The plan

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

THE PLAN

Luke 22:52-53

52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour — when darkness reigns." 

NIV

This is, once again, a demonstration of the mighty hand of God. All the while Jesus was openly teaching in the temple courts these men could have nabbed him, rushing on surrounding the temple courts, closing off every avenue if escape, and arresting him there, but they did not. Why? Because God simply would not allow it then, but now it is time for Jesus to do what he came to do, so these men were able to find him, and arrest him out in the open, in the garden, where he could have slipped away quickly. Two lessons here for us. The first is the mighty power of the hand of God. As with the case with Job as well as others, Satan, who operates under the cover of darkness, could not do any harm to Jesus without the expressed approval of God. This should offer us a great deal of comfort and assurance. This prowler in the darkness cannot do us any harm either unless it is with the consent of God. Then we can, as Job did, say that not only can we accept good from the hand of God, but we can also accept any trouble as well from his hand, for nothing can happen to us unless God either ordains or permits it. We also know that God allowed these men, in his time, to arrest Jesus and although Jesus was going to have to experience suffering it was for the good purpose of God. In fact, it was for our good. So we could make the case, that even when God allows the prowler access to us, it will be for his good purpose. The second lesson is about Satan, the one who prowls around as a lion seeking whom he might destroy. He operates in the darkness. He is not like Jesus, who is the light of the world. He hides in the shadows of darkness. We may not be able to see him when he comes to tempt us, to lure us into a trap of sin. He is sneaky, cunning, crafty, and a scheming deceitful lair. He will not come out in the light of day, he waits in the darkness to entrap his victims, but he cannot touch us believers without the approval of our almighty God. That is not to say we could allow Satan to have his way with us. Although God has the ultimate authority over us and Satan, we could open ourselves up to his advances. We could yield to his temptations even without the permission of God. Why would we do this? It would seem because we are human and subject to the failures of the flesh. We have to admit that our spirit is willing to obey God, but our flesh is weak. We want to do that which is good and not to do that which is not good, but as Paul expressed, we do that which we desire not to do, and we do not do that which we desire to do. It is a constant battle ground within our being. Why is that? Why is it we cannot overcome all temptations all the time? We know the tempter is not God, we know those temptations come from the prowler, the one who desires to destroy us. We know God will not allow him to actually destroy us, in fact he will not allow us to be tempted beyond that which we can bear. Which leads us back to the almighty hand of God, who has control over all things. Yet it still requires us to submit to his authority in our lives and to look to him for the strength to overcome. We cannot do it alone, yet it is our choice to look to him, or to try to resist on our own. God allowed this to happen to Jesus, Jesus allowed it to happen to himself because this was and is the will of God concerning his plan to redeem us. We need to see that fact that we need to be living in the will of God, then everything will go according to his plan. It is always about his plan.