Opportune Time

At the end of Jesus time in the desert where he fasted for 40 days and was tempted by the devil it ended with this verse Luke 4:13 “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” I have written in the margins in the past, what was a more opportune time he was waiting for?

Right now this is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He has been waiting 30 years for this time to come. He has been in the shadows as a carpenter. Watching people that are hurt, sick, lost and couldn’t really do anything about it. Even still he knew that his time would come where he could heal the sick, feed the lost, and change the world literally! Those 30 years of waiting couldn’t have been easy and for him to decide to fast in the desert for 40 days to be prayed up for the next three years of ministry was a serious step. And after that time his was ready to GO! That is why I keep thinking that even though we know that Jesus is perfect and doesn’t sin. I still feel like scripture is right in stating that the devil had to find a better time to tempt Jesus. 

Growing up as a missionary kid, I got to see many pastors and missionaries so thrilled about their upcoming ministry. When a family has everything prepared to go overseas, but all they are waiting for is their visas to the country.  Or a pastor is waiting for a final go ahead to plant that church or let them dream come true. They get antsy. As soon as they hear the word “green light” WHOA it is full steam ahead for both. When we are fired up about our ministry and our calling it is easy to say NO to satan. When we feel like we have a green light for the vision, temptation and discouragement seem like crumbles that we trample on. There is nothing holding us back. These times aren’t the opportune times to discourage us or tempt us. Just like Jesus he was at the beginning of his long awaited ministry. 

Now in the Garden of Gethsename, this is close to Jesus’ lowest moments in ministry. After all this time with his disciples they were sleeping and not keeping watch. One of his disciples is going to betray him soon and another one is going to deny him three times. This seems to be a better time for the devil to tempt him and hit him when he is down. Jesus knows the cross is ahead of him he even pleads with his father to take it from him if possible. Still it is know that he needs to take this path. After all Jesus had done for the Jews the last 3 years they were going to turn on him and sacrifice him up. This has to be one of Jesus’ lowest moments right after the garden. I could imagine that satan would think this would be the better time to throw all those questions again at Jesus that he did in the desert. 

Isn’t that the same for us. We don’t get discourage or tempted when we are on the high hill. It usually happens when we hit a wall or an obstacle in our journey and we are at our lowest. The devil just wants to kick us where it hurts and when we are down already. That is his opportune moment in our lives. When everything seems to be going our way why would satan tempt us, but it is when we feel like God has left us or maybe vision or dream doesn’t seem to turn out exactly as we had planned. We need to be on our guard at all times, but definitely need to watch out for the extra kicks that we get when we are already down and frustrated. The devil just wants you to question about where God is during the pain, but it is THROUGH the PAIN God always SHINES through. It is hard to see it when we feel so alone. Even when we feel like no one understands what we are going through always remember Jesus does. He was the loneliest man by the time he was on the Cross. His father had forsaken him, his disciples had left him, and his people had turned on him. It would seem to me that Jesus was dying for ungrateful people and almost seem pointless, but He did it anyway! And because of his sacrifice the world can be saved! And the story doesn’t end there, Jesus ROSE from the grave! There will always be a turn around. We don’t always know when, but we know that God has won the war. Remember that!! If you are in a battle today for your health, your marriage, your family, your dreams don’t forget who has WON the war…JESUS!