The Miracle of Restraint

As the last few days of Lent approach, I am trying to summarize my thoughts about my journey and what Christ's 40 days in the wilderness was really about. Why was Satan tempting Him? British poet Gerard Manley Hopkins suggests that Satan did not know for certain whether Jesus was an ordinary man or a theophany or perhaps an angel with limited powers like himself. Martin Luther suggested that Jesus conducted himself so humbly and associated with sinful men and women so often, and was not held in great esteem by so many that perhaps the devil overlooked Him and did not recognize Him. In essence, Satan was saying,"If you are God, then dazzle me."

So why didn't Jesus? Why doesn't He dazzle me? Or the people I want so desperately to come to know Him personally? It turns out, this Temptation may be about one of my biggest struggles as a Christian. Ivan Karamazov calls it “the miracle of restraint.” God simply refuses to perform and overwhelm and has granted us so much freedom that we can live as if He doesn’t exist, spit in His face, crucify Him. Philip Yancy supposes it is because no display of omnipotence would achieve the response He desires. “Although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love, which is the one thing God wants from us.”

During this season of self-restraint, I admit I succumbed to temptation more than once. But when I consider my success rate on this journey, I’m instantly reminded that Christ did not succumb to temptation. For Jesus to save me, He could not save himself. How humbling, this love.

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee,

I give thee back the life I owe,

That in thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from thee,

I lay in dust life’s glory dead,

And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be.

Music - Albert L. Peace, Words - George Matheson