Does this piece of scripture sound familiar to you? If you’ve read Matthew then it should because it’s the same piece of scripture that Satan used to tempt Jesus. Look at Matthew 4…
5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”Let’s look at what the verse means in context and then let’s look how it was misused by the adversary.
What ground have we covered so far? A quick re-cap is in order:
*We live inside of God. We are in His presence constantly (vs 1)
*We are ultimately protected by God. (vs 2-4)
*We have nothing to fear from this world (vs 5-6)
*We have nothing to fear from death (vs 7-8)
*We have nothing to fear from evil (vs 9-10)
Let me ask you a question based on these truths? If you are on a God appointed task what can stop you? Nothing.
Noah should have been stopped by the flood.
Samson should have been stopped by his blindness.
Moses should have been stopped by the Red Sea.
David should have been stopped by a giant named Goliath.
Elijah should have been stopped by a wicked queen.
Jonah should have been stopped by a fish.
Paul should have been stopped by a snake.
In each of these cases God had a task for them to complete and nothing was going to stand in His way. The verses today talk about that same thought. There is nothing that can stand against us when we are on a mission from God. We are unstoppable. ”He shall give His angels charge over you” our verse says. One angel was enough to strike blindness to a city of perverts in Sodom, imagine how much more secure we are with several. “To keep you in all your ways” the psalmist continues, they watch over our footsteps making sure that we continue on the path that God has chosen for us. Isn’t that a wonderful thought?
Now comes the tricky part – Jesus’ temptation. Satan takes Jesus to the top of the large temple and asks Him to jump off. After all it is God’s plan for Christ to go to the cross and there is nothing to stop it, why not test the Father just to make sure? Do you see the difference between how the Father intended the verse to be used and the way the adversary twisted it?
How can we be sure that we are acting in God’s will and not testing God’s provision? I don’t know but I think the clue lies in the examples of the men that I’ve listed above. You know what Noah, Samson, Moses, David, Elijah, Jonah and Paul all have in common? They all trusted God. They lived their lives in front of Him aware of His presence. They did not seek to display or flaunt their standing with God. They simply lived their lives by faith simply serving God when He called.
I believe that’s the difference. We must simply live our lives mindful of His presence at every second. Do you think Stephen went into his sermon knowing that He was going to be stoned at the end? I don’t. But what did he do as they gathered up rocks to bludgeon him to death? He asked God to forgive his murderers. That kind of faith doesn’t come from man.
Trust God. Live your life in front of Him. Do not fear the path that He has set before you. Trust that he will bring you through to the end. Who knows, one of us may be the next Paul?
Blessings and peace to you all…
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