Get Thee Hence!

"Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

Matthew 4:10

When Satan tempted Jesus three times in the wilderness, Jesus appealed to the authority of God's Word to reject his evil suggestions.  Jesus was unwilling to entertain his suggestions or enter into a debate over doctrine.  The Bible provides all a Christian needs to discern the truth and the Holy Spirit provides the strength for us to walk in it.  Whenever Satan or something in our lives opposes God's Word we can say without apology or hesitation, "Get thee hence!"  It is the birthright of every Christian to walk in holiness and righteousness, and we never again need to be enslaved by sin.

God promised His people in the Old Testament a day was coming when He would give them spiritual discernment.  Their eyes would finally perceive the worthless idols they had always prized as the sinful filth they truly were.  Isaiah 30:22 says, "Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence."  People rightly find used hygiene products as disgusting and fit only for the bin, not something to be valued or treasured.  This is what spiritual blindness does.  When blinded by the deceitfulness of sin, something the equivalent of a used tampon seems precious.

Growing up in San Diego, we had a large Chinaberry tree in our front yard.  We were always cautioned by my parents against eating the berries because they are poisonous.  One day our neighbour caught her child eating the toxic berries.  As she frantically spoke to him, trying to pull the berries out of his mouth, guess what he did?  He swallowed them!  So off they went to the doctor, and again we were reminded about the dangers of eating Chinaberries.  I don't know exactly what was going through the little child's mind but apparently the berries in his mouth tasted good enough to swallow them - contrary to his mother's demand he spit them out.  Sweetness in his mouth to him translated into nourishment for his body, but this was not the case.  Idols made of gold and silver look valuable, but they are poison for our souls.

I don't believe God is interested to pry our sticky fingers from the idols we cling to.  He wants to open our eyes with the light of His Word so we will cast them from us as a worthless thing which can only defile.  It is for us to decide if we will follow Jesus at the first, and when God brings them to light we must also decide and follow through with casting aside every weight and the sin which easily besets us.  The Bible gives us the wisdom to discern wealth from what is worthless and say to temptation or sin, "Get thee hence!"