A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 

GOD’S WAY

Matthew 4:5-6 “Then the devil took Him to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command His angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 

The Jewish nation had an expectation that the Messiah would suddenly appear and come down from the sky to appear at the temple. (see Malachai 3:1ff) Satan used that Jewish expectation to tempt Jesus to jump off of the heights of the temple to prove He was the Messiah. Satan even misquoted Psalm 91:11-12 using most of the words of the Psalmist to assure Jesus that God would protect Him by surrounding Him with protecting angels.   

The important part of Psalm 91, omitted by Satan were the words, “to keep you in all your ways.” God’s promise was to protect His people as they lived according to the “ways” He had taught them.” Satan, was therefore, encouraging Jesus to deviate from His Father’s ways. Jesus knew His Father’s way. He had sent Him to die on Calvary’s cross, not jump from the pinnacle of the temple. Jesus’ perfect obedience of His Father was at stake. Would He trust the Devil or His heavenly Father’s “ways.” 

The Devil tempted the Children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings causing them to tell God He had to provide food, water, and protection rather than trusting God to know what to do in their behalf. The Devil attempts to cause you to approach God with your “if’s.” God does not prove Himself to you by obeying the conditions you establish. Through the Solomon Yahweh exhorts you to, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) God knows what you need and how best to care for you. What you need to remember are the words of the Psalmist, “Cast your cares on the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.” (Psalm 55:22) God has promised to protect you “in all your ways.”   

In this temptation Jesus relied upon the ways of His Father not those of Satan. Again, as in yesterday’s devotion, Jesus remained faithful and perfectly obeyed His Father’s will. 

Prayer: Dear Jesus, help me every day to recognize when Satan is tempting me to exert my will instead of rely upon the will of Your Father and through faith in You, my Father. In Your holy name. Amen. 

I leave all things to God’s direction;
He loves me both in joy and woe.
His will is good, sure His affection;
His tender love is true, I know.  
My fortress and my rock is He:    
What Please God, that pleases me. 

God knows what must be done to save me;   
His love for me will never cease.   
Upon His hands He did engrave me  
With purest gold of loving grace.  
His will supreme must ever be:  
What pleases God, that pleases me. 

My God desires the soul’s salvation;  
My soul He, too, desires to save.  
Therefore with Christian reservation  
All earthly troubles I will brave.  
His will be done eternally:  
What pleases God, that pleases me. 

My God has all things in His keeping;  
He is the ever-faithful friend.  
He gives me laughter after weeping,  
And all His ways in blessings end.  
His love endures eternally:  
What pleases God, that pleases me.  (LSB 719)