Jesus could have made a loaf out of the stone.  He did that sort of thing afterwards.  It was not wrong to do it, since, under other circumstances, He did it.  But it is wrong to do anything, even a good thing, at the devil’s suggestion.  He would shun the counsel of the ungodly.  The tempter attacks first the neediest point, the hunger, and in so far the weakest, the likeliest to yield.  Yet it was the strongest, too, for Jesus could make bread.  The strongest point may become the weakest because of the very temptation the possession of strength gives to use it improperly.  Strength used properly remains strength; used improperly it becomes weakness.  The strong points always need guarding, that the balance be not tipped over and lost.  Strength is never greater than when used rightly; never greater than when refused to the improper use.  The essence of sin is in the improper use of a proper thing.

The first step toward victory over temptation is to recognize it.  Jesus’ quick, quiet reply here touches the human heart at once, and touches it at its neediest and most sensitive point, the need of sympathy, of a fellow feeling.  He said, “Man shall not live.”  The tempter said, “God.”  Jesus promptly said, “Man.”  He came to be man, the Son of man, and the Brother of man.  He took His place as a man that day in the Jordan water.  He will not be budged from man’s side.  He will stay on the man level in full touch with His fellows at every step of the way.

He was giving to every man, everywhere in the world, under stress of every temptation; with every rope tugging at its fastenings, and threatening every moment to slip its hold, and the man be lost in the storm, to every man the right, the enormous staying power to say, “Jesus—­a man —­such a one as I—­was here, and as a man resisted—­and won.  He is at my side.  I’ll lean on Him and resist too,—­and win too—­in the strength of His winning.”

Jesus says here, “My life, my food, the supplying of my needs is in the hands of my Father.  When He gives the word, I’ll do:  not before.  I’ll starve if He wishes it, but I’ll not mistrust Him; nor do anything save as He leads and suggests.  I’ll not act at your suggestion, nor anybody’s else but His.  Starving doesn’t begin to bother me like failing to trust would do.  But I haven’t the faintest idea of starving with such a Father.”

“Not by bread alone, but by every word ... of God.”  Not by a loaf, but by a word.  When a man is where God would have him, he can afford to wait patiently till God gives the word.  A man is never unsteadier on his feet than when he has gone where he was not led. “I go at my Father’s word.”  “I wait for my Father’s word.”  Jesus’ study of the parchment rolls in Nazareth was standing Him in good stead now.  Through many a prayerful hour over that Word had come the trained ear, the waiting spirit, the doing of