Lesson Ten - The Laziness and Shortcuts Temptation
“…command these stones to become bread…”
Satan seems to be telling Jesus that he had every right and ability to satisfy Himself at any point in time, and needed not to let nature tell on Him as it does all men. He should do the dramatic, perform a miracle, and quench his hunger immediately. As children of God, do we not often feel that it is unjustified that we be in need? Such conclusion often opens us up to desperate action. Forgetting prayer and normal thinking, we launch into commanding into existence things that may even exist already. For bread was available. All Jesus needed to do was to leave the wilderness and find a bread market or go home, if He wanted to eat.
Regarding miracles, although they appear to be performed quite spontaneously to meet pressing needs, Jesus particularly demonstrates in resurrecting Lazarus that they are essential supernatural happenings permitted by God usually in answer to prayer (Jo 11:41-44). And prayer is carefully thought-out request placed before God, the response to which we shall be grateful to have and not regret eventually. It is not an experimental request such as Satan wanted Jesus to make.
Satan seems to be telling Jesus that he had every right and ability to satisfy Himself at any point in time, and needed not to let nature tell on Him as it does all men. He should do the dramatic, perform a miracle, and quench his hunger immediately. As children of God, do we not often feel that it is unjustified that we be in need? Such conclusion often opens us up to desperate action. Forgetting prayer and normal thinking, we launch into commanding into existence things that may even exist already. For bread was available. All Jesus needed to do was to leave the wilderness and find a bread market or go home, if He wanted to eat.
Regarding miracles, although they appear to be performed quite spontaneously to meet pressing needs, Jesus particularly demonstrates in resurrecting Lazarus that they are essential supernatural happenings permitted by God usually in answer to prayer (Jo 11:41-44). And prayer is carefully thought-out request placed before God, the response to which we shall be grateful to have and not regret eventually. It is not an experimental request such as Satan wanted Jesus to make.
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