Psalm 106:14 (NIV) In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test.Luke 4:3-5, 7-9, 12 (NIV) 3The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" 5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" 9The 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. 12Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
Temptation is not for everyone. Temptation is for those who are seeking to live their lives with conviction to a sense of God’s call. The rest of us are simply left with our excuses. When we have a sense of God’s call, it energizes the timid recesses of our soul. Our thoughts are quieter, clearer. Our behavior more appropriate to the situation. Our gratitude is great and love flavors everything we do.
Living with a sense of call does all this, but it does not spare us temptation. Rather it makes temptation inevitable. Temptation comes to Jesus after the conviction of His baptism, and has to do with His calling to go to Jerusalem and there to suffer many things, to be rejected, and killed. And this passage is called the “Temptation of Jesus” instead of the “Temptations of Jesus” because there is only one temptation - to become distracted from His call; to become side tracked from the path God has called Him to walk; to turn away from His destiny in Jerusalem.
The temptation to lure Jesus away from His call is made in three different ways: the temptation to meet His real physical need, the temptation to succeed at any price, and the temptation to test God. In these temptations He is told to ignore trust in God. He is told “you can have it all” without being told it will cost His soul. He is told that He should set the terms of the relationship with God.
Confidence in will power does not overcome temptation. Conformity of our will with God’s does. And to do that we need outside help. It can be devastatingly humbling to realize we need help from outside ourselves. If we are going to resist and keep a sense of call to our life it will come as we are nourished on the scripture, which is slow and difficult. But here is our hope. Scripture in the hand of Jesus proves strong enough. Centered in Christ, we are free to let the Bible speak and to work in our life. Sometimes reading of Scripture and nourishment of our soul feels rather uneventful, but then Someone from beyond ourselves breaks into our life and impresses truth upon us with renewed clarity and conviction.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 1, 1998
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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