The night before He was crucified Jesus went to the Garden
of Gethsemane to pray with Peter, James, and John. Jesus instructed them to watch
and pray with Him: “Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." He went a little
farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is
possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You
will." Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to
Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest
you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak." (Matthew 26:38-41).
Remember we mentioned how Jesus was praying after His
baptism (Luke 3:21) in preparation for His public ministry. If Jesus, the Son
of God, needed to pray to fulfill the Father’s will for His life, how much more
do we need to pray! When the great temptation came to avoid the cross, Jesus
prayed and accepted the Father’s will and drank the cup of our sins. Jesus was
ready and prepared for the suffering of the cross! Peter didn’t pray but was
sleeping and when he was tempted to deny Jesus he failed miserably and wept
bitterly. Peter must have learned his lesson because later he wrote: “Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing
that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
In this first temptation in verses 3-4, Satan suggested
that there must be something wrong with the Father's love since His
"beloved Son" was hungry. In years past Israel hungered in the
wilderness, and God sent them bread from heaven; so surely Jesus could use His
divine power to feed Himself and save His life. Satan subtly used this same
approach on Eve: "God is holding out on you! Why can't you eat of every
tree in the Garden? If He really loved you, He would share everything with
But the test was even more subtle than that, for Satan was
asking Jesus to separate the physical from the spiritual. In the Christian
life, eating is a spiritual activity, and we can use even our daily food to
glorify God (Rom. 14:20-21; 1 Cor. 10:31). Whenever we label different spheres
of our lives "physical," "material," "financial,"
or "spiritual," we are bound to leave God out of areas where He
rightfully belongs. Christ must be first in everything, or He is first in
nothing (Matt. 6:33). It is better to be hungry in the will of God than
satisfied out of the will of God.
When our Lord quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, He put the emphasis
on the word man. As the eternal Son of God, He had power to do anything; but as
the humble Son of man, He had authority to do only that which the Father
willed. (Note carefully John 5:17, 30; 8:28; 10:17-18; 15:10, 15.) As the
Servant, Jesus did not use His divine attributes for selfish purposes (Phil.
2:5-8). Because He was man, He hungered; but He trusted the Father to meet His
needs in His own time and His own way.
You and I need bread for the body (Matt. 6:11), but we must
not live by physical bread alone. We also need food for the inner person to
satisfy our spiritual needs. This food is the Word of God (Ps. 119:103; Jer.
15:16; 1 Peter 2:2). What digestion is to the body, meditation is to the soul.
As we read the Word and meditate on it, we receive spiritual health and
strength for the inner person, and this enables us to obey the will of God.
My friend, it is absolutely necessary to take the time to
pray and meditate on God’s Word in preparation for the challenges each day
brings! Jesus taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread…, and
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one…” (Matthew 6:9-13).
