Father, sometimes I struggle with what to say to You. I know you don’t mind me repeating myself but I want it to be meaningful and fresh. As I pondered tonight this old children’s hymn came to mind. It is simple but expresses how I feel. (Click here if you’d like to hear the tune.)

Praise him, praise him, all ye little children,
God is love, God is love;
Praise him, praise him, all ye little children.
God is love, God is love.

Luke 4:1-13 (<<click to read the passage)

This morning was a bit eventful for me on my elementary route. I was probably only about 15 minutes from its end when I came up to a four-way stop where two county roads converge. We had enough snow last night after dark that you could hear the state snowplows out clearing the highway in front of our home but county roads usually don’t get treated in any way. A lot of places get packed down and become a layer of ice. So, when I came to that stop – and I was driving slowly anyway due to road conditions – I could feel the back of my bus start to slide to the right, as the front began sliding to the left. It was very much a slow-motion event in that it felt like it was sliding but I took a quick glance in the mirrors on the right side of my bus to verify what I felt. Fortunately, there were no vehicles coming towards me and the pickup truck behind me kept his distance.

Tapping my brake, I was able to stop before entering the intersection but I was most definitely not in my lane!

Temptation. That’s what Jesus finds himself in the middle of in this passage of Scripture. I’ll address the “whys” of that later but for now, I want to look at temptation and us.

There are certainly times where we blatantly seek to yield to temptation. We look for things that will lure us down temptation’s slippery slope but there are other times when we are just going our merry way and there it is! We are taking all the normal precautions. We are not trying to get ourselves into trouble but quickly find ourselves in the middle of it!

I truly consider God to be my co-pilot. Especially when I started driving school bus, I prayed regularly that He would guide my thoughts and actions. I prayed that what I felt was beyond me would be taken up by Him…and He answered those prayers in a marvelous way and continues to do so!

Though I may not have consciously asked for His help in my sliding this morning, He was most assuredly by my side all along the way. And He does the same for us when, by no fault of our own, we find ourselves in the middle of temptation. God will help us come to a stop before we slide into the intersection of disaster.

Lord Jesus, I am so grateful that You watch out for me, that regardless of the circumstances You are with me and are always ready to step in and steer me in the right direction. I pray that I will always be sensitive to Your leading and Your sensitivity to what may be detrimental to my spiritual walk. Amen.

Dec 4th, 2019, Wed, 6:15 pm