Luke
4:13, “So the Devil, having finished all the temptation, departed from him
until another convenient time.” (Also translated "opportune time")
What
was “convenient” about that particular time to tempt Jesus? Verse 2 of the same
chapter indicates that Jesus was (understandably) hungry. Satan, knowing this,
made the very first temptation that of selfishly using the powers Jesus had in
order to miraculously make instant food for himself. Although he was hungry, Jesus
demonstrated mental alertness and moral resolve.
Scripture
does not mention that Satan found any other convenient time to make a direct
challenge to Jesus. But that one episode helps me to see that Satan looks for “convenient”
times in all of our lives as well. That made me ponder the question, “What
convenient times come up in people’s lives that the opportunist Satan would try
to take advantage of to weaken our resolve, discourage us, or make us act
contrary to the direction given us in God’s Word, the Bible?”
Here
are some I thought of, perhaps you can think of others: In the three tests
Satan put Jesus through, Satan saw an opportunity in …
1)
Perceived physical weakness (the need for food and to maintain our health). With our imperfections, sometimes our health issues can extend into emotional and mental stresses. We can begin to doubt that anyone cares for us (including God), that we are worth anything, that there is anything worth living for. All of those are our imperfect "heart" talking, but Satan can take note of the "opportunity" by making things appear more gloomy than they really are.
2)
Self-worth (our desire for prominence or even to be valued more than scripture
indicates we should expect). Satan tried
to draw this out of Jesus in all three tests.
In suggesting he turn stones into food, he suggested Jesus has the right
to use his powers to feed himself. In suggesting he accept all the kingdoms of
the world, Satan fed on the human desire for greatness. In suggesting Jesus fool-heartedly
throw himself off a high place, Satan wanted Jesus to misuse his relationship with
his Father to protect against stupid actions.
3)
Moral. (When people think of morals, they usually think of truth verse lies,
sexual misconduct, murder and such things. Yet all of the temptations Satan
gave Jesus were also moral. Arrogantly trusting in our own ability, the desire
to be “someone” important, the desire for wealth, the desire for the adrenalin
rush that excitement and sporting activities that could result in physical harm
are all moral issues.)
4)
Personal understanding of scripture and life. When Satan quoted from Psalm
91:11,12, he misapplied it as an excuse to engage in life-threatening action.
(Luke 4:9-11). He does the same thing to us. For example, when we read at 2
Thessalonians 3:10 "If anyone does not want to work, neither let him
eat." and further we read 1 Timothy 1:8 "Certainly if anyone does not
provide for those who are his own, and especially for those who are members of
his household, he has disowned the faith and is worse than a person without
faith," we might wrongly conclude that employment is more important that
our relationship with Jehovah and hence become irregular in our Bible reading,
our meeting attendance and our ministry. When we think that way, we are
forgetting Jesus’ response to the first temptation Satan threw his way. Jesus
said “Man must not live on bread alone.” That was a quote from Deuteronomy
8:3 which continues to say we must live not only on food but more
importantly on God’s Word. In other words, our obedience to God’s direction is
more important than what we perceive to be a necessity. In short, if a personal
understanding of something we read in scripture results in taking us away from
service to our God, jeopardizes our loyalty to God or anything that can put us
at odds with God, the opportunist Satan has made good use of the situation and
conveniently hurt us spiritually.
