Doubt or Deal?
It’s always amazing to me how the seed of doubt Satan planted in man in the Garden bears fruit in us all somehow on a daily basis. Our flesh is hardwired to doubt God. With all we know from Scripture and our own experiences as believers, we can still question everything from His very existence to His goodness to us.
In writing a new devotional book, I discovered a unique connection I had never seen before, nor have I ever heard it taught. It’s one of those little dot-connecting moments in Scripture that are amazing to find.
When Jesus was in the wilderness being tested by the enemy, after 40 days of fasting, we read this in Matthew 4:3 …
“The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus then answered in verse 4 …
“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Later in his ministry, when Jesus was teaching about the goodness of the Heavenly father, He said in Matthew 7:9-11 …
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Did you catch it? Applying the teaching of the passage, Jesus is saying, in essence, “Your Father in Heaven would never give you a stone when you ask Him for bread.” And that word came straight “from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus tied the experience with Satan trying to get Him to work a miracle of turning stones to bread into an exaggerated example (a common form of Rabbinical teaching) of what God would never do to us!
If today you find yourself doubting God’s goodness in your life or thinking He may be overlooking you somehow, let this truth sink in deep. Satan hands us rocks, hoping we’ll mistake it for bread and take the bait. God will always offer bread, never stones, because His desire is always to take care of His kids.
Jesus Himself told us God wants to “give good gifts.” Now, there is just one simple catch—we need to ask Him. And why is that important to Him? Because asking requires a relationship and that’s always the bottom line of everything with our Heavenly Father—connection to His kids.
Doubt or deal? It’s your call…
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 NIV