Hungry?
New Year's Day has now passed. It's time for many Americans to sweep through their fridge and cupboards, tossing all the candy, cookies, junkfood, and rich holiday treats. I heard yesterday that the two major resolutions made every year have to do with food and money. I don't think I've ever made a resolution about money (is that a good or bad thing?), but just about every year, I've committed to diet/exercise--at least for a few days!
I've been reading a great devotional book, Anonymous by Alicia Britt Chole. I've mentioned it before, because I'm really fascinated by the truths the author presents and her writing style as she presents it.
This past week, I was studying the first temptation of Jesus in the desert. The devil appears when Jesus is at a point of starvation, forty days and night without food or water. He's literally dying for food. The devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread, a miracle almost insultingly simple for God in human flesh to perform.
According to Alicia Britt Chole, the temptation is one of appetite. I can remember in Israel, my boss Ross Byars, asking one night, "What is it you hunger for?" We all thought about it for a few seconds, and I can still remember very clearly what I thought of. Then he said, "Because that is where Satan will always attack you." Whether we hunger for food, money, sex, or power, the temptation of appetite will be to satisfy ourselves. It's a selfish response to a natural, human desire. Hunger isn't wrong; bypassing God to fix the problem ourselves is where we get into trouble. Our culture of immediate gratification is part of our sin problem, because we don't want to be God-dependent. Jesus would later pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," essentially putting God in the place of provider. He would illustrate birds and flowers in the field all patiently allowing God to feed and clothe them, but our human nature wants to run right out and satisfy ourselves with whatever we can get our hands on.
D oyou remember the Israelites in the desert--the same place where Jesus faced his temptation--whining about the onions and leeks they ate in Egypt. They were willing to trade their freedom to return to slavery just to have something different to eat. Appetite is a powerful thing. Hunger is a feeling, but feelings do not equal truth, in spite of what modern psychology tells us.
Jesus used truth to answer Satan. He didn't deny his hunger; he didn't deny his ability to transform stones into a smorgasbord. He simply put God in the place of provider. "God sustains me" is how Jesus responded, if I can paraphrase.
The Old Testament verse that Jesus quoted comes from a larger context: "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you." (Deut. 8:2-5)
When you read the whole context, you can really appreciate why Jesus chose that passage. It's perfectly appropriate! It serves as another reminder that God is the ultimate Sustainer.
Rather than merely replacing the candy with Kashi this week, a good resolution would be to allow God to provide for us in His way, in His timing in 2009.
I've been reading a great devotional book, Anonymous by Alicia Britt Chole. I've mentioned it before, because I'm really fascinated by the truths the author presents and her writing style as she presents it.
This past week, I was studying the first temptation of Jesus in the desert. The devil appears when Jesus is at a point of starvation, forty days and night without food or water. He's literally dying for food. The devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread, a miracle almost insultingly simple for God in human flesh to perform.
According to Alicia Britt Chole, the temptation is one of appetite. I can remember in Israel, my boss Ross Byars, asking one night, "What is it you hunger for?" We all thought about it for a few seconds, and I can still remember very clearly what I thought of. Then he said, "Because that is where Satan will always attack you." Whether we hunger for food, money, sex, or power, the temptation of appetite will be to satisfy ourselves. It's a selfish response to a natural, human desire. Hunger isn't wrong; bypassing God to fix the problem ourselves is where we get into trouble. Our culture of immediate gratification is part of our sin problem, because we don't want to be God-dependent. Jesus would later pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," essentially putting God in the place of provider. He would illustrate birds and flowers in the field all patiently allowing God to feed and clothe them, but our human nature wants to run right out and satisfy ourselves with whatever we can get our hands on.
D oyou remember the Israelites in the desert--the same place where Jesus faced his temptation--whining about the onions and leeks they ate in Egypt. They were willing to trade their freedom to return to slavery just to have something different to eat. Appetite is a powerful thing. Hunger is a feeling, but feelings do not equal truth, in spite of what modern psychology tells us.
Jesus used truth to answer Satan. He didn't deny his hunger; he didn't deny his ability to transform stones into a smorgasbord. He simply put God in the place of provider. "God sustains me" is how Jesus responded, if I can paraphrase.
The Old Testament verse that Jesus quoted comes from a larger context: "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you." (Deut. 8:2-5)
When you read the whole context, you can really appreciate why Jesus chose that passage. It's perfectly appropriate! It serves as another reminder that God is the ultimate Sustainer.
Rather than merely replacing the candy with Kashi this week, a good resolution would be to allow God to provide for us in His way, in His timing in 2009.