Read Luke 4:9-12
It Has To Be My Way Or Else!!!
Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and during that time he had no food. The devil had tempted him during and after the 40 days. The last temptation, the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the Temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, then throw yourself down from here for it written in God’s Word [Psalms 91:11-12] that ‘God will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against the stone.'”
Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16, saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
During the 40 days, the devil had tempted Jesus by focusing on some of the pleasures of this world in hopes of distracting him from God. Jesus always combated against the devil by quoting Scripture. So the last temptation the devil quoted a Scripture out of context in hopes of getting Jesus to jump to his death. But Jesus responded back with Scripture saying, “Do not put God to the test.”
Have we ever put God to the test? We find a scripture that was spoken by God, for a specific person, in a given specific situation and we use that verse to apply it to our lives. We pretty much expect, or even demand that God fulfill that verse in our lives. So we pray for God to answer a prayer a specific way and if he doesn’t do it, we doubt his existence. I prayed for things that I expected God to do because “I believed!” Faith is not just believing in something that you’re praying for, but faith is something that kicks in when you don’t get what you’re praying for. Faith in God is something you continue to have when you don’t get the answered prayer you sought after. My faith in God is something that is so deep in my heart that nothing can take it away, even a prayer that wasn’t answered the way I wanted it to.
I like what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo said when they were going to be thrown into a fiery furnace. They said that their God could deliver them, but, if he didn’t they would still worship and serve the Lord God.
If I’m praying for a certain need and want it to be answered a certain way, and it isn’t, then I want to be able to say I’m going to still worship and serve God as the only true God. I have to constantly remember that my thoughts and ways are not God’s thoughts and ways. He sees the bigger picture and his thoughts and ways are bigger than mine. I often pray selfishly rather than for what God wants to accomplish.
I will always pray for miracles, but sometimes the miracle God is going to do is not the one I’m praying for. Just because my miracle doesn’t happen doesn’t mean that what God is doing isn’t a miracle. Lord! Help me to serve, love, and worship you with all my heart when things don’t go my way because I still believe the answer you are providing is the better miracle than the one I was praying for.
