tempted

I have my times when I struggle with temptation. Sometimes, when opportunity meets inclination, I can spend a difficult hour wavering between giving in and praying my way through it. I can't imagine what Jesus did.

Read about it in Mark 1:12-13: "At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him."

One moment, baptism in the river, the dove from heaven, and your father's voice saying how pleased he is with you, and the next you're off to the wilderness. For forty days. Forty days of Satan in your face, promising, tantalizing, teasing. For forty days you have to stay strong; Satan only has to beat you for a moment and he wins.

Jesus held up through all that, without wavering once. I know, he was God, but still, I can't imagine what that was like. What a miserable time! Even if you have the strength, to have to put up with what you hate the most for that long!

If you hate one of the candidates as much as some people do, imagine forty days of that person's voice and promises. Or forty days of songs from that performer you scorn. Or forty days in a room with your most hated rival. 

In some ways it doesn't seem any more serious than that - Jesus was always better than Satan. But in some ways it was deadly serious. Here, as much as at the cross, the bitter contest for my soul was fought. Here Jesus faced that thing that tripped up Adam and Eve and has snared every human ever born. He took the best and worst Satan could throw at him and never wavered in his purpose.

By doing that he proved that his life would be the sacrifice that would finally be enough. He shared what we face so he could do what we can't. His forty days were different than my weak hours in almost every way I can imagine. 

Praise God they were. What a Savior!