Satan often tempts us during our weakest moments. He comes to deceive and to lead us away from the truth. He comes to destroy hope. In Matthew 4, Jesus had been fasting in the wilderness for 40 days before the start of His public ministry. Satan came to tempt Jesus at the very height of His hunger and loneliness, but even though the temptation was strong, Jesus did not break His fast. Instead, He relied on the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures for strength.

Although Satan will come to us in our weak moments and tell lies, Jesus showed us how we can defend ourselves by planting our roots in His word and surrendering to the Holy Spirit. Because of His truth, we can see the lies Satan places before us — when Satan tells us we aren’t loved, we can turn to the Holy Spirit and Scripture and see how deep the Father’s love is. When Satan tells us that we are alone, we can turn to Scripture and see that God has never left us or forsaken us. Just as Jesus relied on the Spirit and Scripture to defeat Satan, so can we.

Satan wants you to believe that you are alone and that your loneliness is unique to you.

The power of the Holy Spirit
Jesus was never truly alone in the desert. He was being led by the Holy Spirit. In John 16:5-7, Jesus told His disciples that He was leaving to go back to the Father. The disciples were filled with loneliness and sorrow until Jesus gave them the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples — and us — that it is better to have the Spirit dwelling inside of us than to have Him physically walking beside us.

The power of Scripture
Jesus fought against loneliness in the desert by His knowledge of Scripture. When Satan tempted Him, Jesus answered back with Scripture. In our loneliness it is easy to assume that we are the only ones struggling. It can be easy to think that the suffering will not end. The truth is that the Bible is full of people who struggled with loneliness.

For example, David wrote about his loneliness in Psalm 22 and 27. David persevered through his loneliness by resting in the hope he had in God — the hope of His neverending faithfulness. In times of loneliness and self-doubt, turn to Scripture and be reminded of the eternal hope found in Christ. David writes in Psalm 22:4-5, “In You our fathers trusted; they trusted, and You delivered them. To You they cried and were rescued; in You they trusted and were not put to shame.”

Satan wants you to believe that you are alone and that your loneliness is unique to you. This is a lie. Scripture tells us that Jesus is with us even until the end of this age (Matthew 28:20). In Ephesians 1:13-14, we read that we are sealed with the Spirit and He will never leave us. The Bible is full of stories of spiritual heroes who suffered through loneliness but never lost faith. Do not allow Satan to steal your joy. Instead, lift your eyes toward Him, letting the Spirit be your comforter and His word be your guide.