A long time ago, in a desert far away Jesus winced in pain as He stared at a magnificent angel. Satan, disguised as a mighty being of light stood before Jesus exuding raw power and bold confidence. Jesus, who hadn’t eaten in 40 days, tottered on weak legs. His vision blurred, and His stomach grumbled.    Satan glanced at Jesus’ belly and grinned. “You’re hungry.” Then the angel stooped down, picked up a smooth stone and rolled in his powerful hand. Satan spoke. “All the angels and I were there when you created this planet. I remember the awesome power of your words. You spoke and created light. Your words were so powerful.”   Satan looked at Jesus and tossed him the stone. Jesus caught it but didn’t break eye contact.    Satan continued, “You will need that power to accomplish your mission. So before you begin your ministry, all of heaven needs to know that you have the ability to take care of yourself, to save yourself.”    Jesus didn’t speak. His face was calm, his eyes were bold.    Satan couldn’t tell if his disguise had worked, so he pointed to the rock still in Jesus’ hands. “You haven’t performed a miracle or shown a sign of your true nature for thirty years. It’s time to speak again, to create again. If you are the Son of God, turn that stone into bread.”    Satan had prepared for this very moment for centuries. He had strategized every word, every gesture, every pause for the most powerful effect. And now he waited for the perfect few seconds and then pounced, “Do it, and prove to the Universe that you truly are the Son of God.”   Jesus, weak and emaciated from hunger and thirst, seemed like an easy mark in front of the brilliant angel. Yet, beneath the human frailty, Jesus had an invisible Source of strength. He had faith.   Jesus too, had been preparing for this moment, countless hours pouring over the Scriptures, meditating on their meanings, memorizing the sacred verses, hundreds of early mornings, up before dawn, walking, listening, and praying in the fields.    During all those hours, Jesus had learned one thing: God’s got this. No matter what, no matter the issue, no matter the struggle, no matter the need. God’s got this.    And at this very moment of his temptation, Jesus chose to trust.   Jesus chose to pray. And as he silently prayed, Jesus saw the trap.    Would Jesus trust in God to provide for His needs, or would He give in to doubt and try to save himself?    God called Him into the desert. For 40 days God had kept His body going without food or water. Could Jesus trust in God for just a little bit longer, or was it time to take matters into His own hands?   Jesus bowed his head and took a long, slow breath. God’s got this, He said silently. Then a Bible verse flashed into His mind.    Jesus looked up and stared into satan’s eyes, Jesus tossed the rock away. It cracked and rolled across the craggy ground. Jesus spoke. “It is written: Man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”   In one simple reply, Jesus demolished the doubts, the fears, and the lies of satan.    Jesus was saying, “I trust in my Father. I don’t have to prove my identity to you or his love for me. I don’t have to save myself. God will provide.”    Inside Satan boiled with rage. In one simple move, in one simple verse, Jesus had put him in checkmate. He had hoped that Jesus would argue and try to reason with him as so many other humans had done. But Jesus sidestepped the debate and went straight to the root: God’s character. Jesus declared that God was good and worthy of His trust, even if he was starving.    Satan swallowed his anger and smiled. He must maintain his disguise as an angel. His next temptation was even more sinister, he would trick Jesus through religion. Satan looked up towards heaven, nodded and said, “Now the Father wants me to take you to the temple. It’s time to prove your faith.”   Then satan snapped his fingers, and suddenly both of them disappeared. The desert was empty, and the rock still lay on the ground.  Satan’s first temptation failed to work with the greatest Man who ever lived, but it has been quite successful with the rest of us men.    The message is loud and clear, “You can’t trust in God. You have to save yourself. You are responsible for the outcome.”   As humans, we are all responsible for certain areas: our emotions, our thoughts, our attitudes, our actions. But as humans, we are not responsible for the end results, for the outcomes.   That is God’s responsibility.    When we get these two roles mixed up, we fall into the traps of pride, anxiety, greed, or depression.   When we struggle with one of these negative choices, we need to step back and see if we are taking God’s place and trying to control the outcomes.  God does a much better job at saving and solving than we do.    Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego understood this. On the majestic plain of Dura, a golden statue shone in the morning sun. Standing over 90 feet tall and glittering with gold, this idol held the promise of life and death. Life for everyone who obeyed the king’s command to worship, and death for anyone who dared to defy his orders.  Yet when the music played, when thousands fell to their knees, three men remained standing. They could feel the pressure to conform, they knew the rewards for obedience, they could see the black smoke rising from the furnace. But still they stood.  Rough hands grabbed them and dragged them before the king. When given another chance, one of the men boldly spoke, “We will only worship the one true God, and He can save us from your fire, but even if He doesn’t, we will never bow down to your idol.”   Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego took responsibility for their actions, but they left the outcome in God’s hands. Faith lets go of the outcome and trusts in God’s wisdom, God’s timing, and God’s purpose.    Satan tempts men when he distracts us with problems, with temptations, with deadlines, with bills, with demanding people, as as we take our eyes off Jesus, we forget His promises, His loving character.   We forget “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you,” Matthew 6:33. We forget “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all,” Psalm 34:19. We forget “I am with you always, even till the end of the world,” Matthew 28:30. We forget that God’s got this.    Instead, we hear the message of the world, “You’re on your own. So Get ‘er done. Grit your teeth and push hard. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Survival of the fittest. You are the master of your fate, the captain of your soul. You are a man. It’s all up to you.” When we swallow this poisonous philosophy, our thinking becomes clouded and we begin to think, “I’ve got this.”   And so many men step out of a life of faith and trust and into a life of strain and stress. We compete. We complicate. We compromise.       We strap on the weight of the world and chase success, acceptance, wealth, worth.    All the while not knowing that we are falling for the first temptation. Will we trust in God to save us or will we try to save ourselves?    We forget that because three men of faith chose to trust, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego not only survived the furnace, but they walked with God in the fire.    Jesus is the Blueprint for Men, and in his first temptation of the wilderness, Jesus shows us how to conquer. He used one simple Bible verse, a verse a child could memorize, a verse that reminds us that God’s got this.   Before the battle, Jesus spent time in the Word. He read it, meditated on it, memorized it. He ate it, ingested it, made it a part of his soul, and when he needed the strength, the clarity, and power of God’s word, it was there.    That is why our daily habits are so important. That’s why our spiritual disciplines are vital. These actions don’t save us or earn God’s love, but they do equip us, they prepare us for battle, they build our faith in God’s goodness.   And when our day in the desert comes, when all our strength is gone and satan is standing in front of us, when he fills our minds with doubt and our hearts with fear, when he says that we are on our own and that God won’t save us, we will bow our heads and whisper like Jesus, God’s got this. And the perfect verse will come to mind.   Then we will stand straight, shoulders back, chin held high. We will look evil right in the eye. And we will speak words of power.   We will say, “It is written….”   And like Jesus, we will be victorious.    God Bless.