Matthew 4:5-7 (NIV)
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”
A person always needs to be extra cautious when satan starts quoting Scripture. You can be sure that there is a twist in it somewhere!
Jesus had passed the first test, but now He is facing another. Satan took Jesus to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, a spot far above the floor of the valley. A fall from there would absolutely be fatal; a jump would be insane. Yet that is exactly what satan challenged Jesus to do.
In support of his suggestion, satan quoted part of Psalm 91:11-12, implying that, because Jesus was God’s Son with whom He was pleased (Matthew 3:17), surely God wouldn’t allow any harm to befall Him before it was His time to die on the cross. Didn’t it make sense that nothing would be able to hurt or kill Him until then? Not even a leap into the abyss that stretched beneath Jesus’ feet? The Scriptures, after all promised that God would sent His angels to hold the righteous person up so that he or she wouldn’t even stub their toe.
But, as is usual with satan, he removed those verses from their context, and thus completely changed their meaning. The psalmist was talking about God’s unwavering faithfulness to the righteous in times of the trials and judgments that He brought on the wicked; how He won’t wipe out the righteous with the unrighteous (cf. Genesis 18:23-25). It tells how He will protect them in the midst of His wrath, just as He did for Lot during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Jeremiah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego during the siege and captivity of Jerusalem.
Satan was trying to persuade Jesus to use the promise in these verses out of context – to leap off the pinnacle of the temple and, in effect, dare God to make good on a promise that He never made: to save someone from their own foolish choices.
But Jesus was wise; he knew the ways of the enemy in twisting God’s word. He was righteous and altogether holy; he lived to serve God’s will, and would never try to twist God’s will to serve Himself. And He was humble and submissive; He only wanted to fit in with God’s plan, and to walk step-by-step as He directed.
Father, how often have I been encouraged to claim a promise in your world without becoming thoroughly familiar with its context and conditions. How often have I inadvertently put You to the test without even realizing the wrongness of my actions and attitude in trying to force a blessing or a grace from Your hand, and often using Your word to justify my expectations. Forgive me, Lord! Help me to have the same wisdom that Jesus had, so that I can easily recognize the enemy’s snare before I step in it. Help me to have the same holiness, so that I can use my will to walk in Your ways. And help me to have the same humbleness, so that I can lay my will and my plans aside and fully submit my whole self to You and to Your plan for me. Amen.