Food for Friday
And Jesus answering said unto him, It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Luke 4:12
As the children of Israel made their way through the wilderness, not long after the crossing of the Red Sea and not long after God gave them manna, they came to a dry place called Rephidim, where there was no water for them to drink. Even with all that God had done for them, they cried out in their thirst against Moses and against God. They failed to recognize that the God Who could deliver them from the Egyptians, the God Who could feed them with manna every day, was the same God Who could give them the water that they needed. Instead of trusting, or even praying for water, they chided with Moses. The account in Exodus 17 tells us that the people tempted the Lord, saying Is the Lord among us, or not? In His compassion, God instructed Moses to strike the rock in Horeb so that water would come out of it. Moses called the place Massah because of their unbelief and their tempting God. It was a lesson that was apparently lost on the Israelites. But it is a lesson we should heed today.
In His response to the devil, the Lord Jesus in today’s text quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, where Moses urges the Israelites not to tempt God as they did at Massah. It is a good response for us today when the devil tries to lead us to question God’s provision and His caring for us. The Lord Jesus could not be tripped up by the devil’s temptation. He could successfully rebuff the enemy’s efforts. How did He do it? He quoted the Scriptures. Because the Scriptures are His Word, He could draw upon their resources at will. So could we, if we knew the Scriptures as He does. We can’t, of course. But we can know them better than we do today! And the more of the Word of God that is hidden in our hearts, the more easily we will discern and divert the devil’s attacks.
When we read of the failure of the Israelites to trust God for water, we find it easy to criticize them. But when we point the finger at them, three fingers are pointing back at ourselves. We are no better than they were. In our affluent world, we feel that we are able to supply for ourselves. We gain no experience in trusting God because of our self-sufficiency. So when we encounter problems, we see no way out and tend to blame God for allowing us to get into the situation. In our lack of trust, we fail to grasp the reality of God’s promise to always be with us. We fail to understand the depths of His caring and His kindness to us. This happens far more often than we realize. We are no better than the Israelites tempting God in the wilderness.
If we learn to trust in the Lord when we run out of resources, we will overcome the devil’s temptations. – Jim MacIntosh