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.
