Journey to Jerusalem Day 11

Saturday, March 7 Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall 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 and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

It always amazes me how perfectly Jesus quotes scripture in this story as he responds to the devil’s temptations. Jesus successfully answers the tempter’s seductions each time.
It makes me wonder how well I would handle such a situation. I think I could pass at least one of these tests but not necessarily on my own. We humans don’t do a good job even with basic temptations let alone ones of this caliber. It shows our lack of strength against sin.
We need God’s strength to resist. But when it comes to temptation, we think we can face it all on our own. “I can break this habit on my own. All I need to do is eliminate it.” Then we count the days down until we break and sin again. We let our own pride get in the way. It’s hard for us to admit weakness and frailty.
But it is OK to be weak before the Father. He is our protector and deliverer. He embraces our weakness and lifts us up to higher heights. He already knows our weakness and frailty.
So next time you are confronted with temptation, ask Him for strength, wisdom, and perseverance. The best part is this can be applied to more than just temptation. I leave with you some song lyrics of a recent song Luke added to the service, God I Look to You. Enjoy it and you can sing it as well.

God I look to You, You're where my help comes from
Give me wisdom, You know just what to do. Amen.