Jesus Tempted by Satan

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:18.

I read this the other day when reading the Bible. I had to dig deeper into this. I have read all of Matthew, Mark and Luke. I never read much into the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan. But, coming across this verse in Hebrews, forced me to go back and read it again.

The story of Jesus being tempted by Satan is found in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13. My favorite version is from Luke. I feel as if it goes into the most depth of the three books.

After reading all three versions of the story several times, I gathered something that I had never quite acknowledged before.

Jesus, our Savior, the Son of God was led by Satan to the desert. Jesus was tempted for forty days and forty nights, by Satan. Jesus ate nothing during this time. Obviously, after all that time he became hungry. Satan told him to just turn a stone into bread. Jesus responded by saying, Man doesn't live on bread alone. The devil led Satan on top of a high place and told Jesus he could have it all, but Jesus had to worship Satan. Jesus said that we are to worship only the Lord and serve Him only. Satan took Jesus on to the highest point of a temple. Satan quoted Psalm 91:11-12 and told Jesus to throw himself down. Jesus responded by saying we are not to put God to the test.

And after reading that and digesting it, I had a huge realization...

Satan will use the words of the Lord and tweak them just so we still believe it is from the Lord. That makes it very easy for us to fall into the trap of Satan's temptations. If we do not know the Word of the Lord through and through, it will be very easy for Satan to present us with pleasurable offers that sound like they are from God.

Personal Reflection on this... I was at a job that I loved. I had some of the best families in my classroom. I had amazing coworkers. I loved everything about the job. Except, administration wasn't that great. They treated us poorly. But, I was getting paid what I thought to be good money. I applied for a job, went on what seemed to be the worst interview ever, and was offered the job. They offered me more than I had ever been offered! I took the job without any hesitation. I thought this was totally a God thing. An amazing job, wonderful pay. Looking back now, I believe it was a temptation from Satan to chase the money. It sounded like it could be nothing more than an answer to my prayers though, so I snagged it in a heartbeat.

Satan is tricky like that. We must watch out for his ways. We must know God's Word well enough to know what is from God and what is from Satan.