Luke 4:1-4
Find a place and time free of distractions for the next 7-10 minutes. Take a moment to settle into your surroundings and then begin to recognize your breath. As you breathe in, call on the name of Jesus and become aware of his presence with you. As you breathe out, open your mind and heart to receive whatever Jesus has for you today.
Read Luke 4:1-4 remembering that just prior to these events, Jesus was affirmed by God the Father after his baptism.
In our last passage we saw the initiation of Jesus’ public ministry as he identified with sinful humanity through the act of baptism. Now, filled with God’s Spirit, Jesus is led into the wilderness for a time of testing and preparation. For 40 days (one day for each of the years God’s people spent wandering in the wilderness) Jesus will depend solely on God to sustain him, and where the people of God failed to trust God, Jesus will remain steadfast.
Throughout the biblical narrative, people who heard and responded to God’s call on their lives had a time of preparation before they were able to fully live out God’s purpose for them. Jesus laid aside his power and privilege when he was born into the human family, and now he relies fully on God during his time of preparation for the mission ahead.
Stop to think about where you might be on the spectrum of hearing and responding to God’s call on your life. Has God made your purpose clear to you? Are you in a time of preparation – possibly in the wilderness? Or are you actively engaged in living out God’s call on your life? Contemplate this for a moment and talk openly with Jesus about your thoughts and desires.
Read Luke 4:1-4 again noticing the specific way Jesus is tempted.
After forty days without food, Jesus’ hunger is more than a craving - it is a signal that he is about to starve. The temptation presented to him is to cease trusting God and to save himself instead. But Jesus knows the Scriptures, so he knows that God has much to do through him before his death. And Jesus remains firm in his dependence on God.
The biblical narrative is also full of stories of those who were called by God and then tried to take matters into their own hands when the going got tough. Through his unwavering faith in the Father, Jesus succeeds where so many others failed.
When God calls and we respond in obedience we would do well to remember that much of the world through which we move is still enslaved to brokenness and evil. How are you trusting Jesus even in the midst of temptations and legitimate difficulties and challenges?
Talk to Jesus about this, and then get quiet and listen to him.
What does Jesus want you to learn through his first temptation?
What will you do to put that into action in your own life today?
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