Luke
4
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Verses 1-13
Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. I was curious to see
if this fulfilled any of the old prophecies since the author of the book is
trying to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. I found this: Psalm 91:10-12 – “No
evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling. For He orders
His angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you with their hands
to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.”
40 days in the wilderness also signifies the 40 years in the
wilderness that the Israelites had to endure. Ironically, this is also where
Jesus quotes scripture from when he said, “Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” During their time in the
wilderness, the Israelites received mana from God and this is where the
scripture came from Deuteronomy 8:3 – “He humbled you, causing you to hunger
and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had
known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word
that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
The second temptation, Jesus used Deuteronomy 6:16 – “You
must not test the LORD your God as you did when you complained at Massah.” Always
do what is God’s will and not your own selfish reasoning. I went through a dry
season and during that time, all I could think about was testing if God was
real? I would go up during the altar call and for some reason not get prayed
for. God did the exact opposite of what I wanted, and I think it was
intentional, something he wanted me to learn – that it was not my will but his
will. The more I wanted a sign, the more he delayed it. In a way, that was
already proof that God did exist 😊. As soon as I stopped wanting my own way,
God began to move. But it took me 5 years of humbling to get to that point, to
say that whatever it is he wants to change in me, just do it.
The third temptation of course is very humbling. To know
that all your objectives will be met if you simply bowed down to Satan. It was
a shortcut but Jesus would have to violate Law number 1 of the old testament.
Many times in life, it is integrity vs shortcut. This I would have to rely on
the Holy Spirit because life is full of shortcuts. It is something I am still working
on. Expect voices all around you especially your family who would push you to
take the shortcut way and leave the integrity way. It is definitely a struggle
when you could get your promotion in 1 year instead of waiting for 7 years as
was what happened to me. But God is faithful. In the end, I am looking forward
to what God has to say when I see Him face to face.
Jesus went through “the humbling experience”. And this is
what everyone has to go through at some point in their life if they wish to
serve God effectively. Thinking back, my dry season was from 2011 to 2016, 25-30
years old. That was a humbling experience for me. To know how to trust God even
when you feel like he is not there.
