Series: The Crucible
Message: The Crucible
Preacher: Tommy Eickmann
Daily Walk: Tommy Eickmann

Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 109:16-20.

Read: Matthew 4:1-11 (ESV). As you re-read the text for the final time this week in the English Standard Version, what new insights did you discover about God’s character?

Reflect: Douglas Hare writes, “The basic, underlying temptation that Jesus shared with us is the temptation to treat God as less than God” (p. 26). Although I have never been tempted to turn stones to bread I have been tempted by many other things. We are all constantly being tempted to reject God and His readiness to empower us against temptation. I have never been tempted to test God and jump off a cliff, but I have been tempted to question where God is when things go bad. We constantly forget the Lord’s promise, found in in slightly different words in both the Old and New Testaments: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22), and “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We so constantly forget about our loving Father when things go wrong or we get caught up in the details of our small lives. But what we must remember most is to turn our eyes upon Jesus and let the “things of Earth draw strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace” (lyrics from “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” by Helen H. Lemmel).

Recalibrate: ​​​What did Jesus know of the temptations that are faced daily by the recovering alcoholic and substance abuser? The lonely person dealing with the aftermath of a divorce? The struggling business owner? The teenager who covets peer acceptance above all?

Respond: Pray for God's blessings on our church and on your loved ones. Pray for healing. Pray for our country.

Research: Read the story of one of your favorite Bible characters. What were their weaknesses?