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Matthew 4 records an interesting element of the devil’s assault on Christ. “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Matthew 4:5-7) This temptation happened on an exalted part of the temple itself, the building that was supposed to be for the worship of God. In this case, however, the devil ended up trying to use it to further his cause.

Sometimes we reach an exalted point in our Christian lives, a place where we are doing the work of God, a place where we are exalting and glorifying God, and He has exalted and blessed us. Then we start to have troubles and the great exalted position seems to come tumbling down. Even the work for God may seem to ebb.

In Matthew 3, the evangelist recorded how, after Christ’s baptism, the Spirit descended visibly upon Him, and a voice from heaven declared God’s pleasure in Him. Then the picture changes to that of Christ hungering in the wilderness, with the devil coming and tempting Him. Mark’s description of this event shows us the vivid contrast between these two situations: “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.” (Mark 1:9-13) The power of God in Christ had just begun to be made manifest to the world, and then—suddenly—the Spirit sends Him into the wilderness, away from the crowds, and the devil comes to try to destroy Him. Since Christ is God, shouldn’t the Jews have brought Him to the temple so that they could worship Him? But instead, the devil brought Him to the temple to tempt Him.

Paul received great revelations from God. He was allowed to see things that other men could not, and he even was used by God to write much of the New Testament. But a messenger from Satan was allowed to come to buffet him. Paul prayed that God would make the problem leave him. It didn’t. He prayed again that it might leave. It didn’t. He prayed again, and then God explained that this problem kept Paul from pride, so that he would continue to allow the power of God to work in his life.

God does not want us to get puffed up in His work, making us unusable. At the same time, the devil doesn’t want us to succeed in God’s work, and he comes to tempt us. God allows us to have temptations, but He gives us strength to conquer them, and He uses them to build up our faith. “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:2-4) We have to endure to the end to be able to finish the course with joy (Acts 20:24). We have to follow God and do His work even when the course seems rough and fruitless. Will we follow Him? Will we “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (II Timothy 2:3)?