Dear Church of the Open Bible,
This past Sunday, we looked at Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness, in Luke 4:1-13. We saw how Jesus represents humanity and reveals faithfulness to God, succeeding in the wilderness where Adam failed in the garden. We also looked at Satan’s tactics in tempting us as believers. But one area of note is Satan’s use of Scripture in his third temptation (Luke 4:9-11). Satan quotes Psalm 91:11-12. He uses these verses to encourage Jesus to jump from the temple because God protects those who are His. Jesus recognizes this as presumption and unbelief because it artificially creates a situation where God must prove His care and love.
I mention this because sometimes we use Scripture like Satan. We co-opt Scripture for our purposes, as if it merely being in the Bible makes it applicable to us directly. But, as we see from the passage, merely using biblical words does not guarantee that it’s God’s will for our lives (eg. Exod 14:14; Jer 29:11).
How do we guard against this? By understanding those words in context. Who are they being spoken to? Why are they being spoken? What other words have been spoken? God the Father had just proclaimed that Jesus was His beloved Son (Luke 3:22), so there was no need for Jesus to artificially test that love. May we be careful and humble in how we handle, share, and post God’s Word.