Temptation (Part 3)

The third temptation of Jesus is found in Matthew 4:8-10. Satan here tells Jesus that the whole world would be his if he were to just bow down and worship him. Jesus replies, as He has both times before, with a scripture from Deuteronomy; this time, Deuteronomy 6:13-14. These verses in Deuteronomy tell us not to put any gods before our heavenly Father. For the children of Israel, they, at one time, worshipped a golden calf (Exodus 32). At times of impatience they resorted to polytheism, and worshipped the gods of the people around them, and that is what Deuteronomy 6:14 is talking about. 

In the three instances where Jesus was tempted, He used scriptures from Deuteronomy, which in turn, referred to specific events of the time of the children of Israel, to teach us about temptation. Like the children of Israel, Jesus was tempted, but Jesus did not sin like the children of Israel did time and time again. From this, Jesus teaches us:

• We should trust in God that He will provide for us. We may not see a way out of the situation that we are in, but trusting in Him and His word is the only way that we will pass the test that is set before us.
• Don't question God. As Christians, we do this a lot. We always need to understand why something is the way that it is. If God set it up to be that way, then we should trust in Him that He knows what He is doing. We must not question God because that tells Him that we are lacking in faith. Are we living up to the statement found on all American currency?