"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."
Who would have thought that the blessed and gentle Holy Spirit of God would lead the sinless Son of God into a wilderness, to be tempted by the crass and carnal devil? We tend to have these notions, that the Lord would never do something like this--that it is somehow out of character (for Him).
But all this is because we do not yet fully understand the ways of God. He sometimes leads His own churchmen into situations where they will be tempted to sin; all the while, at the same time, commanding them--as in the Lord's Prayer--to ask not to be led "into temptation." Are you going through temptation today? Recognize that Jesus faced it, too. Pray for God to deliver you, (as He did the Messiah).
[Puritan quote of the day: "Sin gains not, but is a loser by every fall of the godly." --William Bridge, in "A Lifting Up for the Downcast"]
