“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came …” Matthew 4:1-3

The reason Jesus can be our merciful and faithful high priest (Hebrews 4:14-15) is  because he suffered as we suffer, and he was tempted as we are tempted.

Consider: Jesus wasn’t tempted by Satan right after coming up out of the water of baptism, right after being announced as the Lamb of God, right after hearing the voice from heaven and seeing the Spirit descend as a dove. Temptation then would have been easy to overcome: Jesus would have been feeling great.

No. Instead, Satan waited. Waited until the Son of Man had become exhausted in the wilderness. Waited until forty days and nights of fasting had taken their toll. Waited until the pain, the sunburn, the blisters, the dirt, and the fatigue had accomplished their dreadful work on the body of the incarnate Word. 

Then, Satan struck.

“Why don’t you take the easy way out?”

“Why don’t you give in to pride?”

“Why don’t you forget about God?”

Satan whispers such dreadful temptations to us when we are exhausted, too. But we have an example we can follow: our Savior, Jesus Christ. The same Word that he turned to is available for us, every day.

• What temptations do you most commonly face when you are exhausted?
• What Scriptures can you turn to to resist these temptations?
• Who can you turn to to help you resist these temptations?

© 2010 Paula Marolewski, www.SinkYourRoots.com

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