MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE – Deliver Us from Evil

What is your greatest temptation?  Not the ones that just tempt you now and then, but something that you really struggle with regularly.  I think you’ll agree, temptations are real, and they plague us every single day.  It’s a constant battle, and we do not always win.  But we try.  That’s the important thing… we try.

Lent is a time when we contemplate, among other things, the temptations of Jesus when he went into the wilderness for 40 days.  Satan tempted Jesus in every way possible, and Jesus not only resisted Satan every single time, but He rebuked him with quotes from the Bible every time!  Here’s something I bet you’d never thought of though.  We know that God is ALL-knowing.  He knows past, present and future, all at once, for everyone and everything.  So BEFORE God came to Earth in the human form of Jesus, He already knew that the time would come that He’d be in that wilderness and ALLOWED Satan to tempt Him in any and every way possible.  And just because God/Jesus permitted it, doesn’t mean that Satan was guaranteed success.  And as we all know, Satan didn’t win.  We are told that Satan has always wanted to be greater than God Himself, so he thought that if he could convert Jesus to his wicked ways, he would have the greatest human to ever have lived in his army.  He would have a being more powerful than any other.  Boy, oh boy, did Satan want that!  It would have been an instant win for him.  God had other plans though.  He basically told Satan to do his worst, knowing that Jesus would resist ALL temptation.  Make no mistake, Satan threw the book at Jesus with EVERY type and sort of temptation possible.  We only hear about a few in the Matthew 4, but there were many more. 

So if God already knew about and agreed to Satan tempting Jesus, then what was the point of it all?  Was God just teasing Satan, since He already knew what was going to happen?  That whole point was this:  Many of the things that Jesus did, said, and went through while here on Earth were for one thing, and one thing only.  HE WANTED TO SET AN EXAMPLE FOR THE REST OF HUMANITY.

Satan has so ways that he tries to lead us down the wrong path.  Two of the most deceptive are “half-truths” and “making us feel like we are alone”.  What you have to remember is that you are NEVER alone!  God is always just a whisper away.  He’s by your side even when you forget that He is.  As for “half-truths”… do the research.  Don’t take “facts” as being truth until AFTER you verify.  We live in a world of information at our fingertips.  Use it!

God gave us “CHOICE”.  He wants us to reach out to Him for comfort and guidance, but it really is all up to us. 

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

 

Originally published Feb. 28, 2023
by Jackie Garrison