Temptation

When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, he did so by questioning the Word of God.  "Did God actually say, 'you can’t eat of the tree in the garden'?"  Then he said that what God said really isn't true.


But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  Genesis 3:4-5


When Satan tempted Jesus, he questioned the Word of God.


And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."  Matthew 4:3


"If you are the Son of God".  Four verses earlier, when Jesus was being baptized, the Father just told Him, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased".  (Matthew 3:17)  Satan is questioning what God just said to Jesus.  Jesus is able to withstand the temptation and questioning of the Word of God with the Word of God.


But he answered, "It is written,
"'Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"  Matthew 4:4


When Satan tempts us, he is questioning the Word of God.


He is asking us, "Did God REALLY say that (X,Y, or Z) won't bring true happiness?" 
"Did God REALLY say that He is the only source of true joy and the only way to be completely content and satisfied?  There are actually other ways…"


As we have seen from when Jesus was tempted, the only way to resist the enemy is the Word of God.  So when you are being tempted with something or someone, the underlying temptation is that the Word of God is not true and Christ is not sufficient.  This is not true.  Resist temptation by running to Scripture, which is the Word of God, and by running to Christ, who IS the Word of God.


No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.  1 Corinthians 10:13