Read Your Bible!

“And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry” (Matthew 4:3).

There is only one recorded time when the devil comes to tempt Jesus. Matthew chapter four recounts it. Now, an interesting fact about the words he chooses to record: it mentions that Jesus was hungry. Usually the Bible just says the bare facts and doesn’t make a fuss over things like hunger and love and happiness and such, but this time, it speaks of Jesus hungering. At first I was surprised, as this was not expected, but as I think on it more, I realize that this is not an excess adjective, because right after it mentions his being hungry, Satan comes to tempt him. Moreover, Satan tempts him the area of food—challenging him by saying to turn the stones into bread.

I believe the reason God chose to place those words in there was to teach us a lesson. A lesson where we learn that, like Jesus, who ‘was tempted in every way we are’ (Hebrews 4:15), the tempter comes when we are hungry. And I should hope you know that I don’t mean physical food! I mean when we allow ourselves to fast from God’s Word, which is the bread of the life, it is detrimental.

God calls his Word our sword (Ephesians 6:17). When that was written, it was during the time of Roman soldiers with their swords and armor, and those Romans had their swords with them all the time. They never, ever let that weapon out of sight or out of reach, but kept it constantly sharp, and at the ready. We are obliged to imitate this if we don’t want to be ‘hungry.’ Many times in my life, I have decided it would be alright to just skip reading my Bible for one day, because I was so tired or too busy. That is such a terrible mistake! Days when I make that decision, and am hungry, the tempter comes much oftener, and I don’t have the strength I need to resist, causing me to be prone to anger and pride and all manner of unseemly things.

We can’t let ourselves get hungry. We have got to decide to read our Bibles every single day, and never, ever miss.