. . . for idle hands

I’ve wondered about the origin of the saying, “The devil finds work for idle hands.” Today I noticed from Matthew 4, that his tactics to tempt Jesus all happened when Jesus was alone, not ministering to people or busy with His life’s usual activities.

While the devil didn’t have any success with the Son of God, he does much better with me. If I’ve nothing to do (which is rare) and feel empty and without purpose, I find it easier to fall for a ‘grand suggestion’ rather than wait on the Lord to give me orders.

For instance, I’m idle when the day is nearly over. It’s too early to go to bed, and yet I’m tempted to start some new project, which I really don’t need, or this comes to mind, “Grab a munchie and find something on the television. Just one nibble, just one show won’t hurt.” One leads to two, and I eat too much, stay up too late, or watch something that injures my spirit.

Certainly adding empty calories to my plate (literally and figuratively) or watching television does nothing for the empty feeling of having no direction. The answer to my evening idleness is not filling it with “stones made into bread.” Actually, I’m becoming much better at resisting. Our TV set remains off for days at a time and I am now including ‘no’ more often in my vocabulary.

I’m also more aware of how Jesus responded to His physical hunger pangs. He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Greek has two words for ‘word.’ One is the familiar “logos” and the other is “rhema” which means ‘a word given for the moment, for a particular situation.’

This is the word that Jesus is talking about. God has a rhema for me, and when I’m idle and feeling hungry I need to look to Him, not in the frig, or on the boob tube.

In the second temptation, the devil took Jesus to a high spot on the temple. Josephus, a Jewish historian, says this was 450 feet up, a drop that would kill any jumper. Of course, Jesus could jump trusting God to prevent His death, but He knew this was not the time for dying, nor the method in His Father’s plan.

He also knew the difference between trusting God and testing God. Trust hears rhema and obeys, even if it seems dangerous. Test hears reckless suggestion and follow through hoping God will make the best of it. These temptations to test God might be as subtle as “I can watch this garbage on TV (or eat this junk food) and God will protect me from being affected by it.”

In the third temptation, Jesus was taken to a high place and offered everything if He would give the worship due His Father to the devil. Worship is a simple word. It means to give honor and worth to something or someone.

People worship all sorts of things, not necessarily in a formal setting or a recognized form. One explanation I’ve heard is that what I worship can be identified by what I think about the most. I’m giving that thing honor and worth by allowing it first place in my mind.

The devil is power-hungry and has lots of it, for now. The Bible calls him “the ruler of this world” and the “god of this age.” He must have known Jesus wanted that power back, so he offered Him a slice.

But Jesus didn’t want power as much as He wanted to be obedient. He knew who was in charge of His life and who was worthy of His worship. He told the devil to take a hike.

While the devil’s appeals to me are not nearly so dramatic as what he offered Jesus, he still tries to lure me from worshiping God into doing things that are a downright test of God’s patience and love for me. Even though I know that the Lord has something better for me in those idle evening hours, and even though I can resist filling that idle spot with television and food, how can I fill it with something that honors Him?

Instead of thinking I must keep busy to avoid the dangers of idleness, I need to watch that my work does not become the sole occupation of my mind and I end up worshiping my own busyness. Refusing to let the tempter use my idle hands is one thing, but I also need to hear the Word of the Lord, filling that down time with rhema from Him, then giving back my worship and trust.