Deut. 8-10
Deut. 9 makes it very clear that God did not bless the people of Israel because of their righteousness. He blessed them to set them apart, because He chose them. Starting with Abram, He set them apart, made a nation out of them, and separated them out from all the other nations. He gave them a different way of doing things and the sign of circumcision to mark them as His own. Because He chose to, for the working out of His Plan and for His glory, to show all people throughout all time that He and He alone is God.
It is the same with us – we, too, are His people because He chose us. I have no idea why God chooses whom He chooses. But I know it has nothing to do with anything we have done or with who we are. I am blessed to be God’s chosen and pray I don’t take that for granted.
Luke 4:1-30
I see one of the Devil’s primary tactics in Luke 4:5-7 – he is trying to give Jesus something Jesus already has! Sure, the world with all its kingdoms has been delivered to Satan for a time, but in the beginning and in the end, all belongs to Christ. Satan used this same tactic in the very first sin, when he tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. He told her that if she ate the fruit, she would be “like God.” The irony? She already WAS “like God”! God created her in His image!!
I hope I can remember this whenever I am tempted with wanting something…anything…that I think I don’t have. I am a child of God, and my Father owns everything that is – all of it! And there is no good thing that He would withhold from me. I, like Jesus in this passage, may have to delay gratification with that something, but let there be no mistake – I already have it. Even the house that I would so love to have – whatever I might build here cannot compare to the mansion that is waiting for me with God. I need but trust that God will provide for me everything I need (not necessarily everything I think I need) and learn to be content with His presence and provision.