Luke 4:13 "Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time."
In reading Luke 4:1-12, we might assume that these tempations came one after the other - in close sucession. However, verse 13 says that after every temptation, the devil waited for an opportune time to come back.
When is an opportune time for temptation?
The opportune time comes when we are already weak - perhaps tired, lonely, hungry, frustrated, sad . . . all of these things Jesus may have experienced in the wildernes.
The opportune time was not when others were around. The devil did not attack when there was a witness or someone to come to Jesus' aid. (Not that Jesus was in need of anyone's aid.) *Be mindful of times that you're isolated and where your thoughts will take you while you're alone.
The opportune time was not while Jesus was full. He'd fasted for 40 days and although it seems like common sense, verse 2 makes a point of saying "He was hungry." Maybe I'm the only one who is cranky when I'm hungry. Whoa baby - cranky in a way you would not believe. I can feel the shift happening from the inside and I search for the nearest food in order to keep others around me safe. In this weakened, hungry state, it is easy to become a version of ourselves that we don't like as well. So - certainly - for me the devil comes when I'm hungry. Hunger is the devil.
The opportune time did not come while Jesus was rested. The passage does not say that Jesus slept for 40 days. It says he was "tempted for forty days by the devil." That's a long time to say no. Some of us can't say no for 40 hours or 40 minutes - let alone 40 days. And sometimes doing the right things takes more energy than doing the wrong thing. It's easy to give in . . .to take shortcuts . . . to do what "everyone else" would do. But at the risk of sounding cliche - What did Jesus do?
Knowing that Jesus was tempted is important for the rest of us. It's important to know that the presence of tempation in our lives does not make us bad, or wrong. It's important to know that we will be tempted for as long as we are in the wilderness. For some of us the wilderness last a day, for others it last a lifetime. It's also important for us to recognize that Jesus turned each "opportune time" into a way to magnify and glorify His Father.
And after His wilderness experience, He went about doing His Father's work in a miraculous way. One might argue that He was stronger for the experience. . . that His ministry benefitted from His trials.
And doesn't it make Jesus just a little more human for us? And doesn't it make us feel like, if even for a moment, God was one of us? And if He can be, even for a moment, like us . .. perhaps we can be, even for a moment - in moments of temptation - like Him.
