Missed the intro post to this series? Go check that out here. Forty days of fasting? I’ve occasionally tried one day of fasting and it’s all I can do to get through it. We could say that this was Jesus’ s supernatural ability helping Him here. And that may be. But it seems to me as if God is trying to show us how Jesus being tempted in His human form (and overcoming) is an example to us.

So forty days with no food would weaken the flesh. And the mind. Though Jesus was fully God, He was also fully man, saddled with all the same weaknesses of a fleshly body.

The first question I had while reading these verses though was this: The fasting has ended. He should eat. Why doesn’t He eat? Jesus would not be sinning by turning stones into bread. There’s of course the matter of the devil questioning His authority and tempting Him to prove it. Jesus doesn’t need to prove Who He is. He never has needed to. Sometimes He chose to. Because He loves us so much and He understands our unbelieving hearts. But He absolutely has nothing to prove to Satan. It’s possible He didn’t want to confirm to the devil just who He was yet.

There’s an underlying issue though here. And one that is a crucial example for us. Jesus could have turned stones into bread before Satan tempts Him to. It would have been easier than trekking through the wilderness to go to the nearest city market to buy bread. But almost always when the devil tempts our flesh, it’s to satisfy whatever hunger we want in that moment. Jesus demonstrates delay of gratification here. He could have eaten. It would have been lawful. It wouldn’t have been sin. But in giving into His tired, weak, famished, body at that moment would be to give into immediate satisfaction. And guess what? In a few years, His body will be even weaker than it right now, and saying no here, enduring here, will aid Him when He faces the hardship of the cross and all that comes before. Sometimes it’s not sin for us to give into our flesh, but it might be weakening us for a future trial or test.

We live in a world where we’ve learned to get what we want immediately. We’ve learned impatience. And we’ve learned dissatisfaction because of it. Saying no to ourselves is an important lesson, even if what we want wouldn’t necessarily be sinful. It’s a good practice. I’ve struggled with being overweight almost my entire life. My excuse so many times is: I have to eat. It’s not like other substances–we have to eat to live. And that’s true. But there are many foodstuffs I’ve put into my body that I haven’t needed. And it wasn’t for sustenance, it was simply to gratify my flesh. Because it looked good, tasted good. And the body can only sustain that kind of fulfillment for so long before systems inside us throw up warning signs. Which mine did. So I’ve worked to stop satisfying my flesh which hasn’t always been an easy thing to do. Food isn’t sinful. But overeating it is. And I did that often.

Maybe food isn’t your downfall. Maybe it’s some kind of substance (I pray that isn’t so.) Maybe it’s work. Or beauty. Or money. Things that of themselves aren’t sinful, but constantly pull you to want more until you’re satisfied. Which we never are. Had Jesus turned a stone into bread, one loaf likely wouldn’t have sufficed. He would have wanted more. But He was already full–of the Holy Spirit. And maybe that’s another reason He was able to say no. He was ready for the test. So often we aren’t. And Satan is ready to pounce (like a lion remember) because we will have moments of weakness and without the Spirit’s help, we are going to give into our flesh. Which means we need to saturate our lives in the Word and in prayer. So we can be ready for the temptations the devil is waiting to set for us.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the second trial. And this one brings me to tears. I hope you’ll come back and check it out. If you have thoughts or questions, I’m interested in hearing them. Post a comment (you may not see your input right away because I review them before allowing them to post–keeps the spammers out), or you can email me with your thoughts. I’m always interested in how a reader finds me, so let me know that as well.