And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove...The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
The Same Holy Spirit Who Came On Jesus At His Baptism Drives Him Out Into The Desert To Face Temptation.
God is never responsible for the evil in this world or the temptations that my produce it. He does ordain evil for the purposes of His good plan. Often, many of the most severe temptations and trials follow big spiritual decisions and highs.
I read this devotion a few days ago in New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp. I think it will be very beneficial in your understand and engagement with temptation, as it was with me.
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The Bible calls you, as a believer, to live with three realities in view: The first greets you every day. It is the reality that you live in a world that has been dramatically broken by sin and does not function the way God intended. Paul says it very well in Romans 8, noting that the whole world is “groaning” as it waits for redemption. Because the world you live in isn’t operating as per God’s original design, it presents you with temptations everywhere you live. These temptations play to the sin and weakness that still lives inside you and that is being progressively eradicated by God’s transforming grace. You and I must live temptation-aware; to fail to do so is to fail to recognize the fallenness of the world that happens to be the address where we live.The second reality is that even though we are God’s children, we lack the power on our own to fight the spiritual battles in which the world of sin and temptation engages us. As we face our vulnerability and weakness, there are things you and I should pray for regularly. We should pray for purity of desire, wisdom to recognize the enemy’s tricks, and strength to fight the battles we can’t avoid. All of this comes out of a humble recognition that wrong doesn’t always look wrong to us. What God says is dangerous doesn’t always seem dangerous. Evil doesn’t always appear so evil in our eyes. So we need protection, not just from external temptation but from our own blind eyes and wandering hearts.
Finally, you and I are welcomed as God’s children to rest in the reality that in this fallen world that throws temptation at us every day, we are never, ever alone. God is with us. He provides the safety we could never provide for ourselves. He fights on our behalf even when we don’t have the sense to resist. He gives us wisdom and strength at those moments when that’s exactly what we need. You and I can face the harsh realities of life in this broken world with courage and hope because we do not face them all by ourselves. Immanuel (“God with us”) is indeed with us in power, glory, and grace. The words of Zephaniah 3:17 ring with as much hope today as they did generations ago when they were penned: “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.”
