For long-time Christ-followers, the passage in Luke 4 where Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations after his wilderness experience is very familiar and very uncomfortable. After all, Jesus is God, and He had the deep relationship with His Father that was needed to push off his personal agenda and take on God’s agenda for His life. Jesus responded to each temptation with scripture that was focused on God.
It seems Jesus had a sense that He would be accountable to the Father for his decisions. We, of course, have that very same accountability to the Lord. We will be held accountable for the decisions we make for our agenda each day. It is useful to draw on the depth of scripture and the deep well of our relationship with God when making our decisions.
The people of Israel grumbled during their wilderness experience. There is no sense that Jesus grumbled during or after His wilderness experience. The Hebrew word for “grumble” carries the idea of accusing the person that is offending us. The Israelites were about to give Moses a quick trial and carry out the sentence of stoning, but what they were really doing was putting God on trial. God was waiting for them to advance by faith. Yet in His grace, God provided for them.
Likewise, God is waiting for us to respond, not with grumbling, but by faith, believing that He can make the most of our lives for His name’s sake. Will we do that?
