Four Words the Devil Skipped
“If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
— Psalm 91:9-12 (NIV)
Many churches keep 29 September as Michaelmas, the feast of Michael and all angels. In England it was also a quarter day: rents fell due and workers were hired for the year. Jewish tradition gave these lines a grim nickname, the song against plagues and evil spirits. Families said them at bedtime, and a copy turned up at Qumran among texts for driving out demons. Centuries later the devil used the same words as a weapon. He set Jesus, forty days without food, on the temple parapet far above the valley. Josephus wrote that anyone who looked down from that corner grew dizzy. The devil quoted the promise and left four words out: “in all your ways.” Without them it seems to cover any danger a person invents. Jesus refused, and answered with a line about Massah, the desert camp where his people demanded proof. Massah means testing, and a promise you force God to prove is no longer trust.
You ask God to look after you, then quietly count on it. Nothing has gone wrong yet, so the risk stops feeling like one. Maybe it is the checkup you keep putting off. Maybe it is spending money that has not come in yet. Or the fourth night in a row on five hours of sleep. Or the password you have used everywhere since 2015. Jesus trusted his Father completely and still never forced him to prove it.
One Less Risk Today
- 1Take the one thing you keep doing because nothing has gone wrong yet, and today do it the careful way instead. Do it early, while you are not in a hurry: the phone in the back seat before you start the car, the bill paid tonight, the early night you keep promising yourself.
- 2If none of that is yours, make the one call you have been putting off since summer: the doctor, the dentist, the garage, the landlord. It takes four minutes and you can do it from your chair.
Lord, thank you for the days that went fine and I never thought twice about them. There is something I keep doing because nothing has gone wrong yet. I do not want to gamble and then call it trusting you. Help me do the slower thing today, even when I am tired and late. Watch over the people I love. Teach me to take your care seriously enough not to waste it.
Today, just once, I won't tell myself it'll be fine.
Why did the devil quote Psalm 91 to Jesus?
To make a jump from the temple look like faith. He used verses 11 and 12 but left out the words about being guarded in all your ways, which tie the promise to the paths God gives, not to dangers we invent (Matthew 4:5-7; Luke 4:9-12).
What does it mean to put God to the test?
It means forcing him to prove a promise on demand. Jesus answers with Deuteronomy 6:16, which points back to Massah, the desert camp where Israel demanded water and asked whether God was among them or not (Exodus 17:7). Massah means testing.
What is Michaelmas?
The old name for 29 September, the feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, kept by Anglicans, Lutherans, Catholics and others. In England it was also one of the four quarter days, when rents fell due and workers were hired for the year.