There are plenty of stories in the Bible about temptation, but we will just look at three. The first story in the Bible about temptation is in Genesis 3, where Satan, in the guise of a snake, tempts Eve into eating an apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve must have been used to having animals talk to her because she wasn't afraid at all of a talking snake. Unfortunately, Eve gave into temptation and ate of the fruit of the tree and even worse, gave it to Adam to eat.
Another story about temptation in the Bible is the story of Samson and Delilah, which you can find in Judges 16. Delilah, in league with the Philistines, used her powers of persuasion to have Samson tell her how to make his strength go away so that the Philistines could tie him up. Samson got the last laugh, however - he leaned against the pillars of the temple and pushed them so that the temple fell on the Philistines and killed them.
The last story we will touch on is the story of Jesus in the wilderness and how he was tempted by Satan after fasting for 40 days. Satan tried tempting Jesus with bread, with angels saving Jesus from bodily harm, and with the power of ruling all the countries of the earth if only Jesus would bow down and worship Satan. Jesus, of course, didn't fall for any of Satan's wiles. He is God and God can't be tempted.
In the first two stories, Satan used other people to tempt his targets. In our third story, Satan himself was the tempter. Satan, or someone he is working through, is always the tempter. God never tempts us. James 1:16 states: "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone."
As Christians, we must always be on our guard against Satan and his wiles. In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter says, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Satan loves nothing better than to take a Christian down. If we see a fellow Christian being led astray, we should encourage them and help them keep their eyes upon Jesus.
So how can we keep from being tempted? If there is something in our life that causes us to sin, Satan will use that to his advantage. So we should stay away from what causes us to be tempted to sin, whether it be pornography, alcohol, drugs, etc. We should keep our eyes on Jesus, using prayer and staying in God's Word to keep us on the straight and narrow. In Philippians 4:8, Paul states: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things." Meditating on good things will keep us from getting tempted by bad things.
Thanks as always for reading! See you next time!
Diane
