Daily Bread 2011 - Matthew 4


Verse of the Day Matthew 4:1-3 – Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

What Does This Mean? Note that Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. An interesting paradox! We will see many paradoxes through the bible. Paradox are events that don’t seem to make sense at first, but upon further reflection can provide a deeper interaction with the truth. In this case we wonder why the Spirit would lead Jesus to be tempted by the devil. Obviously Jesus was better off with the Spirit than without the Spirit on this occasion. And one can assume that through this testing Jesus’ will undergo will make him stronger and more prepared for the mission God has given him.

In this situation, Jesus had gone into the wilderness to fast, which is a spiritual discipline designed to draw one closer to God. Fasting is a spiritual discipline in the abstinence category, where we abstain from an activity or relationship for the purpose of drawing near to God. In this case, Jesus had abstained from food for forty days and he was hungry. Makes sense right!

So it is not surprising the first form of temptation/testing is for Jesus to use His spiritual power to turn the stones into sandwiches. There are two parts of this temptation. One for Jesus to use His power before its time, and secondly for Jesus to break his fast before it was over. As we see how the earthly Jesus handles very real temptation we can learn how to deal with the temptations we face and grow through the testing of our faith.

What Does This Mean For Us? It is helpful to look at our temptations as tests that reveal our character and reveal areas of our life where we can trust God to provide for us. At the root of most temptation is the very real sense for us to take control of our lives and stop trusting that God will give us what we need. Note I said “need” not “want”.

Like in Jesus’ case, the devil makes pretty good arguments to try and get us to buy into trusting ourselves instead of God. After all Jesus was the Son of God and could have easily turned the stones into bread and feed his natural hunger. But beneath the physical issue of hunger was the spiritual issue of Jesus using His power to do the Father’s will in His timing.

Sometimes there are things God wants to give to us but not until after we are ready to receive it. As we rely on God to provide for us our trust and confidence grows we are better equipped to bring in God’s kingdom in His timing and way.

Heavenly Father we thank you for helping us to grow strong in our character, as we learn to recognize when we are tempted and use your promises to provide for us to stand the test and grow in character and ability to minister your grace and healing to the world. Amen.

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