“When the devil tempts me, my heart is comforted and my faith is strengthened, because I know Him who for my sake has overcome the devil, and that He comes to me to be my help and my comfort. Thus faith overcomes the devil. Then, since I now know that the devil has no power over me but is overcome by faith, I must be ready to be tempted. The purpose of this is that my faith may be strengthened, and that my neighbor may be given an example by my/Christ’s victory over temptation, and may be comforted.
And mark this: whenever faith begins, temptation soon follows. The Holy Ghost does not leave you to rest in quietness, but soon He throws you into the desert. (Matthew 1:1) Why? In order that your faith may be confirmed and you learn to trust the Word, for otherwise the devil would blow us about like chaff. But if God comes and hangs a weight on us, making us weary and heavy, then it is manifest to the devil and to all mankind that the power of God is at work in you.
Thus God manifests His glory and majesty in our weakness, therefore He casts us out into the wilderness, that is, He casts us down, so that we are deserted of all creatures and can see no help, save Christ. We even think that God Himself has utterly forsaken us. For as He acts toward Christ, even so does He act toward us. It does not run smoothly. Our heart must faint within us. And when the Word has run its course. Then, God sends angels to minister to us, as He did with our Lord in the desert.”