The Twisting of Temptation

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Thursday, March 7, 2019

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  This I declare about the Lord:  He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.  For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.  They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.  You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!       The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.  I will protect those who trust in my name.  When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble.  I will rescue and honor them.  I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”  Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16(NLT)

Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off!  For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you.  And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”  Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”  Matthew 4:5-7(NLT)

Unless you grew up in a Catholic faith tradition, or one of a handful of Protestant denominations that celebrates the season of Lent, it’s probably not even on your radar.  (Except, perhaps for those crazy people walking around yesterday with dirt on their foreheads).

But let’s just say you did go to church yesterday, had the thumbprint of ashes imposed between your eyes, and made a vow to reflect on this season of 40 days preparation for Easter.  Did you also, as a matter of self-discipline and identification with the suffering of Jesus Christ, include in your vow abstaining from something meaningful?  And, if so, considering its already Day #2, are you still hanging-in there, or did Lucifer win…. again?

It seems so often we make resolutions that are supposed to be game-changers, life-changers, and we cave as surely as the sun comes up in the morning.  It gets to be a habit, as the broken well-intentioned promises pile-up through the years.  We learn to shrug, make a mental note to do better next year, and move on.

But, wait just a moment.  Was that vow just a desire to lose weight, or eat healthier, something you wanted to do anyway?  Was it a disposable religious ceremony that just kind of fit-in with your schedule?  Or was it really a vow to the Most High God in Whom you take your refuge?

The temptation Jesus faced was more than a game-changer; it was not even close to a game, this plan for our redemption enacted in Heaven before the foundation of the earth.  God knew He would square-off against Satan on this issue of human free will, despised before the dirt on Adam’s birthday suit was smoothed onto his frame.  God knew precisely about protecting his holy child from the temptation that held our eternity as the prize.  When the Psalmist wrote that God would protect all of that, it was not just taking a box of chocolates off the table.

So Lent is serious business.  That’s why Lucifer went to the Temptation Bowl in the desert, and why he pulled out all the stops, even using Scripture (which he always quotes quite accurately, by the way) to goad Jesus into the foolishness of tempting the Father. 

But, here’s the point at which temptation always fall apart:  Lucifer twists Scripture to fit his agenda; he never invites Scripture to create his agenda.  And therein is the lesson on how to please self – twist Scripture until it isn’t recognizable enough to have any effect on your life and it will leave you to do what you want!  People who prefer their sins to God’s life have no refuge that will last.  But those who take God at his (un-twisted) Word have a shelter in the storms of life, and a genuine refuge for the day of trouble.

For You Today

Lenten journey is on!  It’s not about the absence of chocolate; it’s all about the presence of truth from the Most High God.  You can trust Him in the wilderness.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   via Wikimedia.com

Unbroken

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Monday, January 9, 2017

Long ago you spoke in a vision to your faithful people.  You said, “I have raised up a warrior.  I have selected him from the common people to be king.  I have found my servant David.  I have anointed him with my holy oil.  I will steady him with my hand; with my powerful arm I will make him strong.  His enemies will not defeat him, nor will the wicked overpower him.  I will beat down his adversaries before him and destroy those who hate him.  My faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him, and by my authority he will grow in power.  I will extend his rule over the sea, his dominion over the rivers.  And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’  I will make him my firstborn son, the mightiest king on earth.  I will love him and be kind to him forever; my covenant with him will never end.  I will preserve an heir for him; his throne will be as endless as the days of heaven.  But if his descendants forsake my instructions and fail to obey my regulations, if they do not obey my decrees and fail to keep my commands, then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their disobedience with beating.  But I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep my promise to him.  No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back a single word I said.  I have sworn an oath to David, and in my holiness I cannot lie:  His dynasty will go on forever; his kingdom will endure as the sun.  It will be as eternal as the moon, my faithful witness in the sky!”   

Psalm 89:19-37^(NLT)

Covenants are sacred promises God makes, and does not break.  On the other side of the coin, unbroken is not the word that immediately comes to mind when I think of promises made by humans to God.  They’re somewhat like our New Year’s Resolutions. 

How are those resolutions going for you, by the way?  OK…sorry I asked; too painful to mention now. 

God made a covenant with Abraham, renewed it to Jacob, and sealed it as a promise to King David that Palestine would be forever the special land of Israel’s possession.  Considering Israel’s history to this day, a casual reader of Scripture would probably take exception with Psalm 89, claiming that God forgot his promise.  That claim would be wrong.

How can we say that?  At times the ongoing political machinations of humans makes it very difficult to view God’s promises being worked-out, but they are there nonetheless.  When the sun hides behind the moon in a solar eclipse, it doesn’t mean the sun has been obliterated – only obscured; something got in the way of the light.

See/hear once again from the Psalmist:

…if they do not obey my decrees and fail to keep my commands, then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their disobedience with beating.  But I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep my promise to him.  

Psalm 89:31-33^(NLT)

Punishment, or corrective action may not look like loving, but God’s motive of saving us from our sins makes no mistake.  When God works-out his promise to one person, it does not preclude dealing with the sin of another.  God’s love is as unfailing to the promises he made to David as it ever was.  But the sin of one person always muddies the waters for everyone.  A child that goes Prodigal certainly upsets the whole household. 

And dealing with the unruly child doesn’t mean that their parents love the others less; it’s simply a reality that discipline is part of loving.  The mere fact that a child has been “allowed” to go rogue is proof of what happened in Eden; we have been given free will, and God will engage with us because he loves us too much to watch us go self-destructive.

So, yes, his covenant promises still stand with Israel, and all who bow their knee to JHWH, to all who love His son, and to you and me.  Those are unbroken promises!

For You Today

The ever-present question, born of a common sense view of history, is NOT for us to ask:  why doesn’t God keep his promises; the real question is:  have we lost our minds when we don’t keep our promises to God?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title image: By Harry Burton (English, 1879–1940) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons