Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
SATURDAY, May 7
Luke 4:1-13. When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Every time I hear this story, I wonder when the devil’s opportune time came. Was it when Judas decided to betray his friend (that’s what John the Evangelist thought when he said that Satan entered into Judas). Or when Jesus asked that the cup of suffering might pass from him? Or when the disciples ran away from Jesus rather than risk arrest? Or was it the time that Peter denied him? Or when people mocked him as he hung on the cross?
To say that the devil would return at an opportune time didn’t mean that the next time he would win. I like to think the devil never wins, try as he might. As bedeviled as I sometimes feel by the tougher moments in my life, the way that Jesus resisted temptation allows me to pray the prayer that he prayed and know that it will be answered: “Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13)—especially the evil one seeking to dwell in every human heart.
The majestic figure of Mephistopheles is alien to us. The devil is not loftiness—he is mediocrity and triviality.
—Alexander Elchaninov
PRAY for the Diocese of Newcastle (York, England)
Ps 20, 21:1-7(8-14) * 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117; Daniel 3:19-30; 1 John 3:11-18
View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
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