Today’s Readings
Genesis 5: 1– 7: 24 Matthew 3: 7– 4: 11 Psalm 3: 1-8 Proverbs 1: 10-19
Today’s readings are from a wide variety of stories: The lineage of Adam, Noah, and the flood, the temptation of Jesus, David’s plea for protection and Solomon warning us to lay in wait for an innocent man to ambush.
Books have been written about each of these topics on their own, so I am thinking about one story that gives me comfort and direction. Jesus is tempted by the Devil after Jesus fasts for forty days and nights:
4: 1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Cleary we see from this story that being tempted is not sin in itself. For we all have been tempted by the pleasures of this world; money, sex, drugs, power or a thousand other things. It gives me comfort to know that my Lord and Savior was tempted too. Maybe not with the same things, but with pleasures of the world. How did he resist? I can barely go four hours without being thirsty or hungry, I cannot imagine going forth days! But he did and was able to resist the temptations of the Devil himself, how?
He was God in flesh, but he was in flesh, weak human flesh. How do those who resist do it? I am reading the Brad Thor series of books about terrorism. Oft times in his books he describes people being tortured to give up information, but they resist. How? According to Thor, they have a higher purpose than ending the pain. Not sure if I could do it, but I would like to think I could.
Jesus tells us we are to “live on every word that comes from the mouth of God. His Word. As I embark on this year-long quest to read and write on the Bible every day, I see the strength I could gain from this experiment. I have found out the following:
1. This is going to be harder than I thought
2. I need more discipline
3. I find myself thinking about God more
4. I NEED this
5. This is messy
It’s messy because we have a flood that kills almost everyone in the world. It’s messy because God in Flesh is wrestling with temptation. It’s messy because King David is begging God to “break the teeth” of his enemies. It’s messy because we know that there are people who lie in wait to ambush us, physically, emotionally, spiritually. But God tells us to trust Him by living on his word, his words, his spirit. That is messy, how do I do that?
Today’s picture is my “mess”. I am writing this at a coffee shop, and I the process is messy, the table is messy, we are messy. Only through the order of God’s Word can we bring neatness from this mess.
I am using the example of Jesus this year to live on the word of God. Thanks for joining me, until next time, peace.
Tyndale. The One Year Bible NIV (OYB: Full Size) (Kindle Locations 1108-1110). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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