Well, in case you haven't noticed, I haven't been very consistent with my blogging. Finding the time to write has proved much more difficult than I had anticipated. But I will not wave the white flag yet! I've still got fight left in me, so here I am with my brief (I hope), scratch-the-surface (I know) insight into Matthew chapter 4.

This is an incredible passage of Scripture because it gives us a glimpse into Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God. He faced temptations and trials like all mankind, yet it was impossible for Him to sin or to give in to temptation. This is a mystery I may never understand, I suppose because I know my own weakness and tendency toward sin. The sinless Son of God faced the same temptation yet was unable to go against His very nature.

But the beautiful thing is that Christ was tempted. Why is that beautiful? Because I don't think I could worship a God who doesn't know what it's like to be in my shoes. The writer of Hebrews describes Jesus, our High Priest, this way: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). It's also interesting to note that it was God's will for Jesus to be tempted. It wasn't like the devil just sneaked  up on Him when He wasn't expecting it. Matthew 4:1 says that Jesus was "led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."

So how do we respond when faced with temptation? The same way Christ did: with the Word of God. Jesus had a Scriptural response every time the enemy tempted Him. We should follow His example and rely on the only sure defense we have. So how do we know what verse to apply to our specific trial or testing? For that matter, how do we even know that we're being tempted? How do we know whether that thought or desire is from God or from the enemy? How do we even know what sin is, what violates God's law? And how do we implant the Word so deeply in our lives that we are ready "in season and out of season"? (2 Tim. 4:2)

I think the answer to all of those questions is in the first response Jesus gives: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4, Deut. 8:3). Food is something we depend on daily for our survival. It is a basic necessity in life. And yet our source of life is not food, but the words of God. As much as I would wish to, I can't gorge myself during the holidays then fast for the next three months. Even if I pig out one day, somehow I'm still hungry for breakfast the next day. It's the same way with God's Word. We can't speed-read the entire Bible in a week, then expect it to last us the whole year. It is something we should be filling ourselves with every day. The only way we can really hide God's Word in our hearts is if we are spending our time there consistently. And I believe we also need to read the whole Bible, trying to gain an accurate understanding of God's truth, so that when the enemy comes at us with Scripture that he twists, we will have enough confidence in who we know God is that we can spot Satan's lies.

Incidentally, all of the Scriptures Jesus quoted were from the book of Deuteronomy. So I'll follow His example and leave with the Shema. My prayer is that these verses would be true in our own lives, not in the form of phylacteries or the legalism of the Pharisees, but that His Word would be in our hearts and on our minds and in all our conversations, that His Word would permeate into every area of our lives, and that, when faced with temptations and trials, His Word would be so dear to us and so alive in our hearts that the enemy shrinks from the words of God spoken by our lips.