The devil quoted Psalm 91, God’s promise to protect Jesus.  The devil said, if you are the Son of God, then test that promise.  The undercurrent of this temptation was the presumption that “if God does not protect you, God is not with you.”  Jesus knew that he would carry the sins of humankind.  He would fall, and God would not send his angels to catch him.  Would he still believe that God was with him?  Could suffering and the will of God go together?  The devil said no.  But Jesus said yes.  Jesus would submit to the Lord’s will for his life.  He was not going to complain or quarrel with God or test God even if he had to fall out of God’s hands.

We are tempted to construe God’s promises on our own terms.  There are a lot of promises in the Scriptures.  What do we do with these promises when we are suffering?  The devil tries to tempt us to think that this means that God is not with us, that God is not keeping his promises, that God is not real.  The devil is constantly trying to create suffering in our lives and the world and then use the suffering to blame God.  That’s his scheme.

How do we resist such a temptation?  Remember the gospel, find community to remind us of God’s character, and engage in the process of building a relationship with God.