Matthew 4:5-7 Safe Feet
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 18, 2019, Matthew 4:5-7
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
(Understanding the Text) It is interesting that Satan did not try to physically kill Jesus. I am sure that this was because he did not believe that he was strong enough. On the other hand, he tried on other numerous occasions to have Jesus killed, so I could be wrong. Did the devil believe the resurrection would happen? He must have. He knew the power of God up close and personal, so he would have known the impossibility of Jesus staying dead. Thus, his motivation for wanting Jesus killed must have been something else, like getting humans to be totally condemned. The irony of the cross is that normally death is a victory for Satan. Death means that he has succeeded in separating one of God’s creatures from God. On the cross, God let himself be split apart–separated just as His creatures had been separated only more deeply to complete separation. Instead of that being a bad thing, it became a beautiful act of loving humanity to the degree that God found a way to be where we are so that nothing could separate us. I still can’t comprehend the meaning of it.
(Revelation of God) Satan displays to Jesus the one thing that His heart desires more than anything else-His people. As Jesus looks down at the remnant of humans who still worship the true God, He sees hypocrites but they do not repel Him. He longs to connect with them. However, I think it is another group of worshipers that cause Jesus to be most tempted. I think He had an overwhelming longing to connect with the sincere worshipers that he saw. They called to Him to reconnect with them closer and even more closely. This is the longing of God’s heart. He is attracted to His creations and desires to be fully joined with them. As Creator, Jesus felt that need to connect as He watched the men gathered in the temple. The temptation for Jesus was the idea of taking a shortcut and winning over followers with a dramatic miracle. Maybe, the Pharisees would believe and be saved with no cross, no rejection by Jerusalem, no need for so many to die forty years later.
(Understanding the Text) Satan’s temptation was for Jesus to throw Himself down so that the angels would catch Him. On the surface, this never made sense to me. What was the purpose? Before, I thought Satan was trying to trick Jesus into killing Himself, but now I don’t believe Satan thought that it was possible for Jesus to die permanently. Satan believed what he was saying. He believed that angels would rescue Jesus, and the people below who Jesus longed for would see the miracle. The devil knows how to appeal to our basest human instincts. To believe in Messiah based on power and miracles does not transform our hearts. It only arouses envy and greed in the human heart. Thus, while the act might win immediate followers, those followers were joining from the wrong motivation. The temptation came in winning humans to God with the wrong motivation which in the end would result in winning them for Satan. Satan was here tempting Jesus again with inappropriately using power, but in this case it was abusing the power of His loyal angels.
(Revelation of God) Jesus answered that we are not to put God to the test. I believe this means that we are not to try to use and direct God into the ways that we choose. Instead, we are to follow the path that God presents to us. Jesus is here again affirming His determination to follow the Father’s plans rather than improvising His own. As a human, even a sinless human, Jesus did not have the ability to know the end from the beginning. His knowledge base was faulty, so He needed to rely on His Father’s superior knowledge. The Spirit had not told Jesus to attract humans with a stunning miracle, so Jesus would not do so. In becoming human, Jesus was putting all His trust in the Father’s guidance through the blind maze of human life. Jesus was depending totally on the Spirit’s leading and would not try to direct His life through His own improvisations based on limited understanding. Jesus’ very instincts would be screaming at Him that He wanted the humans’ love, not their greedy desire for His power.
(Application) My application for myself is that I need to trust the Spirit to give me direction and let Him transform me so that my instincts scream when something is wrong and cheer out when something is right. I need to trust the Father’s leading in my life instead of trying to second-guess Him. He longs to connect with me more and more closely. I need to strive for this connection also by choosing to trust and serve Him.
(Prayer) Help me to trust You and have faith in Your instructions. Teach me to love the right and hate the wrong. Teach me to distrust my own selfish instincts and to think unselfishly as You do. I want to be as close to You as possible. Hold me close.