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Temptations Just When You Thought You Had It Beat

In Matthew chapter 3 Jesus has really just begun his ministry. He is on the road to being famous! He is the new "Big Thing"! (to put it in 21st century language.) Matthew 3 is the story of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. It is a humbling experience for John the Baptist as his big moment comes to a close and an exciting awe-filled beginning as God proclaims that he is pleased with Jesus. Wow! It must have made Jesus' human heart feel good, to be praised, to know that everyone is going to follow him and hang on his every word.
But what happens in chapter 4? What happens immediately following this great moment? "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." Matt 4:1 Of course Jesus knew all along what would really happen to him, and how superficial his fame would be, and of course He knew that as soon as He had his "big moment" that He would be taken away to be tempted, but it doesn't mean that He was any less humanely challenged through it than we are. It's that funny thing about never being able to reach humbleness, because if you think you've finally reached it, you just lost it. It's the same with a thorn in your life. Just when you think you've succeeded over it, it comes back more powerful than ever. We will never be independent of God and our need of Him. We will never be able to succeed over our faults and trials without Him.

Another note on this passage, is how Satan approaches Jesus. He approaches Jesus by telling Him what to do. "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." Matt 4:3 How often when we are going through a trial do we tell God what He should do for us, or how He should fix our problems. We are never in the place to tell God what to do. We are never worthy to enter his throne room and declare our rights. We have no rights, we have no authority.

We think so highly of ourselves. We lie to ourselves about how great we are. We cover up who we really are with Christian actions and ideas. But God sees our heart, our desire for independence, or want for selfish things. And yet… He still loves us! God had Jonah swallowed by a fish because of his disobedience, but he gave him a second chance. Moses told God he wasn't the right man multiple times and God still told him he was the one…second ,third, fourth chance. Abraham failed by having a child by Sarah's servant because he thought God couldn't be right in thinking he could have a child by Sarah. But God blessed anyway and allowed Sarah to have a child. How many times a day do we do things that offend God and He continues to give us yet another chance?

Never think you have a trial beat, never think you are too good for God. We must always realize our dependence on God. Never think He has had enough of me and I'm out of luck. God still loves you, He is willing to give you yet another chance. Our dependence on God doesn't just need to be learned when we are high and mighty, it also needs to be learned when we are down and sad.

Prov 15:33 "The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility."

Sarah


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