There was nothing odd about this particular evening in the Davidson household. Dad had worked a hard day at his job while Mommy had been home with their three children all day, doing the various things that three kids, ages 10 months to 5 years, demand. It was dinner time and the couples' eldest, Jenna, was being naughty, throwing food across the table and hitting her little brother. Finally, Mommy had had enough and sent Jenna to her room for the rest of the night, minus dessert.
A few hours later, well-after the dishes were done and the other children had been put to bed, Mommy went to tuck little Jenna in and kiss her goodnight. Mommy walked into her five-year-old's room to see her daughter sobbing on her bed, looking sad and defeated. Jenna looked up at Mommy and, with swollen eyes, asked: "Why do we do bad things, Mommy?"
Mommy, in as comforting tone as she could, answered, "Honey, the devil sometimes tells us to do the wrong things. We need to listen to God to do the right things." To which a sobbing Jenna replied in tears, "But He just doesn't talk loud enough!"
Could we not all empathize with Jenna? Often we know that what we are doing is wrong but the voice of the tempter, Satan, can seem so much louder than the voice of truth. Temptations are something that is common to every human. In fact, even our Lord and Savior, Jesus, faced severe temptations (Heb. 2:18, 4:15), as chronicled in Matt. 4:1-11, and Luke 4:1-13.
Jesus, following His baptism, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. After forty days of fasting and prayer, He is hungry but spiritually ready. At this moment, Satan comes to Jesus and tempts Him thrice. In each of Satan's ploys, he supports his temptations with Scripture, giving them the appearance of truth. However, Jesus is not detoured, He overcomes everyone of Satan's temptations with Scripture that is applied expertly. Two things stand out in this account that are instantly applicable to us.
The first is the need for recognition of interpretive heresy. Satan supported his temptations with hermeneutical finesse that made each of his temptations seem not only acceptable but even condoned by the Word of God. Notice, then, that Satan's voice sounds like truth though it is actually spurious lies. Understanding and acknowledging the way that a counterfeit of Satan attempts to appear as a truth of the Lord is the first step to overcoming the temptations.
The second thing in this regard deals with Jesus' response to Satan's seductions. Jesus counters with Scripture. The difference between Jesus' usage and Satan's can be summarized as interpretive methodology. While Satan pulled verses out of context to support his position, Jesus took the passages in context and applied from that context. In this way, it can be easily concluded that Satan's application was wrong and Jesus' right, thus indicating that not every hermeneutic has the same worth. In fact, some interpretations may even be, dare we say, wrong.
Getting back to the sincere concern of Jenna, who fell to her temptations because, as she claimed, God doesn't speak loudly enough. Jesus shows that hearing God's voice and responding to temptations in reliance upon His voice is directly related to how dependent we are on the Word and how committed we are to proper interpretive methodologies. Needless to say, this requires disciplined and diligent study that is guided by a dedication to acceptable interpretations. We should then work hard to interpret the Word the way it is intended to be, so that we can overcome every temptations of the enemy!
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