‘Lead us not into temptation.’ We are taught to pray this,
aren’t we, when we say the Lord’s prayer? (Matthew 6:13)
Yet I recently heard a message concerning Jesus himself
being led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil.
I have reason to
thank God for that message.
I’ll begin by
explaining that I might well be called a technophobe.
At the age of fifty I married a man, even older than
myself, who loved technology and wanted the latest of everything. How thankful
I am now that he lovingly and patiently taught me to become friends with my
computer.
I had just learned how to open emails, and also how to cope
with debit cards when he was called home to heaven.
God, who has promised to be a husband to the widow, has
always provided ‘very present help’ though I have had to learn the hard way
that sometimes I must ask.
Recently I had a problem with my credit/debit cards. I
thought it had been sorted, but when I took friends out for a meal I found my
card was still rejected. What was happening? Was my mind going, that I could no
longer remember my numbers?
I should have phoned a friend, even if all they could have
done was to say a comforting ‘Aah,’ but a voice whispered, ‘Don’t disturb them
now.’
I tossed and turned in bed, assailed by wrong and evil
thoughts. I would go to the doctor and ask if I needed to be tested for Alzheimer's, imagining I would become an even heavier burden to my friends, but
it was when I thought of jumping off a cliff that I realised from where these
troubled thoughts were coming.
How grateful I am for the message I had heard concerning
the temptations of Christ, how he was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted of the Devil. In the light of
day I realised that the Holy Spirit had allowed me too to be tempted. I realised too that even if I some form of
dementia, that I need not fear, for I had seen my sister and also my dearest
friend pass this way, and in it all Jesus had never left them.. As to jumping off a cliff – I used to have a
persistent nightmare of falling over a cliff, but the Lord had wonderfully
delivered me, enabling and preparing me to climb mountains when I went to New
Guinea. I certainly would never consider jumping
So, the Devil, as with Jesus, has left me for a season. If
or when he returns, I trust I will be ready to route him, as Jesus did, with
the word of God. Even as now I am speaking out this verse,
‘God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and
of love and of a sound mind.’ 2 Tim.2:7
And I pray God will help us
not always to struggle to be independent, but to learn to ask for help
when we need it, for he has set us in families who are more than willing to
give of their time, skills or strength, or sometimes just sympathy. And maybe
you too need to remember, as I do, that God’s strength is made perfect in our
weakness.
