Waiting Upon the Lord, Luke 4:1-12

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ²being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
³And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." ⁴But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"
⁵Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours." ⁸And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"
⁹Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,' ¹¹and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" ¹²And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

     There are many things we can learn from this passage of scripture. The Lord shows us here that though we are tempted, we do not have to give in and sin. He shows us to use His word and submit to it to combat the attacks of the enemy. This story shows us that what James said in his epistle (Ch.4:7) is true: when we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee. But I think that we can learn another lesson from this passage as well.
     In all 3 of the listed sayings of the devil in this passage, the main temptation for Jesus behind all of them would have been to take the easy way out, to not have to endure the pain and suffering of the cross, but to take a short-cut, to not have to be hungry and wait for food, but to take advantage of His power to create food. Jesus was tempted to misuse the promises of God for His own personal gain versus waiting on God and God's timing to fulfill God's plan.
     Though we aren't tempted to do the same things as Jesus (i.e. turning stones into bread), we are tempted in the same ways as Jesus. Satan doesn't have any new tricks up his sleeve; he is still going around trying to get us to take the easy way out, to seek immediate gratification of our needs and desires. He will even tempt us to use the promises of God for our own personal gain, thus ignoring the timing and will and purposes of God in our lives. He does this because he knows if we wait patiently and rely upon God for everything that God's will is going to be accomplished, and he wants to thwart God's plans and destroy us as well.

     I know in my own life this temptation is very present, especially in the things I am going through right now. Before my present trial (if you could call it that), the Lord showed me through prayer and Bible study that I must wait upon Him and His timing, and that even if He were to give me the answer regarding what my heart is wondering, that it didn't give me the right to proceed in my own strength and will from there, but that I still had to rely completely on Him and wait for His timing, giving everything to Him in prayer. It seems that the most present struggle within me is to wait, and I know that's why God gave me that word before my sitaution began. And unfortunately, Satan knows that this is the best place to attack me.
     I have been tempted many times to try to push things along in my own efforts, and I have been eager a few times to just "let the cat out of the bag" and see what happens. But each time, God is so faithful to show me I need to wait, and that doing this would not be His will. It is by His word-- and not just the word He gave me in prayer but His Word, the Bible-- that I am able to stand strong. It is by submitting to His word and choosing to obey it over my feelings that I haven't completely fallen into the enemy's trap.
     Were I to give in to this temptation to try and gratify my own desires, I would be, for one thing, throwing a wrench into the plan of God, and secondly, I would be essentially saying that I don't trust God and that I know better than He does. Sure, God can work everything in my life for good (Romans 8:28), but why muddle up His perfect and beautiful plans? To try and fulfill your desires in your own efforts outside of the timing of God is like trying to eat an unripe piece of fruit. Sure it may look good to eat, but when you bite into it, it's hard and sour and you can't chew it and it's not enjoyable in the least. To wait on the Lord's timing is like waiting for the fruit to ripen to perfection. When the Lord tells us the fruit is perfectly ripe (for only He knows), then we can take it and eat it and it is sweet and juicy and delicious.
     It may seem like the Lord is taking a long time to answer your prayers or to make something come to pass in your life, but that doesn't mean He doesn't care or He's not listening or it will never happen. It may just mean it's not His timing. So keep praying, keep reading His word and obeying it. Don't give in to the temptations of the enemy to seek immediate gratification and take the easy way out; it never works. Wait on the perfect plan of God, that wonderful and beautiful story that He is writing in your life... And wait patiently and prayerfully.