Ques. Is it possible to grieve our Lord?
Ans. The Lord was grieved on earth, and He is the same Jesus “yesterday, today and forever.” He still has a heart of love, and will love His own unto the end, and cannot but be grieved (even as Jehovah of old often was, though in heaven) at our willfulness and hardness. Surely, if we grieve the Spirit, we grieve our Lord too. (See Gen. 6:66And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (Genesis 6:6)).
Ques. Why did the Lord tell the leper in Mark 1 to say nothing to any man? and how should the disregard of this injunction be viewed?
Ans. Because, here in Mark, He is Jehovah’s servant, whose voice was not heard in the streets, but “He could not be hid,” and the new-found joy of the leper would not allow the Lord to occupy the place of retirement and obscurity He here sought. The man did not obey Christ, doubtless, and the result so far was to prevent Christ working on in the City. The man meant well, but after all, Christ’s way is best.
Ques. What does “lead us not into temptation” mean?
Ans. God does not tempt any one with evil. Satan tempted Christ, though He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. The meaning of the prayer is to be kept from all temptation of the Evil One, not to be sifted as were Job and Peter by God’s permission, as very rightly we ever mistrust our own power. If, however, we should be brought into it, we can overcome by closely adhering to the Word, after the pattern of our Master.