Safe in God's Hands

 Then the devil took him to the holy city and

placed him on the pinnacle of the temple saying 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,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone

What sort of place comes to mind when you imagine a wilderness? 

A dry and weary place, an inner, personal space of hardship?

It's comforting to imagine a wilderness this way because we can then place our trust and hope in Jesus who experienced this type of wilderness.

Living in the Poconos as I do, the wilderness is more for recreation so placing hope and trust in Jesus is far from the need for placing hope and trust in the Israelite wilderness.

The Israelites’ wilderness was a place of survival testing.

As their journey went from generation to generation, they had to continue to build on their hope and trust.

It is this same trust and hope that is tested in Jesus’s own wilderness story.

Jesus is tempted by food, by who to worship, and by the power of the nations and shows the path to righteousness as he resists Satan’s temptations.

Jesus’ trust and hope came from the scriptures based on God’s promises in Deuteronomy.

As followers of Jesus, we can expect temptations to distract us from doing the work of a disciple.

Our trust and hope are anchored in the promises of God, especially as we navigate moments of suffering and trials.

Just as Jesus confronted temptation, we too are invited to place our confidence in God’s faithfulness.

Its is God’s Word that sustains as we wait for the fulfillment of God, s kingdom.