They Tested Him

Devotion for Thursday August 10, 2017

Topic: They Tested Him

Text: Matthew 16:1 – 4

The sect of Pharisees and Sadducees were opposed to each other in principles and in conduct; yet they joined forces against Christ. They had to put aside all their differences because they wanted to test Jesus. This is how funny the devil and his agents can be. They desired a sign of their own choice, despising the signs of healing the sick, and those that brought succour and comfort to the less privileged (Luke 4:18 & 19). They sought for something else to satisfy their curiosity by feigning a desire for evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, but their real desire was to see Jesus make the attempt to work miracle and fail, that they might betray and ruin Him. It is hypocrisy, when we slight the signs of what God have ordained by seeking for signs of our own devise. However, Jesus knowing their persons countered them (Matthew 16:2 – 4).

Many people by their thought and actions are testing God. Many are still in the church on the condition that God will have to answer them and if He doesn’t answer them at a particular time, they will stop serving Him. Some have given God conditions that if He does not do what they desire, they will drop their bibles and stop going to church. Some test God by getting involved in things that got them entangled and thereafter, they started crying, “God why?’ Beloved, do you test God? Israelites tested Him and paid dearly for it (Psalm 95:9 – 11; Numbers 14:1 – 24). Don’t try it again.

Food for Thought: 1 Corinthians 10:9

Memory verse: Matthew 16:1

Prayer: O Lord and my God, grant me the grace that I will not tempt by my words and actions which I will thereafter pay dearly for them.