This Just Got Real

Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness
by the Holy Spirit
to be tempted there by the Devil.
Matthew 4:1 NLT
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The Devil shows up after Jesus had been alone fasting in the desert for 40 days and nights. He offers Jesus three temptations: Turn these stones into bread, jump off this cliff and let the angels protect you, and bow down to me in exchange for the whole world’s nations. I’m not normally a skeptic, but I’ve always found this account to be really challenging to relate to. Here’s why I kinda blew this story off:

First: It’s the DEVIL who shows up to tempt him…. ummm… wouldn’t that pretty much be an automatic NO to anything he says?!
Second: I can barely turn raw ingredients into an edible meal, let alone stones. Not even an options for me so that would also be pretty easy to say NO to.
Third: Even after a 40 day fast, I won’t be so delirious that the Devil can convince me he can give me all the nations of a world I CREATED (speaking in God’s perspective, that is).

But then I gave it a second look. First off, the Bible says that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil. (Matt. 4:1) Jesus was led there BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. This was an intentional exposure to the battles we face as humans. He had to experience every kind of torture and temptation known to man so that we could have a true savior.

And he was tempted by the Devil – the ultimate terrorist. Imagine sitting in that isolated state for 40 days and nights knowing that the person who hates you more than anything is preparing an attack on you. The Devil didn’t come to play, he came to win. He dangled things before Jesus that would make him ache with desire: physical satisfaction, power and the people he loved. The Contemporary equivalent would be if the Devil came to us during the Great Depression and offered us unlimited food resources, told us that God must not REALLY care about us or he wouldn’t have let us be hungry AND THEN threatened our loved ones and family.

I wouldn’t have been able to hold up to those temptations. I might not have even made it to day 10 in the desert wondering what my enemy was concocting to torture me with. But Jesus resisted all this.

Jesus is not just a fable, a good man or an un-relatable “Marsha Brady.” He came to live through every battle that rages in each of our lives. He came to be tortured, hungry, tempted, misunderstood, humiliated and brutally murdered. FOR US.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15 NIV)

I don’t know about you, but I’m no longer taking the Satan Tempts Jesus in the Wilderness account so lightly anymore. I have chills thinking about how we have one that fights for us – each and every one of us – and he is all we need.

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Dear Lord, How could I be so quick to dismiss the pain you went through for me? You are my past, present and future. You really see me and really know my pain. You’ve been there. You’ve done that. You fought for me before I was even born and you still do today. You are my hero. Amen.