Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread
alone.’ “ Luke 4: 4
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God
and serve him only.’ “ Luke 4: 8
Jesus answered, “It says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to
the test.’ “ Luke 4:12
Wow, God’s word
is so powerful!! Three times in Luke 4, when Jesus is tempted by the devil
during his 40 days in the desert, he refers right back to the book of
Deuteronomy, chapters 6 and 8, aptly subtitled in my Bible as “Love the Lord
Your God” and “Do Not Forget the Lord.”
These are the 2 things that Jesus reveals in his answers to the devil,
how much he loves his Father and that he has not forgotten him. After the first 2 answers, the devil even
tries to use and quote the Bible back to Jesus, but he again answers a verse
with a verse and stands strong against Satan. I was just writing about how
difficult it is to make the time each day to accomplish everything I want to
accomplish, one of those things being the study of God’s Word, but these
passages in Luke show me how important it is to know it. If I study it and keep
it in my heart, as Mary kept her son in her heart, God's words will be there for
me when I need them. In the advent
devotional I am working through with my sons this month, we are reading about
Saint Nicholas and his devotion to God at an early, early age. By the time he was grown, he had memorized
all the scriptures. What an accomplishment! I am always amazed at how God will
bring His word to mind when He needs me to remember something important. For
example, when I began thinking about this blog entry, the verse at the top came
to mind. For me, I only remembered the
part about hiding His word in my heart that I might not sin against God, but it
is enough to “google it” and take me back to it where I can be blessed even
more by the verses surrounding it.
Imagine if I had the whole Bible memorized like St. Nick. It truly is like putting on the armor of God
as it says in Ephesians, chapter 6 “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so
that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and
after you have done everything, to stand…Take the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (which is another verse that
just “popped” into my head as I am writing-see how that works?!?!) God’s Word
equips us for life, to handle the difficult people and situations we will run
into, to bring us up out of the dumps when we need it, to guide us when we
don’t know what to do, and to simply comfort and encourage us when we need to
know that someone out there understands us and loves us more than anyone in
this world He created ever could.
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