Matthew 4

Tuesday, June 11, 2013


"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (verse 4) This verse tells us that we must live by the principles and words of the gospel. They are what will guide us, not the words of man alone. I think this is a very significant verse because it helps remind us that we do not have all of the answers. Our friends and family likewise do not have all of the answers. Often times, the best thing to do is ask Heavenly Father for help or search our scriptures for an answer. When you read scriptures, you set yourself up in a position in which you can receive personal revelation for a solution to your problem or the comfort and guidance you need. Occasionally you can receive a divine gift from Heavenly Father. But we need not look to man for an answer, but to those who have the divine power to help us. 
"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." (verse 7) This is what Christ responded to Satan when He was tempted by Satan to prove His power. The first thing you must answer when you read this verse is 'What does it mean to tempt the Lord?' It has actually taken me much time and thought to come up with an answer, but I suppose we could think of it as asking the Lord to do some miracle when it is of no worth to us, like when we don't need it. Just asking the Lord to do something for the sake of doing it. Heavenly Father has already blessed us with so much, we really should not try to tempt Him in any way, shape, form, or fashion. We need to live worthy to Him. 
"And saith unto him, All these things I will give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." (verse 9) Satan was trying to convince Christ to come and worship him. I think it is amazing that Satan would try to even make these promises knowing that there was and is no way he could fulfill his promises. They are worthless and best left ignored. We can relate this to a lot of temptations we experience in life. Often times they seem appealing in the moment, but many times we will regret the particular decision later. With this being said, it is easier not to allow yourself to fall to the temptation. If you need help and the strength to resist the temptation, you can always call upon Heavenly Father for assistance and He will happily help you. 
I think verse 10 "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" serves as a reminder to us that there is only one God and we should only worship Him. So often people fall into the typical life and end up forgetting or ignoring their religious connections and affiliations, which can really hinder us spiritually. I will admit that there was a point in time in my life for about seven years where I allowed God to play little to no part in my life. It was the biggest mistake of my life because I am now having to learn everything, so everything is quite new. All that has been posted on here, all of the references on here are from what I've learned and applied to my life in the past five months, nothing more. But for those seven years, they were some of the most miserable years ever. I didn't know why then, but I do now. I encourage anyone who has fallen away from God and the gospel to go and seek a better relationship with Him now. Do not wait another day, do it today and you will appreciate it. You can be healed spiritually, emotionally, and physically by doing this. 
The story of the men with being turned into fishermen (in the following verses) shows us that Christ is a fisher of men. He wants to enable us to be saved. So He goes and fishes out the wounded and the hurt, the helpless and the weak, the brokenhearted and all those that need help. And He invites them to come unto Him. He tells us that by doing so, we allow ourselves to have the opportunity to be free of all sins and to one day rejoin our Heavenly Father in heaven. 
I think in this story, Christ shows an amazing amount of faith and dedication, as well as love. He loves us enough to come out and search for those of us who truly feel the need to have Him in our lives. He also stays with us through everything. No matter how bad or complicated things get, He is always there welcoming us with open arms. When we pray, He can allow us to receive comfort from our Heavenly Father; comfort that we sometimes so desperately need. Heavenly Father and Christ love us more than anything. They also have a complete understanding of all the pain we go through. They are the best to look to when times get tough. Not friends, Google, or anywhere else. But to them and the scriptures. In both we can find our answers and the guidance we need.