Lent Day 3: Jesus’ Temptation

A Note from Mandy:

Today, as I opened this reading plan and read the questions I'd written more than two years ago, one of them hit me hard: What are some wilderness times in your life? "Right now," I thought. "Right now, God."

Truth be told, right now feels a little like wandering around in an unknown land, asking God for direction and the next step. It isn't a place I've come to out of disobedience, but I've found myself there just the same. And if you're anything like me, I hope that today's Scripture passage reminds you that even in the wilderness testings, God is real, God is present, and God is near.

Pause

Close your eyes and sit silently for a few minutes, focusing your attention on God. Ask Him to quiet your mind and heart as you study His Word.

Read & Journal

Read Matthew 4:1-13. Consider these questions:

• What does this passage teach you about Jesus? About His character?

• Read verse 1 again. Why is it important that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness?

• What are some “wilderness” times in your life? Looking back, how can you see God using those times to teach you? Train you? Deepen your faith?

• Satan tempted Jesus in three areas: physical needs, power and pride. How is the enemy still using these tactics against you today?

Ponder

While we sometimes act like he is, Satan is not all powerful. He is cunning and wily, though, and uses these qualities to draw us into temptation, doubt and ultimately, disobedience. We learn much about Jesus’ character and sense of purpose in this interaction with the devil. Weakened by fasting, Jesus rebuffed—with Scripture—Satan’s attempts to tempt Him to disobey the Father and thwart God’s ultimate plan of salvation. From Jesus’ interaction with Satan, we can glean important tools for our own interactions with the enemy.

2024 Note:

Over the past year, I've been trying to memorize more Scripture. I started using the Bible Memory Project's bracelets, which have allowed me to take a look at my wrist and meditate on God's Word throughout my day.

Recently, the passages were all from Ephesians 6, focused on the armor of God. So when I read about Jesus' temptation and how he boldly quoted Scripture in the tempter's face, my mind immediately begins to imagine the armor of God. In Ephesians 6, the word of God is the sword, the weapon. If you're like me, you often think of Scripture as a comfort or a guide, but rarely a weapon. Yet, God's word tells us that it is, and here we have an example of Jesus using it as such.

What battles are you trying to fight in your own power? Turn to Scripture, recognizing it as truth, as a comfort and a guide, but also as a weapon designed to be used to fight temptation and the tempter himself.