Fasting & Praying GuideSample

Most of us probably think we don’t test God very often. The truth is that we do it all the time. We grab hold of our own autonomy and justify our self-centered ambitions with idolatrous conceptions of God. Not your obvious, turning-away-from-God-to-follow-pagan-gods idolatry. Most idolatry is more subtle than that. Like the Israelites in the wilderness with their golden calf (Exod. 32:1–8), we plaster the name of God on images in our lives that promise safety but cannot save. These images can be religious, political, national, or ideological.

We do this because we prefer a familiar god to the free one, a predictable god to the powerful one, a domesticated god to the disruptive one. We want nothing more than a docile deity who can support the objectives we set for ourselves. The last thing we need is a God who inconveniences our plans and priorities by disrupting our lives and calling us into the hard and narrow way of the Kingdom, especially when that way leads us into the uncertainty of the wilderness.

Reflection:

Fasting awakens me to the daily treachery of temptation and reminds me that leaning on His power helps me overcome it.

In what ways does Jesus lean on God in this moment, how can you practice this in your own life when faced with temptation?