In the war between good and evil, it is a surety that any man who goes it alone against evil will be pounded and marred as surely as were those spikes that pierced the Savior’s flesh. Hence, that you might not be pounded, this meaningful story has been preserved.

After Jesus was baptized, the Spirit filled Him and took Him into the wilderness to be with His Father. Fasting and feasting for forty days, Jesus communed with the Father in the midst of the beauty and beasts of the desert quiet. He and the Father drew very close. But then, the Spirit withdrew, the Father left Him, and hunger tore at the Savior’s body.

It was then that the devil came, as he always comes, desiring to wreck that close relationship wrought by prayer.

“… If thou be the Son of God,” he whispered tauntingly, “command [that] these stones [that they] be made bread.” (Matthew 4:3)

It was as if he was saying “Well, you’re the Son of God aren’t you? You don’t deserve to suffer like this. You have the power. Make bread! Eat!”

Now my friends, there’s nothing wrong with making bread, and there’s nothing sinful about eating it either. So where’s the temptation? It is that any action contrary to the will of the Father is wrong. God had not yet given the word for Jesus to end His fast. Bread is not wrong unless partaken of at the wrong time.

Thus Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4) ‘I need to eat, but I need to obey my Father more.’

By this choice can you see that Jesus avoided the very thing that damns most of humanity, trading what we want most forever for what our body demands now?

Why did the Father leave Him? It’s because a good man can only be a good man if he chooses good while facing evil. All men, and especially the Son of God, must be fairly offered good and evil, and then choose between the two, which they really want.

With that, don’t be surprised then when it seems that you are all alone, my friend, in your times of tormentous testing. It will feel like it, but I assure you, you are not.

The needs and passions of our physical body are like electricity. They’re very good and very powerful when properly understood and controlled, but they are deadly when handled carelessly. It’s true that we came here to Earth to get a body and be tested. But you know, so many of the high point questions of that celestial exam deal with the body, that the body might as well be the test of mortality. The scriptures call it chains of darkness, but we call it ‘addiction.’ Either way, uncontrolled indulgence of the body suspends agency and makes men slaves to it, and tumbleweeds before Lucifer’s winds.

It is true: The devil is a roaring lion, prowling about “…seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) But that does not mean that we have to be dozing warthogs staked in place.

We have a Savior who has faced the full fury of the temptations of the body, and He won. Come to Him – even if that’s all the strength you have left. Believe Him and come to Him, and He will help – I promise.