If At First You Don't Succeed

"he departed from Him until an opportune time." ~Luke 4:13

In the Scripture for today, Jesus goes into the desert where he eats and drinks nothing for 40 days; during his fast and isolation, he is tempted by the Devil multiple times.

First, the Devil hits Jesus where it hurts, his stomach. After failing to appeal to his hunger, he gives Jesus the path of world domination--a far greater reward than simply turning a stone into bread. Now, his ultimate temptation is a game of truth or dare.

By calling Jesus's divinity into question, the Devil says, 'If you are the Son of God you surely aren't very powerful because you won't transform a stone and you won't take over the world. Jump off the Temple then and let's see if you are who you say you are.'

Finally, after Jesus overcomes "every tempation" (13), Satan takes his ball and goes home...for now, that is.

In this passage, we see Satan is a believer in the old saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Like an FBI profiler, Satan knows where our weak points are and he's all too willing to apply the pressure. Notice that this pressure isn't necessarily negative; in fact, it's rational. If Jesus is hungry then make some bread; Jesus is already a popular guy, well, then, why not rule the world?; and finally, why not prove yourself? After all, Scripture suggests your actions may be justified.

Satan will try time and again to prod us where we're weak, rationalize the answer, up the ante, and if need be use Scripture to justify his suggestions. But, the only problem with Satan's suggestions is that they are self-serving and not to mention they're predicated on a lot of "what-ifs." That's because Satan can't use the truth, so he uses lies that sound like the truth. Jesus forcefully proclaims, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve'" (8).

Jesus finally gets Satan to leave him alone for the time being by not giving up. That is His example to us. When Satan tries, again and again, to get us to fail we must keep resisting him aided by the power of the Holy Spirit (4:1). Satan will give up and fail but we will prevail as long as we stay faithful! Remember James 4:7, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."

Always improve the present moment.