/Praise Yahweh! Be thankful to Yahweh, for He is good; for everlasting
is His loving-kindness... Blessed are those who keep justice; those
doing righteousness in all times. Remember me, Yahweh, in favor of Your
people; Visit me in Your salvation. To see prosperity in Your chosen
ones; to glory in the glory of Your inheritance. We sinned like our
fathers; we have done iniquity, we have been wicked... Our fathers in
Egypt, they did not comprehend Your wonders; They didn't remember Your
great kindnesses; and they rebelled along the sea in the Red
Sea...Quickly they forgot His works; they didn't wait on His counsel.
And they craved, with cravings in the desert; and they tempted God in
the wilderness...And was kindled, anger of Yahweh, on His people; and He
hated His inheritance. And He gave them into hands of the nations; and
those who hated them, ruled them...and He looked, nevertheless, on their
affliction; in His hearing of their cry. And He remembered for them, His
covenant and He relented for the sake of His loving-kindness...Save us
Yahweh, our God; and gather us from the nations; to offer thanks to Your
holy Name; to glory in Your praise.
/
Today, the first Sunday in Lent, Jesus is led out into the wilderness to
be tempted by Satan. The Devil puts God to the test, and we readily jump
on the bandwagon against that snake-in-the-grass. "Boo, hiss, shame on
that evil one for tempting God. He should know better that to try that!"
But then, we pause for a moment, and see ourselves in Psalm 106, where
we are much like our spiritual forefathers, the Israelites. They too
tempted God, and we, sadly, all too often follow in their footsteps.
"Wait a second, Pastor!" you may be thinking..."We aren't as bad as the
devil, are we?" Well, when we sin, when we willingly rebel against God
and His Law, when we transgress His commandments and go trespassing in
the devil's dangerous territory, we really are no different than the one
who tempted us there in the first place. Like Adam & Eve, we would like
to shift the blame onto that subtle serpent, but God will not allow it.
Satan gets his punishment, but so did Adam & Eve as well!
Yes, indeed, we tempt God when we purposefully go outside of His
revealed will for our lives, and choose to ignore what the Bible says,
making our decisions totally apart from what God's Word says. Likewise,
we put God to the test whenever we make life-messes from of our own
sinful faults, and then turn around and expect God to clean them up for
us. Whenever we either do what we alone want, or try to conform God's
will into our own sinful plans, we tempt and test our God.
"This is terrible, Pastor...what should we do?" In all
truth...*nothing*! Doing things got us into this mess to begin with. In
our actions we fall into temptations, and then further frustrate things
by putting God to the test after we have sinned. So now is the time to
be still and know that He is God. We have shown that we are like our
forefathers, just like Adam & Eve, really, unable to defeat the tempter.
So we do best to sit back and recognize just how temptation is
conquered–by Christ Jesus Himself.
For after an exhausting 40 day & night fast Jesus went into the desert,
led by the Spirit for the sole purpose of being tempted *for your sake*.
He knew you couldn't withstand such an all out assault from the forces
of evil...but He could. He knew that you already failed to keep your
part of the covenant–to be God's people by obeying His commandments
perfectly. But as Israel all-rolled-into- One, Jesus could resist all
Satan's temptations, and keep God's Law perfectly in your stead.
Jesus was tempted for you, in remembrance of God's Covenant to be Your
faithful God, and you be His faithful people. You failed to be faithful
to God as you ought, so Jesus took your place as a man, born under the
Law, to be faithful to God in your place. He is the only Blessed one Who
did justice, and Who did only righteousness at all times. But He also
assumes God's place, faithful to the end in His love for you, even unto
death on the + of Calvary to visit you with His salvation.
All this Jesus did because you are God's inheritance. To Him you are not
expendable. He must have you in heaven with Him forever. So great is His
love for you that He made His Own Son expendable, in your place. He
caused Him to give up His body in death & shed His holy precious blood
for you. All the hatred the Father had against His sinful inheritance,
He took out in full on Jesus. It is finished!
Your cry of "Save us" has been heard by God. For you are His chosen ones
from of old. He has made you people of His favor, to glory as His
inheritance as those Who bear His Name in baptism. All for the sake of
His everlasting loving-kindness, which is Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen.
. John C. Drosendahl, Pastor
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