The Wednesday Word 11.16.2022

 

Matthew 4:1-11 New Living Translation

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,‘He will order his angels to protect you.And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” 8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” 11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.”

The whole idea of testing God is such a bad idea. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 to remind Satan. In Exodus 17, Moses was still leading the people of Israel on their long journey after being delivered from Egypt by the hand of God. They came to this particular stopping point and immediately freaked out because there was no discernible source of water. In so many words they began whining and fussing and asked Moses, “Hey, what gives? Did you drag us out here to die of thirst? Is God with us or not? “ They wanted God to produce. Again. Well, God came through and Moses named the place Massah, which meant “test.” Later on as Deuteronomy records, Moses was laying out the requirements for living as God’s people and reminded them of their bad behavior at Massah.

Most of the time, I think of God as our loving, merciful Heavenly Father. Just as important is recognizing the all-powerful Almighty God as the one who “brought you into this world and can take you out of it,” as the old saying goes. We are told repeatedly in the New Testament not to fear, but we still need to be mindful of the One in Charge. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus tells us, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” The respect and reverence we are meant to show is essential. God brought water to the thirsty in Massah, but he could just as easily have wiped them off the face of the earth. It is a wonderful thing that he didn’t. We ought not challenge God today…something to pray about.

Don’t forget to look for the Lord today. Vicki H.



                                                                                                        photo by Wesual Click

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