Stones Are Not Snacks: Why Jesus Didn’t Fall for That Foolishness”

As I read Matthew 4 something struck me about Jesus’, satan and the devil’s (i.e., the tempter’s) interaction. For those who may not know, Matthew 4 is the chapter where,

‘Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward…the tempter came to Him, [and] “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

After initially getting over the fact that the devil actually tried to tempt Jesus, I began to see that he – the tempter - was in fact, trying to convince Jesus that he had his best interest at heart.

Knowing that Jesus hadn’t eaten in forty days, for the devil to then provide a solution to his hunger, could on the surface appear thoughtful. But you have to wonder,

If he was so concerned, why didn’t he bring the Lord a plate?

Instead, he merely provided the recipe and even recommended a quick fix.

The two were in the wilderness. A place where there was nothing but rocks, cliffs and little to no vegetation. Yet here he (the devil) was with a seemingly thoughtful solution – command stones to become bread, and if the Lord had not known the Word of God for Himself, He could have commanded a few matzah rolls.

But there’s an even bigger issue that I want you to see.

Not only was the devil being disingenuous, but he was attempting to plant misinformation (wrong information, a lie, a devilish way of doing something) into the heart of the Son of God, and here’s why.

The devil knew Jesus was about to go into full-time ministry which meant he had to try to get an upper hand before His ministry began. Therefore, when he made the stony bread suggestion, he was, in fact, trying to teach the Lord how to do things his way.

Evidence of this can be found in Matthew 14:14-20 which says,

¹⁴ And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. ¹⁵ When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

It was at this point satan was sure that the Lord would remember his stony bread solution but instead the Lord said, “Bring them here to Me.”…And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. ²⁰ So they all ate and were filled…’

On another occasion, the enemy thought the Lord would implement his strategy when it reads,

³² Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” ³³ Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?” - Matthew 15:32, 33

Satan thought Jesus was going to say, “Well, we are here on this mountain, and there is nothing but stones here. I’ll just turn a few of these into bread.” Instead, the Lord said, “How many loaves do you have?” …and He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. (vv.34-36)

In both instances, the enemy was hoping Jesus drew on the misinformation he had provided in the wilderness which would mean that the Son of God had obeyed His Father’s arch enemy. Thankfully, He did not.

I bring this to your attention my dear reader because after the Holy Spirit revealed this to me, I began to see there had to be a reason.

Why would God be highlighting those verses?

It’s because somewhere in my life,

I had acted on the misinformation of satan and had incorporated a lie (his way of doing things) in my own life.

And the same can be true for you.

The enemy of our souls has given us ideas or a way of doing things that is not of God (nor is it in His Word), but because God is so good, He is mercifully bringing it to our attention.

My prayer for you, my dear reader, is that you would stop and repent. As a matter of fact, why don’t you…

Pray this with me: Heavenly Father, please forgive me. There have been wilderness places in my life where I was hungry and thirsty for money, an answer, opportunity, or companionship and I took the devil’s advice and did things juxtaposed to You. I repent and ask that You reveal those things to me, and with the help of Your Holy Spirit, I will get into the Word and find out what You have to say about that situation and do those things Your way. In Jesus’ name.