Matthew 4:4 | Wisdom for your Wednesday 🧠
Biblical context, Spurgeon & a simple practice
Kieran Lenahan
November 29, 2023
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Happy Wednesday! In today’s email:
The events leading up to Jesus’ testing in the desert 🏜️
A practical step you can take today 🧐
A quote from Charles Spurgeon 🗣️
The answer to yesterday’s trivia 📊
Memorize 🧠
___ __ ______, “__ __ _____, “‘___ _____ ___ ____ ___ _____ _____, ___ __ every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
_______ 4:4
(set up the web app to put memorization on easy mode!)
Passage context 👀
Here's the sequence of events leading up to Matthew 4:4:
Jesus gets baptized → he receives the Holy Spirit → the Father says:
“This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus then goes into the wilderness and fasts for 40 days to spend time with the Father and prepare spiritually for his public ministry. Then, the enemy shows up.
In verse 3, the devil tempts Jesus to turn the stones into bread:
And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Note: “If you are…” is more literally translated “Since you are the son of God…”
The enemy is wanting Jesus to use his power to satisfy his own physical desire for food.
Jesus Response
Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses reminds the Israelites of the 40 years they spent in the desert after being liberated from Egypt.
In that context, God was teaching the Israelites how to trust Him alone for provision.
Here's Deuteronomy 8:3:
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
After 40 days of fasting, Jesus' response to the enemy communicates at least this:
He came to earth to accomplish the will of the Father, even if it's at the expense of his own physical suffering - a foreshadowing of the cross ✝️
Apply & respond 🏃♀️
One practical step you can take in response to Matthew 4:4 is to prioritize regular reading and reflection on God's word.
Practice
Read Matthew chapter 4 slowly in its entirety today.
Bonus: Read it out loud with a friend, spouse or your children
Wisdom 🧐
“He who does not long to know more of Christ, knows nothing of Him yet.”
Tuesday’s Trivia answer: Jesus did NOT….C) Walk on water to prove his divinity.
Answer key ✅
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4
Have a great hump day 🐪
Best,
Kieran & Isaac
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