Note: This passage incorporates direct quotes from the Bible mixed in with my words. I’ve tried to indicate where I’m quoting directly by adding italics and a (verse number) after each quote, but I’d encourage you to read the actual text here so you don’t confuse my words with Scripture, since I’m trying not to spend a lot of time editing these posts.
After the devil tempted Jesus in Matthew 4, the angels came and ministered to Him, but before His spirit could be renewed, He had to face the temptations. Matthew 4:1 says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Although I’m not comparing myself to Jesus, I do think that God, for whatever reason – probably for His glory as far as I’ve been able to grasp, allows trials in our lives to test and/or strengthen our faith.
The devil starts laying into Jesus after He has fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, and he was hungry. That is a really long time for a body to go without eating, and in a wilderness where his body might face dangers of all kinds, I’m sure his hunger was even more amplified than if he had sat on his couch for 40 days not eating and distracting his mind with facebook and television. 😉 The devil met Jesus where he was at His weakest point, and the first temptation was fitting to where Jesus was focusing: hunger. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (v. 3). Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” (v. 4). Jesus combated the first temptation of his bodily needs with Scripture, emphasizing that bread alone does not sustain us, but also every word that comes from God’s mouth sustains our souls.
The devil catches on to Jesus’s grasp of Scripture and tries his second temptation with a little “battle of the Scriptures” himself. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” (v. 5 & 6). Apparently Satan knew the Scriptures pretty well himself, because he quotes Psalm 91:11-12. How conveniently he leaves out the very next verse (13) which says, “You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.” Why would he want to remind Jesus in the middle of tempting Him, that Jesus would win the victory over sin and death and Satan? That wouldn’t be a very smart move on Satan’s part, and he is a pretty cunning little devil, but Jesus is always smarter and wiser.
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'” (verse 7). Jesus shuts Satan up with Scripture every time, which shows me how important it is to know God’s word. Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us to “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (v. 11). The first piece of armor that Ephesians 6:14 tells us to put on is the belt of truth around our waists. The truth of God’s word holds all of our armor together, and is essential. I think that’s why it’s listed first.
Back to Matthew, again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. (v. 8). “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” (v. 9). Satan’s pretty cocky to think that Jesus would bow down and worship him, but he tries anyway. At this point, Jesus has had enough and Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (v. 10, quote from Deuteronomy 6:13). If only Satan would obey me the way he obeys Jesus, because then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him (v. 11).
As I’m typing this, being the child of the 90’s that I am, the song You Gotta Be by Des’ree popped into my head. While I don’t appreciate her voice very much, I always thought this song was catchy in high school. Her song isn’t exactly my life motto, but when it comes to beating the devil, I think the song fits this blog post with the words, “You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser. You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger. You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together. All I know, all I know, love will save the day.” This chorus illustrates the point I’m trying to get across, that we must be bold and wiser than Satan, with God’s help. We must be tough and stronger than the devil, with God’s help. We have to be cool, calm, and stay together, with God’s perspective, through all of our trials. And Love will save the day. This is not to say that we won’t have times of doubt and fear and sorrow, but we must hold onto the victorious truth that we know Jesus has overcome.
Chris Tomlin’s song, I Will Rise, is one that has meant a lot to me during this time. I think Nathan said he heard it on the day we found out Hannah was going to die, as he drove from Children’s Mercy to the Ronald McDonald House. Jesus has overcome and the grave is overwhelmed. The victory is won; He is risen from the dead...And I will rise when He calls my name. No more sorrow, no more pain. I will rise on eagles’ wings before my God, fall on my knees and rise. I will rise. And I hear the voice of many angels sing, “Worthy is the Lamb.” And I hear the cry of every longing heart, “Worthy is the Lamb.” It is still the cry of my longing heart, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour,
and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:12-14) Amen. And thank you, God, for writing such an awesome work (Messiah) through Mr. Handel to get Scripture stuck in my head at just the right times in my life.
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God uses music of all kinds to minister to me, from Des’ree to Chris Rice to Handel, etc. Today He has also used His people to minister to me, after a very difficult day yesterday (read more here). I’m so thankful that God doesn’t leave us hanging forever in our pain. He brings his angels to minister to us along the journey. This morning my friend, Erika, offered to take Adelaide for me while I ran a few errands. It ended up being such a blessing because I couldn’t have imagined dragging her around town in the snow, waiting 45 minutes at Office Max to check out (because their computer system crashed) after making copies of the autopsy report, dragging her into the grocery store, and then across town to deliver pain meds to Nathan. After picking Adelaide up, we came home and my friend, Jan, brought us lunch and helped me clean my house. It felt so good to have her help and I feel less anxious about the state of my home now after she helped me.
Another way God ministered to me today was through my daughter, Adelaide. Addie slept for almost 3.5 hours and ate a very good lunch. In fact, she ate like a hobbit and had essentially two lunches – one at Erika’s and 3/4 of the kiddy pizza Jan brought for her. So I didn’t have to fight her on lunch or going down to take her nap, and she slept through our cleaning process. Then I got to rest for about an hour while Adelaide finished her nap. For dinner, my friend Melissa brought us a four-course gourmet meal that she had lovingly and prayerfully prepared for us. It was so delicious, and so nice to not have to worry about cooking tonight. She even said she plans to bring us another meal in another couple of weeks!
After Adelaide woke up from her nap, we went outside to play in the snow together. I’ve always loved playing in the snow since I was a kid. At first Adelaide was hesitant since this was the first time this season she’s played in the snow, but then she started enjoying it with me. We were outside for an hour as I pulled her on the sled, as we walked up and down the alleyway, and as she “helped” me shovel with her little green rake. We had fun until the random man walking by our house stopped to shoot the breeze and ended up telling me about the joys of medical marijuana, all the while eying my toddling purple minion. Thankfully just when I started to get really uncomfortable because he wouldn’t leave, Melissa showed up. It was so fun to play with Addie and see her joy. She even made up a cute little song as she walked down the alley called “I’m going to my house.” And then she started playing with sentence structure. We are walking together. Together we are walking. Walking together are we. Is this normal for an almost-3-year-old? I’m thinking maybe not, but I don’t mind. It just makes me smile more. 😉
Today is my sister’s birthday, and one of my best friends’ (Laney) birthday, and it is also the day in 2011 that we had our first sonogram at Dr. Evans maternal fetal medicine office and learned that there was no heartbeat. We named the baby Elijah because Pastor Jim Congdon at Topeka Bible Church was preaching about Elijah’s journey to Heaven and how he didn’t have to face death, and God gave us both that name individually based on that sermon. I’m too tired to tell you the whole story with Elijah right now, but maybe I will in the next few days. I can’t even remember if I have shared that story on this blog already. (Have I?) For now I have to get to bed so I can be coherent for my first day singing back in the choir at First Presbyterian Church.
So, in summary, God has used Scripture, music, my beautiful daughter, and our friends (His people) to minister to me this day, and I am thankful. Even yesterday when it was so hard, I thought of the Matthew 4 passage and wondered how He would minister to me today. Knowing God will do loving things like for me that tends to make the hard days a little bit easier.
Transparent Graces 