Tested... not tempted

Matthew 4:1 "Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil..."

Tempt is a funny word. We usually think of it as something negative... kinda like the word critique. Usually when you hear you've been critiqued, your mind instantly goes to all the negative things that person must've thought of. When you are tempted, you're usually tempted with something negative, something to make you stumble or fail. I've been trying to cut back on dairy and sugar, and I've been tempted with cheese and chocolate more than ever these days. Figures.

I found that the word Greek word for tempt in this verse is Peirazein: to test. It is not the kind of tempting or testing to MAKE us sin or weaken us to sin... it is meant to enable us to conquer sin and make us stronger. 

Jesus went to be alone, fast, and then be tested... all before the most significant 3 years of His life. He had been given a mission. God had been preparing Him His whole life. I imagine that Jesus wanted to straighten things out in His mind before He embarked on His mission... so He wanted to be alone.

There's a pretty good chance that we often fail simply because we never spend any time alone with God. There are times where the only sound advice we're gonna get comes from time spent alone with God. We are prone to always acting out and doing. We are tempted (or tested?) to go, and go, and go without taking the time to stop, breathe, and be alone with God.

I believe wholeheartedly that God has SO much He wants to share with us and that a lot of what He wants to share needs to be reciprocated on our end with a willing, open heart and mind. It's likely that we miss a lot of opportunities and make a lot of mistakes because we refuse ourselves the opportunities to just be alone with  God.