The Evil One and Temptation

"Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'" Gen. 3:1

The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Matt. 4:3

In past blogs, we have seen a bit of Satan's character.  He is a liar, a murderer, and he seeks to work through fear.  Today we need to see why fear is such an effective tool of the tempter.  To help us understand this concept, we will look at the fall of humanity in Genesis 3 and Jesus' temptation in Matt. 4.

In both of these passages, Satan's first move is to call into question the character of God.  "Did God really say...." "If you are the Son of God...."  Both of these statements point to a flaw in God's character that Satan believes everyone should see.  Of course there is no flaw in God's character!  Eve takes the bait and she begins the process of the fall.  Jesus know that He is the Son of God, so he does not have to prove anything.  He completely sidesteps the temptation by quoting and living the truth, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matt. 4:4)

Why did Eve fall?  What was her underlying sin?  I think ultimately the crack in her armor was that of lacking faith and trust in God.  In discussing the consequences of the fall, John Calvin observes that many vestiges of the Image of God remain in us.  Thus, the fall does not mean that we are as evil as possible, because we still have the ability to express love.  Love remains a vestige of our created good.  Yet, he claims, and I agree with him, that the attribute of faith was completely lost in the fall.  Eve lacks faith in God's character and the fall begins.  She begins to reason to herself and explain away what God has said.  Eventually, she does exactly the opposite of what God said!  On the other hand, Jesus maintains His trust in God's character, and He resists the temptation to handle his hunger on his own.  He lives in faith and trust in God to provide.

Satan's primary temptation is to get us to trust ourselves and our strength instead of relying upon God.  When faced with a decision, if we do not look to God for answers through His word and wise counsel, we are falling right into Satan's primary temptation.

I believe one reason we do not see much outright demonization in America is that Satan's primary temptation matches perfectly with our vision of the World and the Flesh.  In other words, in the West Satan does not have to tempt or drive to fear from direct attack because believers and unbelievers are marked by self-effort, self-righteousness, and a lack of real day to day faith in the Living God.  Everything about our culture tells us to "trust our hearts" and to "follow our own path."  The World works in perfect tandem with the temptations of Satan.  Our biggest problem is that this temptation also works perfectly with our fallen fleshly nature that loves this message!  We would like nothing more than to be the captain of our own ship and the master of our own soul.  On Satan's side, why risk exposure by being out in the open when the World and Flesh are already keeping believers and unbelievers unfruitful and lacking God's power that comes by faith?

Faith and trust is something that must be nurtured and built.  It is given by divine grace, but it does not come naturally to our fallen nature.  We must cultivate it!  Start by how you organize your day.  Take time to listen to God's Word and to meet with Him in prayer.  Ask Him for wisdom with the decisions you need to make.  At work and home begin to involve God in decisions that you usually just make out of habit or your strengths.  

Walk in faith and you will learn to defeat the primary temptation of the Evil One!  Be particularly vigilant when you feel fear.  Fear prompts us to make choices without faith.  We do not consult God or His Word.  We just react.  How can we have faith and fear at the same time?  Be aware that in our very spiritual world, Satan and his forces are lurking tempting us to work in our own strength without reference to God.  If you have lived in this manner, repent and believe the gospel!  

Walk in faith and you will learn to defeat the primary temptation of the Evil One!