This
story has been bugging me:
Then
he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,
and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down
from here. "For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge
over you, To keep you,' "and, 'In their hands they shall bear
you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " And Jesus
answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not
tempt the LORD your God.' " - Luke 4:9-12
I’ve
been taught, and I’ll bet you have too, to base my choices and my
requests on Scripture. If I can support it from the pages of the
Bible, I’m safe.This
passage puts the lie to that. In this story, Luci asks Jesus to do
something, AND HE SUPPORTS IT WITH SCRIPTURE! This is the secret code
we’ve been taught to trust blindly, and the devil is using it to tempt Jesus! 😲
In
this story, it’s pretty clear that obeying this scriptural request was very much not God’s will:
• Luci
(the debbil) was the one making the request.
• JC
had a better understanding of the whole counsel of Scripture, and
recognized that this use (with scripture!) violated the bigger
issues.
• Jesus
only did what he saw Father doing (John 5:19), and apparently Father
wasn’t showing off by skydiving from a clifftop, waiting for God to
rescue him from the law of gravity and from the consequences of his
own choice.
• We
could add that the quote (from Deuteronomy 8) was out of context, but
the worst out-of-context quoter of Scripture that I know is Scripture
itself. (But that’s another conversation).
I
realize that I’ve done this. I’ve done this: I’ve taken verses
as approval for my wishes and choices, and expected God to jump
through my hoops. And then I’ve gotten angry or disappointed when
he didn’t.
Principle:
just because I can find somebody doing it in the Bible doesn’t mean
it’s God’s will for my life. Or that it’s safe.
Principle:
Yes, look for what Scripture says on the topic, but don’t
stop there. Engage Holy Spirit, involve mature brothers &
sisters.
Most
importantly, know your Father’s heart, so when somebody tries to
use Scripture to pull you away from his heart, you’ll know better
and not follow that slimy trail.
Thursday
Led by Scripture?
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