You know, there’s always a measure of truth in every temptation. In fact, the most powerful temptations are to have something good but in the wrong way or at the wrong time. Sweet things like honey are indeed good for us (Proverbs 24:13), and give us a burst of energy when we need it (I Samuel 14:27). But too much of it will make us sick or overweight (Proverbs 25:16). Just so, God created men and women to have sexual relations with each other, but only within the secure confines of lifelong marriage (Genesis 2:23-24; Mark 10:2-12).
In the same way, when an Assyrian official called the Rabshakeh tempted the people of Jerusalem to surrender their besieged city, there was a lot of truth in what he said. It would in fact do them no good to rely on Egypt to save them (Isaiah 36:6) – God had said the same thing in Isaiah 31:1. And Hezekiah had removed lots of the high places where people had been worshipping God in the wrong ways, requiring everyone to worship only at the Temple in Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:7; II Kings 18:4). And even though Hezekiah had paid them a large sum of money (II Kings 18:14-16), the Assyrians had surrounded Jerusalem for long enough that the hungry Israelites were losing their ability to fight (Isaiah 36:8).
No, the problem is that temptation draws the wrong conclusions from the parts of the truth which it acknowledges. The Rabshakeh, for example, assumed that because Hezekiah had stamped out improper worship of the One True God, God would no longer protect him (Isaiah 36:7). The Rabshakeh also assumed that the One True God would be no more able to protect the people of Jersualem than the false gods of so many other cities had been able to stop the Assyrian onslaught (Isaiah 36:18-20).
In short, if temptation always magnifies the good things we want – things like food, sex, or safety – it also downplays God’s ability to provide those good things for us – in His way, and in His time. Temptation leads us to believe that the only way we can be happy and safe is to break faith with God, to give up on Him and take matters into our own hands.
But the good news is that we serve a God Who came to us to open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, a God Who made the lame walk and the dumb speak (Isaiah 35:5-6). And even though Jesus refused to lead His people in a war to drive out the Romans from their land, and even though He allows lots of injustice to go on in this world today, He asks us to keep on trusting Him, to rely on His methods and His timing. For He will come again, bringing vengeance to His enemies and blessing to His people (Isaiah 35:2-4).
Will we trust Him? Will we be faithful to Him? Will we wait for Him to save us?
Isaiah 35:1-10 (NASB)
The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus
2 It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God.
3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.
7 And the scorched land will become a pool, And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
8 And a highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.
9 No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there,
10 And the ransomed of the LORD will return, And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
