Mark 1:12-13 (NKJV) 12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
Matthew 4:1-2 (NKJV) 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
Luke 4:1-2 (NKJV) 1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
Whole periods of time can just pass by without an awareness of certain details during their passing. This usually takes place when the experiences of this time are pleasurable. You know, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Apparently, however, this can also occur when occupied with opposition and challenges.
In the depiction of Jesus’ 40 days of fasting, while there may be an assumption that abstaining from food would have required some determination and focus, there is clear indication in Matthew and Luke’s portrayals that hunger was not part of His awareness until the very end. It would seem that temptations were occurring throughout the period of fasting that were apart from a rumbling in the tummy. It’s almost as if the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness where the conflict with temptation so occupied His focus that food wasn’t even a consideration until forty days had passed. It will certainly be enlightening to get a few more details on what actually occurred during this time, but, with the wild animals and ministry of angels, there was something going on for the entirety of His wilderness experience that was intense and significant enough to relegate the normal requirement of food to an afterthought. There were certainly three temptations that would cap off this time with notable significance, but for Jesus there must have been a fixation on other overcoming throughout. The responses from a foundation in the Word that would ensure His triumph at the end must have surely been prepared for and rehearsed during each elapsed preceding moment. The triumphs of note were made possible by the unspecified ones that occupied a long-extended focus at a hunger-ignoring level. What empowered Him for entrance into ministry was turning to something other than a physical comfortor gratification in the time of isolated spiritual challenge. He would later state this by referencing that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word”.
It may seem that much of life is passing by with a plethora of challenges and opposition that cry out for comfort and relief from earthly means. Though a simple yielding to their promises may not seem to be all that big of a deal, it is in these seemingly insignificant moments that preparations are established for ministry that will be upon the truth from God’s Word. With each reliance on the Word over the world’s solution, there is securing of a pattern that will result in not only personal victory over submission to an evil foe, but positioning for powerful ministry to those under his dominance. In a developed fixation on the Bread of Life will be an ability to let much time pass without even the slightest consideration of any voice of the flesh.