A study of temptation will show that the devil has different approaches for different people and situations. With Eve, he exploited her curiosity. When she saw that the tree was beautiful and one with a promise of making her wise like God, she took a bite from the fruit which God had previously forbidden them. The story was different for Jesus. The Son of God had fasted for 40 days and nights. At the end of the period, He became hungry. It was then that Satan suggested to Him to convert stones to bread, using His privilege as the Son of God. In this case, pressing need was what the devil explored. The saving grace was Jesus’ deeper understanding of how things work. He knew what the word of God says, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
“The enemy exploited his idle moments to nail him. It is not far from the truth when people say that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”
David’s temptation belonged to yet another category. Our text signposts what would spell chain of calamities and much sorrow for David. One evening, while his men were executing some military campaigns, he was walking the loft of his palace when he spotted a woman. Bathsheba was her name; a wife to one of his lieutenants. He engaged the woman sexually. That “one night stand” happened at a time of idleness. “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” 2 Samuel 11:1 NKJV. When David ought to be leading the army in battle, he stayed back in Jerusalem. The enemy exploited his idle moments to nail him. It is not far from the truth when people say that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
