God’s Absolute Faithfulness

A pastor was asked if temptation was a sin. He replied, “You cannot stop a bird from flying over your head, but you don’t have to let it build a nest in your hair.”

He implied that the world, the flesh, and the devil will call out to me in various ways, but I must not dwell on what they say, suggest, or how they make their appeal. I  cannot stop those suggestions nor can I block any doubts that come to me any more than I can hinder someone from saying nasty words as I walk by, yet I am not doing anything wrong by hearing the temptation. I can refuse to listen.

It is the same with doubts. I can dwell on them, join in with them, consent to them and adopt them as true — or I can turn from them and to the truth that God gives me.

The world might say, ‘Faith in God is foolish. Being a Christian has too many rules and spoils your fun.’ Do I know the truth that smacks down that line?

The flesh might say, ‘God is not in charge of your life. If He was good, this … would never be happening to you. There is no reason for you to be suffering. Escape…’ Do I know the truth about God’s power and sovereignty, about His love for me and the purpose of suffering?

The devil continually bombards me with stuff like: ‘God does not really want the best for you. This isn’t really so bad; everyone does it so it must be okay.’ Can I reply to those slanders of God with truth that hits them out of my mind?

Today’s devotional puts emphasis on the value of reading and knowing the Word of God for it also tells me what God is like and reminds me of what He has already done. It gives me answers to the subtle and not so subtle suggestions that come to me as temptations to doubt Him. While I have a choice and can believe the lies, I also know that doing so robs me of joy and the goodness of knowing my God is faithful.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)

Yet there is another ‘lie’ that is often missed. It is the lie that says, ‘You can do it, You’ve got this’ and other versions that say I am able to handle anything if I just decide to do so and try harder. The Word of God says otherwise as does my own experience. I cannot be godly or battle sin without Jesus Christ. My confidence can never be in my own strength. Instead, the victory over temptation comes with a confession of weakness, never a determination to try harder. In the battle against lies and temptations, the only way to win is by yielding to God, by looking to Jesus.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1–4)

Jesus is the Savior. I am not. He is faithful. I am not. He will “sustain me to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom I was called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:4–9) Note also the order of actions in this verse:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

I cannot rid myself of the devil and his lies, nor the world and its thinking, nor the flesh as it tries to resurrect itself from being dead unless I am submitted to God first, then resisting the lies of temptation. Trusting and believing is only part of the weapon; obedience is the sharpest sword to put doubts and nest-building from happening, perhaps even from showing up.

PRAY: Jesus, I need You to keep me safe from the lies that fly about me, even the lie that ‘try harder’ will work. Enable me to practice a continuous habit of believing You and having discernment against temptation and doubt. Only You can make them vanish and replace them with the glory of Your absolute faithfulness.