- Think about a difficult time or a difficult incident in your life. What kind of meaning do you attach to that event as you remember it now? How is that incident a part of the story of what God has done in your life?
- Read Deuteronomy 8: 1-20. How is the Israelites’ time in the wilderness a time of discipline? How is God’s actions towards Israel evidence of God’s mercy?
- In what ways did Israel need to be spiritually prepared before entering the Promised Land?
- What are some of the spiritual struggles of having abundance and wealth? How do you struggle with abundance, and what might God be saying to you through this passage and this week’s sermon?
- How can you practically implement some of these spiritual practices (remembrance and fasting) into your spiritual rhythms? Which practice do you want to begin and how will you do that?
“‘I made it so I own it’ is never the bottom line of biblical economics…The fact is that all human strength, gifts, abilities, and life itself, along with the material resources out of which the wealth has been created, are the gift of God. We are as little the makers of our own strength as we are the makers of the earth.” Christopher Wright
The 5 Steps of the Examen:
- Ask for Light
- Give thanks
- Review the day
- Face the shortcomings
- Look toward the day to come