Luke 4

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 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. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’” Luke 4:1-3 NIV

There were three points that I was reminded of when reading these verses. The first is that the devil knows where and when to tempt us. It is important to note that the devil tempted Jesus to turn stone into bread when he was hungry. Jesus wasn’t tempted on a full stomach, rather he was tempted when the thought of bread filling his empty stomach would have been very satisfying.

The second point that I was reminded of comes from 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except that which is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Our ‘way out’ of temptation or our ‘escape’ can be different things, but in Jesus’ scenario his escape was by knowing the truth of Scripture. In each of his temptations, Jesus quoted Scripture and remained steadfast on those everlasting truths, while not focusing on the temporal satisfaction promised by the temptation.

The third and last reminder is that Jesus did overcome his temptation, but before he was tempted, Scripture says that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5:16 that if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. When we are walking with the Holy Spirit, it is not a switch that we turn on and off again; this is a lifestyle and a decision that we need to make every morning and every moment of the day. It was the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was filled with, that allowed him to endure the temptation facing him, and it is only in the power of the Holy Spirit that allows us to endure the temptations that we face.