Set the table:

Take a moment and think of all the things stewing in your mind and heart – and then lay them down. Ask God to clear your mind and to open your heart to hear Him speak.

“Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. You sons of man, how long will my honor be treated as an insult? How long will you love what is worthless and strive for a lie? Selah. But know that the Lord has set apart the godly person for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him.”   Psalm 4:1-3 NASB

On the Menu

Beverage:  Take a moment to drink in His Presence.

I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
² O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.
³ O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

⁴ Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
⁵ For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.

⁶ Now in my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved.”
⁷ Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was troubled.

⁸ I cried out to You, O Lord;
And to the Lord I made supplication:
⁹ “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
¹⁰ Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
Lord, be my helper!”

¹¹ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
¹² To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Psalm 30:1-12 NKJV

Main Course

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. ³ And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’”  Matthew 4:1-4 NASB

Right before Jesus experienced His time alone in the wilderness and the temptations by satan, He had another major experience. At His baptism, He experienced the confirmation of His Father and the presence of the Spirit.

“After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and settling on Him, and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”” Matthew 3:16-17

Immediately after the Trinity being reunited, the Spirit leads Him away.

Main Course 1 – The Spirit

In Matthew and in Luke, it says Jesus was led into the wilderness. Luke 4:1– “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness”

But in Mark 1:12-13 – “And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.” KJV

So right after that special moment of being baptized and having the Father acknowledge Him and the Spirit descend on Him, now the Spirit drove Him – this is strong language suggesting it was divinely necessary for Jesus to be tested. He had to prove His worthiness of being the Messiah. As God’s Son, of course He was worthy. But being in a human body, He had to be tested.

Think about the Spirit for a minute. That same Spirit, the Spirit that settled on Jesus after His baptism, the same Spirit that drove Him to the wilderness and ministered to Him there, that same Spirit that raised Him from the dead, that same Spirit lives in those who receive Christ!

John 3:34 says, “For the one whom God has sent speaks with words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”

We have the fulness of the Spirit dwelling in us. In the Old Testament the Spirit would rest on individuals to enable them to accomplish the work of God, but for us, we have the fulness of the Spirit indwelling us. That alone can help us through any wilderness struggle we may face.

But then Jesus comes face to face with the evil one.

Many times right after something really wonderful happens in which we are lifted up spiritually, that is when satan will come against us the hardest. Even Paul said that there was a messenger of satan sent to buffet him, to keep him humble after he had seen visions and was given revelations of God. (2 Corinthians 12:7) I’ve told new believers before that once they have surrendered to the Lord, they need to watch out. Satan will come at them full force to try to discourage them and steal the spiritual joy they were feeling.

When those moments come, when we feel we are being attacked, we need to keep in mind the assurance God has given us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we are His and He is ours. When we have that assurance in our heart, it can give us the strength to withstand anything.

Mathew Henry states in his commentary: “The assurance of our sonship is the best preparative for temptation. If the good Spirit witness to our adoption, that will furnish us with an answer to all the suggestions of the evil spirit, designed either to debauch or disquiet us.”

So, when we have those moments of spiritual highs, when we feel the Spirit moving within us, remember them. Then draw on those times when satan comes along to attack us.

But another thought about being “driven” into the wilderness is this. God knew what was ahead of Jesus. The starting of His earthly ministry, the miracles, the mocking, the beatings and His death. To prepare Jesus for all that was ahead, they needed that time set apart, alone. We need to do the same thing. We need to take the time to be alone with the Lord in order to prepare us for what is lying ahead. Especially when we know something big is coming up, take time to be alone with the Lord. Read His word and pray. Ask for Him to speak to you and empower you to handle all that may be coming.  Allow the Spirit to drive you – lead you – into those moments of complete aloneness and oneness with the Father to prepare you for what’s ahead.

Main Course 2 – The Wilderness

Notice the place the Spirit drove Jesus – the wilderness. Matthew Henry says the wilderness is probably in the wilderness of Sinai, the same place where Moses and Elijah had fasted for 40 days. But other theologians say south and east of Jerusalem, much like the area John the Baptist preached in. I tend to think this since one of the temptations refers to the holy city. But it was a wilderness. Since Satan tells Jesus to turn stones into bread, there must not have been any food bearing plants there.

This testing of Jesus also parallels the wilderness wanderings of the Children of Israel. They were driven into the wilderness for God to test them. Jesus stayed 40 days, the Israelites 40 years. All the quotes that Jesus gives satan in response to the temptations comes from Deuteronomy during the wandering years.

Why was He led to the wilderness? To be tempted, tested. To prove He could be the perfect, spotless, sinless sacrificial Lamb. We find these verses in Hebrews.

¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:14-18 NIV

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV

Jesus became flesh and blood. So, He knows exactly how it feels to be in a body that is limited, that gets hurt, gets tired. He knows human emotions such as anger, joy, sadness. And He knows temptations. Because of that, He fully understands us. Think about it this way.

I know my husband. I have him fully believing that I can read his mind. Because I know him. I know his personality, how he thinks, his facial expressions and his body language. I can look at his face and pretty well guess what he’s thinking, what he’s going to say or do before he even does it. As well as I know my husband, God knows how more. God knows me more. God knows you more. More than your spouse, your best friend, or anyone else. And yet, He still loves us.

As women, for us to be intimate, to let down our guard and share something with someone, we have to feel we can trust them. We can trust our Lord. Think about it. He could have used His power to turn those stones into bread to meet His physical needs. But He didn’t because He was waiting on His Father to meet His needs. To guide Him. He desired to obey His Father more than to meet His own physical needs. Let’s take that even further. If Jesus so desired to be obedient to His Father that He died on the cross to pay the sin debt of our sins, then surely we can trust Him to do the very best for us. Because He already has.

Because we know that Jesus gets us, we can come to Him with everything. We don’t have to be afraid that He will think less of us because we messed up, again. We can come to Him with confidence that He will offer forgiveness, mercy and grace.

Another reason He was driven to the wilderness was to Learn Obedience. We find verses about this in Hebrews and Philippians.

⁷ During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him   Hebrews 5:7-9 NIV

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!      Philippians 2:5-8 NIV

Jesus learned obedience. Sometimes the trials and temptations that come our way are to teach us obedience. To know that we are nothing without Him, but because of His strength and power working in us, we can do anything He asks us to do.

Jesus had to become man. He had to face the same fears, limitations and desires of the flesh as we do. And by doing that, He truly understands us. He gets us. He knows our fears, our limitations and was tempted in every area that we are, yet did not sin.

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.  1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV

If Jesus Christ, the Son of God, creator of the universe, humbled Himself before Almighty God, how much more should we?

Main Course 3 – The Temptation

Now notice how satan tempted Him.

Satan said in verse 3, “if you are the Son of God” – satan will put doubts in our mind. Those doubts can separate us from communion with God if we allow them to. And when that communion is broken, satan can have an edge and the temptation looks more appealing.

This statement satan made to Jesus is also like a challenge – “Jesus, prove you are who you say you are..”

Satan tries to make us doubt, too. When we doubt the sufficiency of God, it can also make us look to ourselves or others to take care of our needs instead of God. We trust in ourself, our own resources, our own strength, our own knowledge, etc.. It’s not a real blatant temptation, but subtle, to get us to question God instead of to remember and trust Him.

Or sometimes, matters are small and we think, I can handle this. It’s like it’s a challenge to us. It would not have been a big issue for Jesus to turn the rocks to bread. He did a lot harder things than that during His ministry. In fact, those same rocks that satan was trying to get Jesus to turn into bread, they were created by Him! Jesus was with the Father at creation. So if He could create rocks, He could have surely changed them.

When some small issue comes along that we think we can handle, and then we do on our own, we start trusting in our own strength instead of God. We don’t pause and pray to make sure we are really handling the situation the way God would want us to.  Then when that big issue happens, we can find ourselves struggling to handle that, when we should have turned to God.

But being led by the Spirit, Jesus knew He was still supposed to rely on the Father. He wasn’t supposed to take matters into His own hands. Paralleling the 40 years of the Children of Israel, where God provided the manna, Jesus knew God would provide His needs as well. He also never used his miracle working abilities to supply His own needs. He performed miracles for others, but not Himself. He didn’t have to prove Himself because His Father and the Holy Spirit had proved themselves faithful.

Now the response Jesus gave, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’

The verse Jesus quotes is from Deut. 8

8 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Deuteronomy 8:1-3

Being fed spiritually is of much more importance than feeding our physical bodies. God had to teach the Children of Israel that when they complained about their lack of bread. God sent manna to meet their need for 40 years. They even complained about that. But God kept trying to teach them obedience and that trusting in Him and His promises was much better than having bread to eat.

Think of Job a minute. The Book of Job starts out with God talking to satan. God tells satan to look at the blameless and upright man that Job was. God allowed satan to take everything away from Job except his life. And after all that Job went through, losing everything, he still never sinned. I’ve always thought that the key to him remaining steadfast was this verse:

¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
¹¹ My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.  Job 23:10-12

Job got it. He realized that God’s words were of great value, more than his daily bread.

At another time, when Jesus had just talked to the woman at the well, the disciples came back  after going into town to get food. And this happened.

³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” ³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” ³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.   John 4:31-34 NIV

I wonder if Jesus was thinking about that time of testing in the wilderness when He said this. After we go through times of testing, the lessons we learned in the wilderness should stick with us. There will come a time, a situation, that will make us recall our trials and testing and we will have assurance that the truth we learned in the wilderness, will gave us encouragement to continue in our work for Christ in the present.

Main Course 4 – The Word

John 1 says Jesus was the Word. He knew scripture and He used that to combat the temptations of the evil one. He also quoted the scriptures a lot in the course of His ministry. We can do the same.

Ephesians 6:17 says, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. “

This is the only piece of armor that is offensive as well as defensive. Desire God’s Word. Meditate on it. Soak it in and then use it to speak against satan.

Think about what God’s word does for us. God’s word taught me how to be saved

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 Niv

⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9-10 NKJV

It taught me when I’m worried or anxious –

Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NKJV

³ You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3 NKJV

And when I get angry at the person driving slow in front of me –

⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, Matthew 5:44 NKJV

¹⁸ If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Romans 12:18 NKJV

God’s Word brings life. It teaches, rebukes, corrects, instructs us in righteousness. It has an answer for everything and we need to soak it in. And use it to fend off our enemy just like Jesus did.

So what do we take away from this? Remember:

1. Jesus had the Spirit to guide Him. So do we. Allow the Spirit to lead – knowing that even if it’s leading us into the wilderness, it’s for our good and His glory.
2. The wilderness experience is a time of testing that ultimately teaches us complete reliance on the Savior and obedience to His will. Learn from it.
3. Jesus was tempted like we are, yet didn’t sin. We can overcome temptations by relying on the Spirit within us and God’s word.
4. God’s Word is our sword. Knowing it will help us fight off our enemy. It will teach us to live righteously. We should desire it more than our daily bread.

Dessert:

Spend a few moments in prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus into this world to live and die for us. Jesus, thank You for being obedient, even to death on a cross, for all of us. Lord, thank You for enduring the wilderness, to teach us that not only can we trust You with everything because You fully understand us, but to show us how we, too, can face temptation with endurance because of Your Spirit and the Word. May we allow the Spirit to drive us to a deeper reliance on You and less on ourselves. And for all that You have done and will do, we praise You. For it’s in the precious and holy name of Jesus we pray, Amen.