Monday, Feb 22…Matthew 4:3, 4
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ (Deut 8:3)
The tempter did not come to Jesus when he was full, but when he was empty— and when he was alone. He had also just come off a spiritual high point—his baptism. (Luke 4:1 says that he was full of the Holy Spirit.) Such mountain top experiences are often the times when one is particularly vulnerable to temptation. And yet Jesus was not left unprotected, after all the Holy Spirit led him to this place. This particular temptation was aimed at the area of bodily appetites. Jesus was hungry because he had been fasting for forty days. Satan impugned the trustworthiness of God. “Doesn’t it seem a bit strange to you that your Father who, by the way, said at your baptism that you were his much loved son has led you to be in this place where you are starving?” Jesus choice was between satisfying his own appetite or trusting that his heavenly Father would provide for him. He chose the latter and learned that the only thing that really satisfies is found in relationship with God.
He already knew that God satisfied, but his knowledge was experienced through being tested. It is one thing to sing a worship song that God alone satisfies, but it is quite another to affirm that when you are in the struggles of life. Jesus was willing to trust God’s provision for him rather than taking matters into his own hands. Perhaps you are feeling deprived in some area of your life or feeling frustrated that if God really loved you then he would want you to be a lot more happy. Perhaps you feel justified in grabbing for some of that satisfaction now instead of trusting the Lord to provide it for you in his time. As a consequence, we do not learn the secret of the Christian life that our deepest fulfillment can only come through a relationship of trust, and trust also includes waiting. Could it be that God might allow us to suffer deprivation or disappointment just to show us that he alone can satisfy? Wouldn’t that be worth it in the long run? It was St Augustine who said, “He who has God has everything; he who has everything but God, has nothing.”
O Lord you are more precious than silver, more costly than gold, more beautiful than diamonds and nothing I desire compares with you. O Lord, whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and heart may fail, but you are the strength of my life and my portion forever. Please help me to stay steadfast in trusting instead drawing conclusions about your love for me based on a very limited understanding how you are working in the situation with which I am most concerned. Amen.
Tuesday, Feb 23…Matthew 4:5-7
Once again, the evil one tempted Jesus to force the hand of God into showing how much he was loved. And once again, Jesus chose not to yield to temptation and confirmed the lesson that the gifts and resources given him by his Father are to be used for God’s glory at God’s command and not for his own selfish ends. God did not ask Jesus to jump 450 feet into the middle of the Temple worship in order to begin his ministry with a powerful demonstration of Messiah-ship. If Jesus had done this on his own initiative, it would have artificially and presumptuously forced the hand and the plan of God. Instead he chose to only act upon God’s command and wait upon his timing.
The preacher Alexander McClaren once said, “If we take a leap without God’s command, we shall fall mangled to the pavement below.” Perhaps that is why so many of our plans and programs fail, because we create them without God’s command and then ask God to bless our doomed creations.
Father, help me to clearly see the difference between faith and presumption. Help me to understand that faith is about you and presumption is usually about me. May I learn to trust in you and listen for your instruction. May I not just do good things for you, but may I do the things you desire that reflect your goodness. Teach me to wait, O God, teach me to wait…Amen.
Wednesday, Feb 24…Matthew 4:8-10
If the first temptation dealt with the physical, and the second dealt with the religious, this third temptation zeroed in on ambition and power. Satan lied, he always does. Even though he claimed a certain amount of power over this world, he had no right or authority to give anything to Jesus. Nonetheless, he tried to tempt Jesus into thinking that the crown of glory need not come through the path of suffering, but through the easier road of ambition. “C’mon, Jesus, bow to the inevitable. You know you’ll be King, that’s why you’ve come, so why suffer for it? There’s an easier way, however; just one little compromise, no one will know, just one little act of worship, it will be over in a jiffy, C’mon Jesus it will be so much easier.” NO! AWAY FROM ME SATAN! I WILL WORSHIP GOD ALONE AND DO WHAT HE SAYS NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!
Jesus learned that following the rough pathway of suffering, which had been chosen for him by his heavenly Father, was more important than seeking a pain-free road to success and power. Perhaps we’ve made an idol out of success or personal ambition and we will do anything and everything to gain it. Such a mindset is a philosophy of failure. God is the only legitimate object of worship and the only way “up” is the downward pathway of humility and service. What an essential lesson to learn!
O God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, O God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like yours, Lord Jesus. Amen. (Jim Elliot)
Thursday, Feb 25…Matthew 4:11
And so the devil left him. In the parallel passage of Luke 4:13 it says, When the devil had finished his tempting, he left him for an opportune time. Jesus was successful in resisting the temptation, but satan would be back again. How many of us have experienced this scenario of successfully resisting temptation on one occasion only to fall for the same temptation the next moment or the next day?
How did Jesus successfully resist the temptations of the evil one and keep him at bay?
Jesus brought a weapon with him into the desert—a sword. It wasn’t the light saber of the Jedi Knights, or the glowing “sting” sword that Frodo used against the Orcs, or the bright blade of Anduril belonging to the future king of Aragorn. Jesus used a weapon far more powerful, the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Jesus parried each thrust of the evil one by using the Word of God and satan was defeated.
93% of Americans say they have Bibles, 90% believe in God, 90% of teens say they believe Jesus was divine; yet our culture continues to crumble morally and spiritually. The problem here has nothing to do with a shortage of Bibles or churches, but rather a desperate shortage of people who both read and obey the Bible. Countless people claim to be Christian, but so few are successful in overcoming temptation and having a godly influence in this world. We know so much and show so little. In a fascinating article in Christianity Today, one pastor asked, “ Why in a Christian subculture served by 24 hr Christian radio and TV, bathed in books and periodicals of unparalleled quality and quantity, instructed by state-of-the-art seminary systems, and inspired by state of the heart worship music industry… why are so few people good Christians?” He goes on, “Why are our marriages falling apart and our kids straying away from the faith? Why are the most biblically knowledgeable so often so mean-spirited? Why are our pastors dejected so often? Why do our speakers (both human and electronic) have to blare so loudly to get a response, and even then, why is it so shallow and temporary?” Why?
O Lord, you make a profound and searching distinction between natural human morality and authentic spirituality. A veneer of correctness would only conceal my corruption within and utterly fail to touch the root of my sinfulness. Your gospel, O Lord, is not just another human religion. It is new and full of hope, because it replaces the best that I can do with the best that you can do. Dear and blessed Savior, I look up to you now with open-hearted faith and hope an desire. Let me draw strength from you right now. Make me a living example of authentic Christianity today, I pray. In the holy name of Christ. Amen.(Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr)
Friday, Feb 26…Matthew 7:24-27
Do you remember the graphic story that Jesus told at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, about two men who built houses? One built on the foundation of rock and the other built in a prime location, but on the sand. A huge storm came and washed away the house on the sand. I used to think that this represented the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian, the one who built his life on the rock of Christ and the other who did not. But this is not necessarily true. Jesus said, Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. (7:24, 26)
Do you understand the implications here? Everyone who hears and does not do builds his house on the sand; this includes Christians. It was to the church that James wrote be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (1:22). How can you expect your marriage to be healthy if you are dealing with your spouse in ways that are inconsistent with scripture, especially relating to issues of forgiveness, anger, respect, faithfulness, and sexual purity? Your marriage will be built on the sand and in danger of being swept away. How do you expect your children to grow up as faithful followers of Christ when the only time your faith is practiced is when you decide to show up at church? How can you expect to have an influence for Christ when you spend more time filling your minds with the thoughts and images of our culture than with the word of God? You are deceiving yourself—you are “a sand-man or woman.”
Lord, please do a work in my heart this Lenten season so that I will dig deep into the bedrock of your Word and allow the Holy Spirit to show me the areas of my life in which I have been content to be just a hearer and not a doer. Reveal those areas of my life that are quite obvious to others, but to which I am blind because of my self-deceit. Amen
Saturday, Feb 27… Matthew 7:24
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice will be “a rock-man or woman.” There’s the secret; hearing and practicing the Word of the Lord. I must read and do what God commands. Pastors, elders, deacons, church members —you must always be practicing the Word. No Christian can rest on her laurels; yesterday’s obedience does not fulfill today’s responsibility. Everyday we must intentionally read the Word of God and put it into practice, like Jesus did in the wilderness. Then we will see some victory, some healing of relationships, and experience freedom from our addictions to this world. The Holy Spirit will work in our lives through God’s word to strengthen us and to protect us from the temptations of the evil one.
There is a certain tribe of indigenous people that had an interesting rite of passage for a boy to become a man. On the night of his thirteenth birthday, the boy would be blindfolded and led deep into the forest. There, the blindfold would be removed and he would be left in total darkness to spend the night alone. He would hear the howl of the wolf, the growl of the bear, and the snarl of the mountain lion. He would hear the cracking and snapping of twigs and branches and prepare himself for any approaching danger. Then, as dawn came, and he began to see the leaves and trees and colors of the forest, he would also see something else. He would see that not far away stood an armed warrior from his tribe who had been there throughout the night. The boy would also notice that this warrior was his father who had been ready to defend him from all danger. He was never alone for his father was with him. (Dr. David Fiddes, Back to God Hour)
We in ourselves are no match for the evil one, but when we are in the wilderness striving to live according to the word of God, we can be confident that our Heavenly Father will be our guard and defender. He will take whatever wilderness experience we are facing and turn it into an opportunity for growth and ministry. Count on it!
Here I sit in the dark, Lord, like a little child fearing there are monsters in the closet. I trust you are here watching me in the darkness and will protect me from the fear of the uncertainty that awaits. Would you just let me know that you there, Lord? Amen
Sunday, Feb 28… Psalm 27
One thing I ask of the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
The Psalmist delighted in the presence of God and desired to behold the beauty of the Lord and to dwell in his Temple. I love that verse and share the same desire for the presence of God and for his beauty to be reflected in my own life. The only part that I have trouble understanding is what it means to dwell in his Temple. Sounds like it means hanging out in church all day, and for a pastor that’s almost a reality. However, the Hebrew believer did not make a distinction between the loving God in everyday life and their worship. Life was a unity and whether one was eating, working, being hospitable, or worshipping. The Hebrew recognized God’s presence and beauty in the very act and not as a separate experience. Do you dwell with God (recognize his presence) in all of life or just when you are in church? How about right now? Do you separate out the sacred from the secular and think you need a mystical experience to satisfy your soul?
Earth’s crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware
More and more, from the first similitude.(E. Browning)
O God, give me eyes to see your glory in all things created and may my proper response be to dwell with you—to worship and adore you, no matter where I am and what I am doing; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
Just A Thought 