Opportune
I was reading some of the scriptures this morning about Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness.
You know, just to lean into the Lent season and get some best practices to fight temptation during this silly media fast I'm doing.
I am no theologian, but here's how I understand how things went down.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist; then, he went into the wilderness alone and fasted for 40 days.
The devil, aka "the tempter," was on the case.
When the 40 days went by, of course, Jesus was hungry.
The devil taunted Jesus by tempting Him to turn stones into bread.
Of course, Jesus could do this. Easy miracle for the Son of God.
Even though it would be no problem and Jesus was surely going out of His mind with hunger, He refused the devil and quoted scripture from Deuteronomy 8:3: "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Dang, that's some serious willpower right there.
Jesus 1 - devil 0
Next, the devil figured he might play on Jesus' insecurity. I imagine the humanity within Jesus had to be pretty scared and insecure about His ability to fulfill what God had planned.
The devil, knowing this, took Jesus to Jerusalem to the highest point of the temple and dared Him to throw Himself down to prove He was the Son of God. The devil even quoted Psalm 91: 11-12 to try and confuse Jesus, saying, “It is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
Well Jesus wasn't having any of that and quoted scripture right back, referring to Deuteronomy 6:16, saying, "It is also written, 'Do not put the Lord Your God to the test.'"
Jesus 2 - devil 0
As Jesus sat in that wilderness for 40 days, He must have been strategizing what would happen next as His ministry was about to begin. Yes, He was the Son of God, and He knew what had to be done, but still, He had to be freaking out, worried He might not have what it takes but also kind of excited about the amazing miracles that He was about to perform.
The devil was counting on this and tried to tap into Jesus' ego and insecurity by showing Him all the kingdoms of the world as he cowered around Him, saying, "All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus knew what the little jerk was up to and quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 in scripture, "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."
Game over.
Jesus 3 - devil 0.
The devil tried to play to Jesus' weakness, insecurity, and ego.
Nice try, devil, but Jesus ain't falling for any of that.
I'd like to say that was that, and the scriptures ended with a verse saying something like "and the devil was never to be seen again, and all was well with the world."
Don't I wish.
Unfortunately, the devil didn't go away forever.
Check out this verse in Luke 4:13:
"When the devil had finished every temptation, he [temporarily] left Him until a more opportune time."
Temporarily.
Bummer.
That devil, that tempter, doesn't give up, even when faced with God Himself.
He’s a tenacious and persistent little bugger.
I realize that most of my temptations are rooted in my desires and ego.
I've heard it said that ego is like a coin: pride is heads, and insecurity is tails.
Most of my time is spent flipping that coin around, thinking about me - my hunger and desires, my insecurities, and my aspirations.
Me, me, me.
The devil knows it, and he also knows right where to attack.
He tempts me to eat or drink things that aren't good for me.
He taps into my insecurity by tempting me to do what I don't want to do to prove that I belong or am enough.
He scratches at my insecurities by tempting me to spend hours looking at the world through a fake lens of online fictional fakeness.
He scares me by focusing my eyes on things that are made to invoke fear and division all in the name of greed and power.
He distracts me with thoughts of self-grandeur and self-reliance, leading me away from God.
The devil lingers and cowers in dark corners, waiting for the opportune time to strike.
Like Jesus, I gotta be ready for a counterattack.
Perhaps I should read the book of Deuteronomy in the Bible, considering Jesus quoted from that each time He was tempted.
Seems like a great place to start.
God knows I'll have the time now that I'm not doom-scrolling.
But seriously, it really freaks me out that the devil is waiting for an opportunity to attack.
He's like my phone or my Alexa devices, always listening and waiting to respond.
But the good news is that God is also listening to us and ready to arm us with the proper defenses and responses to keep that little jerk-face far away.
God is waiting for the opportune time to intervene, guide, protect, and love us.
I'm definitely gonna be thinking about who I'm giving my time to today.
And no devil, it ain't gonna be you.
That concludes the deep thought for today, friends.
Here are the scriptures that talk about the temptation of Jesus (there may be others, but again, I am no theologian).