Wilderness Lies

By Anthony Casperson
5-3-25

For several reasons, I’ve been thinking about the lies that like to bounce around a person’s head. Lies that make us feel terrible about ourselves. Depressionary thoughts that cause us to feel powerless. Echoes of falsehoods that others have laid upon us. When they shout their bile into our minds, all we want to do is shut down, run away, or hide.

Such thoughts tend to come when we’re at our weakest. When our feet have just been swept out from under us. When we’ve been beaten up by the world. When all it would take is one last piece of straw for us to break. Right then, when we could use something firm to pick us back up, that’s when these wicked words like to smack us back down.

One thing that I’ve told others to do—and try to be an example in as well—is to speak truth into the lies. If we feel unloved, recite the names of family and friends who have stood beside us through previous tough times. With lies that tell us we’re worthless, verbally point out tangible examples of people whose lives are better because we’ve been there for them. And when we think we’re too weak or incapable of changing things, speak forth the things that we know we actually can do.

There is power in truth spoken against the lies.

But the problem comes when we speak desired truths into the lies instead of actual truth. For example, people are quick to promise us that things will get better. But in reality, they don’t know that. Can’t promise that eventuality. And ultimately, when such words are proven wrong, because things didn’t get better, they just give greater power to the lies in the future.

Words that sound true, or are misapplied, or fail to give comfort because of the context of the situation, they all do more harm than help. Truth, in the proper context, strengthens far greater than dreams, false promises, and well-wishes.

Earlier this week, I read a passage of the bible that I’ve seen applied to many situations, but given how much I’ve been thinking about the lies in our heads, the lean of application over towards that direction seemed to fit well. And that passage was Matthew 4.

Here, Jesus had been led by the Holy Spirit to spend forty days fasting in the wilderness. The number of days represented the number of years that the young nation of Israel had wandered in the wilderness before entering the land promised to them by God. Hunger and time spent in the wilderness had weakened him physically. And it was here that Satan tried to tempt Jesus.

In verse 3, the tempter antagonized the Second Person of the Trinity by saying, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Essentially, if you really are the Word through which the Father spoke the entire universe into existence from nothing, then transforming these stones into something to eat should be simple.

Satan was not only preying on the physical weakness of Jesus, but also hitting his pride in Jesus’ godhood in the pointed words. And remember that Philippians 2:7 tells us that with the incarnation, Jesus made himself nothing—emptied himself of his right to his godly power—so for Jesus to do as the tempter asked, would be to go against his mission on this planet.

The lie was that Jesus had something to prove to the fallen angelic being. But the truth was that Jesus didn’t have anything to prove. And as a matter of fact, the mission that the Father had sent the Son on was all the proof that he needed.

And so, Jesus spoke truth against the lie.

First and foremost, the choice of quoting from the word of God makes sure that the words are true and will remain true. Just as sure as God’s word is—which Jesus, a.k.a. the Word of God, would know quite well.

But also, the choice to quote from the book of Deuteronomy was meaningful. Because these were the words of God to the people of God right as they were nearing the end of their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. These words were a much-needed message for people in the same type of context that Jesus was in. And he was there because he was following the mission that the Father had for him.

The quote was truth from God for the situational context in which Jesus found himself. But the literary context of the words from Deuteronomy were also taken into consideration for the application.

When Jesus quotes that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by very word that comes from the mouth of God,” he’s not just telling his tempter that there’s more to life than physical nourishment. Because of the context, Jesus speaks the truth that just as God was with the Israelites in the wilderness for the forty years—and with Jesus for the forty days—the Father had promised to continue with them through the difficult things that lay ahead.

The manna—the bread of heaven, which Jesus later equates with himself—had been part of the ancient Israelites’ training for the future life lived working alongside God in his plan. Or as a few verses after the quote says, “So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him” (Deut. 8:6).

To this, Satan tries a second temptation, transporting Jesus to the top of the temple’s height. And he then quotes scripture himself. But he does misapply it, by not taking the context of the verses into account.

The words come from Psalm 91, both verses 10 and 11, but they’re not the entirety of the verses. Basically, the devil says that if Jesus puts his entire faith in the Father, then he should jump off of the pinnacle of the roof because God will send his angels to help, not even allowing Jesus’ foot to be dashed upon the rocks.

But this is another lie. Not only because that’s not the promise that God makes in these verses, but also because if Jesus were to perform this miraculous feat, he’d be going against the plan of God. A miracle on that public of a scale would declare the power of Jesus outside of God’s timing. It would jumpstart the entire plan, all on an ungodly whim.

And the fact that the context of Psalm 91 speaks against that very thing is not lost on Jesus, I’m sure. Yes, God promises to provide and rescue and save, but it is a promise made to the faithful. To those who work side by side with God. According to his ways and timing. Thus, to take this leap of faithlessness would nullify the promise made in Psalm 91:10-11.

(As a side note that I find funny, I also had to laugh when I read Psalm 91:13, which includes the words, “And the serpent you will trample underfoot.” I wonder why the serpent of old would omit the part that makes reference to the curse God made against him back in Genesis 3 that also spoke of the Messiah’s victory over the serpent. Lies and liars always omit the parts that prove their own weaknesses.)

In the face of this misapplication of the truth of God, Jesus continues to speak truth. And again, speaks it from Deuteronomy, words directly given to people whom he was sent to represent. This time the quote comes from Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

The quite not only directly points to the fault in the misapplication of Satan’s previous words, but also has the truth revealed in its context. Just as the context of Psalm 91 included the idea of keeping God’s commands, so does Deuteronomy 6.

I mean, Deuteronomy 6:17-18 literally say, “You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you.” The promised protection and favor have a counterbalance of faithfulness on our side. Responsibility for our part that we continue on with God’s plan.

Truth not only overpowers lies, but also overpowers misapplication of truth.

But the lies don’t stop there. No, they add another. “Sure,” say the lies, “God’s ways might provide what you want, but there’s a faster way to get it.” Satan offers Jesus the whole world, if he only bows down before the angel who thought himself to be greater than God.

Again, to this lie, Jesus speaks more truth. And doubles down on his previous words by speaking the context of his previous quote. Jesus goes up from Deuteronomy 6:16 to verse 13. “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

There is no easier way to the plan of God. There’s not even another way. Jesus alone is the way, as he will say later on in his ministry. Therefore, Jesus speaks against Satan’s lie of ease by using the truth of Deuteronomy 6—which includes the words that he’ll later call the greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37).

After all of this, Satan leaves Jesus. And the Father provides for his weary Son through ministering angels, those very same ones promised in Psalm 91 for the faithful servants of God.

What then can we learn from this scene about truth and lies in our own life? No matter if the lies prey upon our current physical weakness, or try to misapply truth, or speak of an imaginary easy path, the truth of God spoken against the lies will defeat them.

When we’re in the wilderness, lies will come and try to draw us away from the truth of God. But the only way we have to combat them is to speak truth. Real truth. Not deeply-held desires that we wish were true. Not platitudes of happy wishes. Not false promises that we have no ability to keep.

Only the truth of God. Especially the promises he makes in his word. And always with the context of those words in mind, lest we jump and find our feet dashed against rock because of unfaithfulness.

Seek, find, understand, and speak truth. And the lies will find no purchase for their destructive ways. It’s not easy. And we’ll have to speak truth repeatedly sometimes. But truth will overcome the lies of the wilderness.