Listening To Our Father
And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
I was pleasantly surprised the other day when my son said to me, “I am glad I listened to you – you were right!” After I recovered from the initial shock, I was proud of him being humble enough to seek my advice and follow it through. I was reminded of past occasions when our children in their early years had not heeded our advice, only for them to come back later and sheepishly admit we were right. As children of God, we all need to listen to our Father too and apply His guidance in our lives. His Word, our Bible, is the source of our daily food. It is food for both our body and soul – we do well if we apply it each day (James 1:22-25).
As I pondered the statement by our son, it reminded me of the obedience of Jesus to His Father during His temptation in the wilderness found in Matthew’s gospel. But the quoted verse we read in the gospel account is only half the story; we find the reason for the trials in Deuteronomy – in the Old Testament. In chapters six through to eight of Deuteronomy is an account of various trials of the Israelites in the wilderness, allowed by God to test their faithfulness to His commands.
Dear Reader, Father God wants you not only to listen but also to obey Him. It is one thing to hear instruction and do nothing, in contrast to hearing and obeying it. If you read His Word and obey it regularly, you will know the blessing of His smile on your walk with Him each day.
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’
Alan Kearns is a Christian father and grandfather from Scotland. He was raised in the mining villages of Fife and came to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior in 1984. A major influence that leads Alan to Jesus was his Christian mum, grandparents and an aunt. Alan writes regular devotionals in his blog Devotional Treasures
0 Comments