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.
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