Scripture reading: Matthew 4:1-11
It seems rather strange that waiting would be connected to temptation or food. On closer examination, however, waiting on God to provide food is not new. God provided manna and quail to the people of Israel en route from their dramatic escape from Egypt to the promised land. God fed Elijah by having a raven bring him food while he was in the wilderness during a 3 year drought. Multitudes were fed by just a few provisions in both the Old Testament and New Testament – 5,000 once and 3,000 another time. Just as the bush burned with fire but was itself not consumed, thus, fire burned independent of any earthly energy source, food has been provided from nothing. It is quite interesting that Satan tempted Jesus to turn something into something, when God is fully capable of producing something from nothing, just as He created ex-nihilo – out of nothing.
When similar interpretations of theology can be found, we must take notice that there is something to it. When multiple people, independent of one another, say the same thing, it is much more likely they are pointing to truth.
So we can identify several things from this temptation. First, Satan was denying the awesomeness and power of God. He was taking what was not his – he was taking what God created – and urging Jesus to turn it into something. God is so much bigger and more infinitely powerful than this that His work is not dependent on anything. Satan’s work was dependent on the rock, and he was ignoring and undermining God’s power and majesty.
Second, Satan was urging Jesus to second guess God and insinuating that God was not going to provide food. It is quite interesting that the first temptation involved food and insinuating God was not being entirely truthful. Satan was planting a seed of doubt. This is where Matthew Henry drills deep down into the Scriptures to find the real meaning behind the temptation. The provision of manna was miraculous. Notice, however, that the people grumbled against God because they were hungry.
Let’s stop for a moment and consider this picture. The Red Sea was parted just long enough to let them pass through, and then it collapsed onto the Egyptians and destroyed them. When was the last time you see the sea parted, so that you could walk across to the other side on dry land? Seriously, when was the last time you saw this? Isn’t it logical to believe that the God who performed such an awesome miracle could also provide food? Imagine this conversation with an unbeliever, “My God is big enough to part the Red Sea but not big enough to put a meal on my table.” I do not believe this is going to win any hearts over any time soon. You might get a reply, “Well, it sounds like you need to get yourself a new God!”
Ridiculous! Yet, this is exactly what happened. God led us into the wilderness and has left us here to starve to death. This was their complaint. He took us out of Egypt where we had jobs and houses and brought us here to die. We want to go back! Can you picture Pharaoh running out to greet them, welcoming them back as slaves and granting them their old lives back? Do you really think that’s what would happen? Personally, I can only imagine that he would still be seething in anger and would have crushed them like ants. Yet the people didn’t see it this way.
God abandoned them. This was Satan’s ploy with Jesus. God is not going to feed you. You were 40 days in the wilderness, and now where is God? He has let you out here alone to starve. Let me here make two points.
First, this is as much an assault against the trinity as it is anything else, and it demonstrates the absolute love and trust that exists within the trinity. If Jesus, one member of the trinity, doubted for one second that God, another member of the trinity, would not provide in a deep moment of physical need, He would have made bread for Himself. The fact that He didn’t speaks volumes about the level of love He knew existed in the trinity and the trust He had in the trinity.
Jesus trusted God absolutely and knew that God would provide in due time.
And God has this same love toward us. If we only trusted in Him absolutely, we would see this love and discover that He really is working in our best interests – the true definition of love. Love sometimes is enjoyable, such as after an outing with my daughter and we sit in the car in the driveway talking about the Bible and how God works. Love can also be uncomfortable, such as when I have to discipline my children. Enabling someone else’s bad behavior is not love. Tough love is not love either. Neither approach has the person’s best interest in mind. Love is gentle and kind and always seeks our best interest, even when it is uncomfortable discipline. To love someone means that we sometimes get dirty because we get into the middle of their circumstances to understand what the best course of action and next step will be. This is especially true with an adult child who wants to borrow money from the parent (as an example). What will love do? Love must take the time to understand the circumstances involved and not simply say yes or no.
Second, if we are on a journey ordained by God, such as the sea being parted for us to cross, then surely He will not abandon us in the middle of it all. The people of Israel were backed up into a corner. The people had gotten themselves trapped, and there was no escape. Behind them was an angry army ready to destroy them, and in front of them was a sea ready to swallow them. If God was going to abandon them, they would have been killed or drowned long before they were hungry. If God has ordained your steps, He will not abandon you in the middle. The more likely explanation is that He is creating an opportunity for you to strengthen your trust and faith in Him.
God sent His son Jesus on a mission to earth, and there is no way that He was going to abandon Jesus at such a time or at any time.
The same love and trust that exist in the trinity are available to you and me. To make it work, however, we have to take the first and second greatest commandments to heart (love) and absolutely trust.
An often repeated story about George Muller is the instance when he, his staff and the orphan children sat down to eat at a table that had no food. All the money had been spent and all the food in the house eaten. There were times that they had food stored and money in the bank, but this was not one of them. He instructed everyone to sit down at the table and he led them in prayer. At the conclusion of the prayer were two knocks on the door, one provided bread and the other provided milk. Many years before, George knew God had called him to start the orphanage, and he had seen God at work providing his every need. It was the experience of his faith and the strength of his trust that enabled him to sit down at an empty table to eat, knowing that momentarily, somehow, there would be something to eat.
“Not only to wait on Him but to wait for Him.”
Like this post? Subscribe to stay up to date on new posts.