Daily devotional – 12th March 2021
And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. – Matthew 4:3
In the wilderness, where Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit for 40 days and 40 nights, there are multiplied millions of round, limestone rocks that look just like little loaves of baked bread.
As hunger began to really bite into our Lord during His time of fasting and prayer in the wilderness, these rocks would certainly have even more so looked like beautiful, tasty loaves.
Satan attacked our Lord at this time and tempted Him, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. “Why remain hungry, for You are the Son of God aren’t You?”
Satan attacks us the very same way today. “If you are a child of God, where is your Father’s provision? Why are those bills piling up? Why do you have so many needs?”
Satan taunts us to make something happen – do something to take care of things ourselves.
But faith and patience go hand in hand, and God would have us to be patient. Yes we are His children, and He has promised to meet all our needs as we pray for our daily bread. But we need to wait!
Most of us are impatient and we want to reach the Promised Land without ever going through the wilderness. We want to get there immediately, but our Heavenly Father says, “No, there is a time for preparation. Wait. Don not panic trust Me.”
An impatient man was heard praying to the Lord in the following manner:
“ Lord is it true that to You a million years is like a second?” asked the impatient man.
“Yes,” He answered.
“Amazing! Is it also true that to You a million dollars is like a penny?”
“Yes,” He answered.
“Well, Father, could I have a penny?”
“Sure,” the Lord answered. “Just a second!”
Each day we need to realize that the Lord’s timing is so different than ours. Jesus knew that better than anyone. He would not push or rush His Father by taking matters into His own hands. He would wait. And soon – perhaps only hours later – angels arrived bring Him not dry little loaves of bread, but “angel food cake” instead!
How often I settle for stale bread because I try to do things in my own strength instead of patiently trusting and waiting for the Fathers perfect timing and the “angel food cake”!