Hunger brings out the worst in us. I’m sure you’ve seen it in small children. When I’m hungry, I might snap at my husband, complain about the lack of food in our house, or lunge for the last doughnut before anyone else can claim it. “Hangry” is today’s slang for it, where appetite meets anger.
God uses hunger to test us in the wilderness. Will our empty stomachs cause us to cry out to God, or will we shake our fist at Him and accuse Him of not loving us? Will our empty souls drive us to Jesus, or will we run around the desert of this world, filling up on its idols? Time after time we fail the test, behaving badly, snatching for this, and complaining about that. How will we ever prevail?
We won’t, but Jesus did. As the second Adam, Jesus came to pass the test that Adam—and all of us since Adam—failed. The devil taunted Him with bread and offered Him kingdoms. But Jesus lived by every word from the mouth of God and defeated Satan completely. In the wilderness, Jesus is not just our example; He is our Victor.