’t think this conversation was as short as it appears, but the attack on the Lord was real, and it was timely, and it was powerfully directed. It just fell short of the power and presence of God with Jesus.

Jesus didn’t play the God-card while on earth. He understood who He was and what He had, but He didn’t flip the God-switch on and off at will; He purposely laid His God-hood aside and carried Himself not as God, but as a man. He did this on purpose to show us the only way to live: dependent on God, not on ourselves. Jesus didn’t go fasting because He just wanted to see if He could do it; He fasted because God told Him to; Jesus never did anything apart from the Father’s command. And in spite of this, the devil attacked.

I think the lesson for me is simply this: do what God tells me to do. It isn’t rocket-science, it’s simply obeying. It is realizing that life is not necessarily predictable, but with God, it is always purposeful. And clinging to God in times of weakness and temptation is a sure way of getting through it.

In the face of temptation, Jesus resolutely clung to what He knew to be true: God, the Word, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Noticeably Jesus kept His answers short and to the point. Satan was lobbing every bomb he could to get the Lord to weaken. And Jesus didn’t try to outsmart him; Jesus didn’t try to out-argue him; Jesus simply responded with the simple truth. I don’t think Jesus even looked at him.

So, you and I must emulate Jesus in troubling times or times of weakness. That doesn’t mean every time something goes wrong in our lives that it is Satan lobbing bombs at us; it just means that when the bombs come (from wherever they come) we defuse them with God, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.

Father, may I keep my focus on You, Your word, and the presence of Your eternal Holy Spirit – Who is not just floating around, but is constantly at home in my heart. May I remember the resources I have and like Jesus, use them. The battle is Yours, not mine. Help me to remember that. Thank You for Your presence, Your power, and Your word. Help me keep my focus on You! Amen