Luke 4:1-12

Luke 4:1-12 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

How many times do we put God to the test? Probably more often than we realize. We pray, fast, and then resolutely expect God to come through for us the way we want. Well, He often does answer out prayers just the way we want him to. But there are also times when God is silent, when it seems as if He doesn't care about our problems, our concerns. Many times when God is silent, we pray harder, fast longer, give more to the Lord. All of this activity is done to move God's hand, to manipulate him to answer our prayers the way we want him to answer them. Of course, none of this is necessarily evil, but sometimes we are putting God to the test. We are believing that God has to come through for us, that He has to answer our prayers in the way we want them to be answered.

Jesus answered the devil in the first two temptations by saying, It is written. In the last temptation the devil uses Jesus' words of It is written to convince Jesus to throw himself down from the temple. But, Jesus replied, "It says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Or, do not manipulate God for your own reasons. How many of us try to be God, rather than letting God be God? How many of us finite beings with little knowledge of anything know what is good for us in reference to eternity? How many of us try to forsake "saving faith" by asking God to reveal himself in a way that the rational mind can understand? If Jesus did all that the devil asked him to do, would it not have been easier for us to believe Jesus' power and influence with God? But the devil's commands were the same as the people who passed Jesus on the cross and said, "If you really are the Son of God, come down off that cross." They ridiculed and mocked him because He did not come down off the cross. But Jesus was fulfilling the Word by being The Lamb. He was not on the cross to satisfy the rational minds of those who watched the crucifixion. He was carrying out God's plan, not his plan.

When we pray, we must pray in faith. We must pray, believing God is God and He desires the best for us. But we don't always know what is best for us in the context of eternity. Many Christians pray for wealth so they might give it away to the poor and needy, but surprisingly God does not give them wealth even though their hearts are sincere. Prayers like this are many. Often Christians pray fervently that their chronic sicknesses might go away so they can give their renewed strength to the Lord. Many Christians pray the conflicts and concerns in their lives will flee so they might give their undivided attention to serving the Lord. But, most of those kinds of prayers are not answered the way we want, for we really don't know our hearts. We really don't know the contaminating effects of having our lives and the world just as we want them to be.

Do older Christians who are retired with a lot of leisure time spend more time doing the Lord's work? Some do, but most don't. Do healthy people spend more time serving God? Some do, but most don't. Do people who have accumulated much wealth give generously to the Lord above their tithes? Some do, but most don't. The flesh is strong in us. We tend to want to win the world, to have life easy, to have every bump smoothed out, every hill brought low. But God is in the eternity making business. He asks us to have salvation faith: faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) God asks us to believe regardless of the circumstances of our lives. This is hard for most of us because we complain about things not working out for us. We usually want things to be considerably better in our lives. But God is making eternal children, not finite beings. Do miracles happen in our lives? Amen, they do. Does God come across for us many times? Amen, yes. But we should not expect everything to work out the way we want. Maybe, your loved ones will be saved because of your faithfulness to God in the midst of trouble. Maybe, when they are close to death's door, they'll say, I want to know the God of Susan, of Joe, of Peter, and so on. We never know, for God is in the eternity business. Would Jesus have been better off had He submitted to the devil's temptation? Maybe temporarily, yes, but eternally, no. His better life would have thwarted God's eternal plan for his life. By not doing what the devil wanted, He placed his life in the hands of God by faith. And praise God, Luke writes in verse 14, Jesus left that desert place in the power of the Spirit. May it be so in our lives.