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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature. Not only those Devos'
which have a different theme everyday but also the ones which revolve around a certain
theme over a period of time, say a fortnight, have richly edified me. In fact, both
styles have their own inherent advantages. If the former style caters to the varying
spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day, the latter aims 'to ground'
a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full benefits of the
deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the
styles' whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different
facets of it which admittedly is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style
than the 'Varying topics' one.
Having dwelt on the topic of Christian journey and the “Conquest of Canaan”
in the previous months, now in the month of March, considering that
we are in the season of Lent, I intend to focus on the subject- “Lent season”.
Once again, let me wish you a happy and an edifying read…
Suresh Manoharan
3rd Lent Day
The wilderness temptation
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil -
Matt 4:1
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Today in this series of devotions centered on the Lenten season, we come to temptations
faced by Jesus in the wilderness (can any meditation on the Lenten season be complete without it?).
Let it be stated here that God in His sovereign wisdom, sometimes allows-this word is used
advisedly- temptations in a man’s life to achieve a greater purpose. Remember how He allowed
troubles to overtake a young Joseph, in order His chosen ones (Joseph’s kith and kin) are
preserved through a subsequent difficult period
(Genesis 45:6). Also it needs to be said here
in this context that even, in this process of accomplishing His higher purposes through our temptations,
He can be trusted to ensure that no temptation exceeds our power to conquer it
(I Cor 10:13)!
So why did the Holy spirit Himself, lead Christ into the wilderness with an express purpose of
exposing him to the satanic temptations? Adam had failed God (who is engaged in the Cosmic war
with the Evil one) in the Garden of Eden, during his very first temptation and who should be
setting record straight for mankind other than the second Adam (apostle Paul likens Christ to
second Adam in his epistle to
Romans 5:15-20 and mind you the stupendous similarity between
Christ and Adam was that, behind both their births’ there was a Divine hand)! We shall also
see in the coming meditations that Christ’s emphatic victory over the satanic temptations in
the Wilderness was not an end in itself but rather only a precursor to his eventual victory
over the Evil foe on the Cross. If Adam succumbed to his very first temptation (part of the
bigger cosmic struggle –refer also to page 3 of my thesis on Nominalism) slurring the name of
his Divine maker in the process, then the second Adam was going to defeat the spiritual adversary
umpteen times in his earthly sojourn to bring glory to his Heavenly Father, in order –as I said
earlier- the record is set right!
Prayer:
Father, who are we to question you, if you allow temptations into our lives to accomplish
thy divine purposes? We know you love us, more than we love ourselves. So we submit ourselves
into thy hands in order thy will be done, very much like your son did during temptations,
which were much more severe than ours. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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