Part 10 (1/2)

57.

A Tempting Offer Then Jesus was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil. And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry.

-MATTHEW 4:1-2 After Jesus had gone through a forty-day fast, Satan approached Him with three tempting offers. The devil came to Jesus when he was weak and hungry. It's natural to a.s.sume that the Lord was physically weakened after being without nourishment for such an extended period of time, so, of course, the devil's first offer involved food. ”If You are G.o.d's Son, command these stones to be made [loaves of] bread” (v. 3).

Later Jesus performed several miracles that included food, such as changing a boy's lunch into enough fish and bread to feed five thousand people and, at another time, to feed four thousand. All of Jesus' miracles were for the good of others. He never performed miracles for Himself or to satisfy any need of His own. That's one major lesson we learn from His temptation.

The devil then took Jesus to a mountaintop and showed Him the nations of the earth. He said, in effect, ”You can have it all in exchange for one slight, easily excusable act. Wors.h.i.+p me-just once-and You can have it all.” I can even imagine the devil saying, ”It's all right; G.o.d will understand. You're so weak right now.”

It was as if Satan said, ”You're going to rule it all anyway. This is just a shortcut.” He implied that through one simple act of wors.h.i.+p, Jesus could avoid the rejection, the suffering, and even the horrifying death on the cross. And either way, He would achieve the same goal.

As attractive as the offer may have sounded, Jesus turned it down. He recognized the deliberately crafted lie, and Jesus never hesitated. The world would be won for G.o.d, but it would be won by the way of sacrifice and obedience. The way of the cross would be Jesus' pathway to victory.

Again, Jesus teaches us that His is not the easy way. Instead, we must take the right way. Whenever the devil tries to convince us there is an easier way-one that will make life better for us-we know we don't want to listen.

As we read the story, the choice seems obvious. But suppose you had been in that wilderness for forty days and nights without food and water. Suppose you had faced such great temptations. Suppose the devil had whispered in your ear, ”Just this one time and no one will know.”

This is one of the enemy's most subtle lies. Not only does he tempt you to give in and to receive the things you'd like to have, but he also makes it sound simple and easy: ”Just do this one thing, and it's all yours.”

G.o.d never works that way. He wants you to have the best and only the best, but it has to come in the right way.

At the end of the temptation accounts, Matthew inserts a powerful statement. With each temptation, Jesus won because he relied on the Word of G.o.d for His strength. And the devil couldn't fight the Word. Finally, Matthew records, ”Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him” (v. 11).

The wisdom to be gleaned from this experience is powerful. Even after you've been battered and tempted, G.o.d doesn't leave you. He remains with you to comfort you, to minister to your needs, and to encourage you. Never forget that He is as close to you as the mention of His name. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Blessed Lord Jesus, thank You for winning the victory over the devil. Thank You for not listening to Satan and for standing on the Word of G.o.d in the midst of every temptation. Lord, in Your name, I pray for the wisdom and the strength to defeat the same enemy when he tempts me. Amen

58.

The Disobedience of Unbelief And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows. And he took bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it, and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the window to the east. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria. For you shall smite the Syrians in Aphek till you have destroyed them. Then he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike on the ground. And he struck three times and stopped. And the man of G.o.d was angry with him and said, You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Syria down only three times.

-2 KINGS 13:15-19 It's easy to say, ”I believe,” but the true test comes when we have to act on what we believe. In this story, the king came to Elisha the prophet to seek his help in obtaining deliverance from the Syrians. The prophet told him to strike arrows on the ground as a symbol of Israel's attacks against their enemy, but the king stopped after shooting only three arrows onto the ground.

Unbelief is disobedience. Period. Had the king believed, he would have struck arrows on the ground many times. Because of his unbelief, he stopped before he'd even gotten a good start. It is not surprising that Elisha became frustrated and angry with him.

Incidents of unbelief are recorded throughout the Old and New Testaments. Unbelief seems to be at work in nearly every direction we turn. Matthew 17:14-20 records the story of a man who brought his epileptic son to Jesus for healing. He said, ”And I brought him to Your disciples, and they were not able to cure him” (v. 16).

This boy's father was hurt and disappointed in the disciples' lack of ability to emulate their Leader. We might have agreed with him had we been in his place that day. After all, Jesus had been traveling with these twelve men for several months. They had repeatedly observed as He performed miracles wherever they went. In Luke 10, we learn that Jesus sent out other followers, and they performed a number of miracles and healings. Why couldn't the disciples do them in this instance? Jesus had constantly encouraged them to heal the sick and do the things that He did.

Yet they were unable to heal the boy, and Jesus said: ”O you unbelieving (warped, wayward, rebellious) and thoroughly perverse generation! How long am I to remain with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to Me” (v. 17). Jesus cast out the demon, and the boy was cured. Unbelief leads to disobedience.

But here's the end of the story. When the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn't heal the boy, Jesus' answer was clear: ”Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust] . . .” (v. 20).

I feel sure that Jesus' answer caused the disciples to examine their hearts and to ask what held them back. Why didn't they believe? Perhaps they had allowed negative thinking to enter their minds. Perhaps they weren't able to grasp the fact that Jesus wanted to use them and empower them to perform miracles.

Of course, we know from reading the book of Acts that once they were filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples demonstrated G.o.d's supernatural power at work-but not in this story. He said to them, ”I a.s.sure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father” (John 14:12).

The promise remains valid to this day. Unbelief will keep us from doing what G.o.d has called and anointed us to accomplish in life. It will also hinder us from experiencing the sense of peace He wants us to enjoy as we find rest for our souls in Him (see Matthew 11:28,29 KJV).

When G.o.d tells us we can do something, we must believe that we can. It is not by our power or our might that we are able to do what He tells us to, but by His Spirit working on the inside of us that we win in the battle of unbelief.

Lord Jesus, forgive my lack of faith. I know that when I don't believe, I am disobeying You. In Your name, I ask You to help me push away every bit of unbelief so that I may focus on faithfully following You. Amen.

59.

A Sabbath Rest For he who has once entered [G.o.d's] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as G.o.d rested from those labors peculiarly His own. Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of G.o.d, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell].

-HEBREWS 4:10-11 Under the Old Covenant, the Lord required the people of Israel to observe the Sabbath every week. They were to do no work from sundown Friday until sundown Sat.u.r.day. It was a symbol to them of rest. Throughout the Old Testament, G.o.d says that He created the world in six days and ceased from His labors on the seventh.

The writer of the book of Hebrews used the idea of Sabbath as a way of talking about a rest that is available to G.o.d's people. In chapter 3, he wrote about Israel's unbelief and quoted from Psalm 95:11: ”Accordingly, I swore in My wrath and indignation, They shall not enter into My rest. [Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living G.o.d” (Hebrews 3:11-12).

The book of Hebrews makes it clear that although the Israel of old saw G.o.d at work every day in their lives and enjoyed the divine provision of manna and water and every other need they had, they still did not believe. The Israelites could not enter into that rest-that Sabbath.

Hebrews four makes it clear that the Sabbath rest-the peace of G.o.d-is still available to all believers. It is the privilege of every believer to refuse to worry or have anxiety. As believers, we can enter the rest of G.o.d. The promise is unchanged. The danger is that we may fail to reach it because of disobedience and unbelief.

The writer uses the word rest to mean more than just not working. It also implies setting aside those things that trouble our minds. In other words, to enter the Sabbath rest, we must not allow anything to prevent us from fully enjoying G.o.d's peace.

Isn't it interesting that although the Israelites regularly read the Ten Commandments and felt that they followed the Law, either they didn't get what G.o.d was saying or-more likely-they didn't believe it. G.o.d commanded them not to work, but it wasn't just that He wanted them to take some time off. He was instructing them to do something far more important-to cease the daily routine of their busy lives and spend the Sabbath resting and reflecting on His abundant provision.

I know some people-and I'm sure you do, as well-who work every day of the year. They seem almost afraid to let up, as if they might lose momentum or money or not have enough to provide for their needs. Some people take on two or three side jobs for extra income, even though they don't really need the money. It's as though they think some measure of peace and happiness will come if they have acc.u.mulated enough ”things” in life.

Sooner or later, they will find that peace doesn't come that way. The Sabbath rest is G.o.d's way of saying, ”I'm in charge. I'll take care of you if you'll trust Me.”

And how do we trust G.o.d? One way is to begin to understand the importance of setting aside time to let our minds get quiet enough to recognize that G.o.d is truly with us. We don't need to worry or be anxious about paying our bills or having enough food to eat. As long as we worry and fret about those things, we aren't living in the Sabbath rest of G.o.d.

I am not suggesting that people quit their jobs and just sit around reflecting on the goodness of G.o.d. I believe we are to work hard and do our best at whatever G.o.d has given us to do. But ultimately, it is G.o.d's love, His peace, and His provision that will see us through. The devil will whisper that it depends on us and we have to do it all. But once we have entered into the Sabbath rest, we know that G.o.d is the One who provides, and we can truly rest and enjoy our lives.

O Holy One of Israel, forgive me. Too often, I worry or fret about not having enough. You are my G.o.d. You will always a.s.sure me that my needs are taken care of. My concern is to enter into Your Sabbath rest and take pleasure in Your presence. In the name of Jesus Christ, enable me to live in that Sabbath rest. Amen.

60.