PSALM 11:4-5 – The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
THEME OF THE DAY. THE TESTINGS OF THE LORD. A trustworthy faith must be a tested faith. Without a testing of our faith, we have no evidence it is genuine faith. The Apostle James affirms this truth in the opening verses of his letter – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). And in today’s scripture, David also states the fact and reality that the Lord will test the faith in His children. He must. It is indication of His love and commitment to grow us in the faith. When it comes to the Lord’s ways of testing, there are many and His ways are not our ways. We may not understand His ways, even in testing, but we can discern some of the areas of our faith He will test and the chief one will be centered on our love for Him.
First, the Lord will test our heart’s attachment to Him. This often occurs in two directions. He will test us to see if we place any human relationship above Him when it comes to the chief place of affection in our hearts (Luke 14:25-27). The Lord Jesus will also test our love for Him in relationship to the things of the world, like pleasure and material goods. This testing will show itself by what occupies the most of our free time – Him and His interests, or ourselves and self-interests (1 John 2:15-17).
Another area of testing by the Lord will be the sincerity of our love for Him. We will see this test unfold in the type of Christian we are, not some of the time, but all the time. This testing will reveal if we practice what I call “compartmentalized Christianity” – a type of profession that manifests a dual spiritual personality; we are one person in the public eye and another in the private recesses of our homes. The opposite of sincerity is hypocrisy. We may quickly receive a “passing grade” or a “failing grade” by asking the people closest to us, the ones living under the same roof. They will give us a true assessment if we are a 24/7 lover of Christ or not.
A third area the Lord will test us concerning His love is the actual manifestation of our love for Him. The little chorus “I Love You, Lord” is great. Our proclamation of our love for the Lord is also wonderful. But the true measurement of our love for Him is not in what we sing or say, but what we do or how we live. God has given us ONE, yes, ONE, true indicator of our love for Him. It is our obedience to His Word. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). This is extremely important to grasp. Life often is reduced to just mindless execution of routines, tasks, jobs, and responsibilities. That is how the unbeliever lives. As believers in Christ, we are to live purposeful lives of purposeful obedience to known commands of God. It is how we show our love for Him. Take time and evaluate the intentionality of obedience in your life. It doesn’t just happen. It is proactive and without it, we simply cannot make claims to loving Christ. Obedience is the measurement of love to Christ and He will test it in our lives.
God so loved His people that He will test His people; a testing of love for Him found in our heart’s attachment, sincerity of love, and obedience to His Word. May we pass each test with flying colors for His glory.
PRAYER: “Father, enable me to always ‘pass Your tests’ so that I might stand tall as a trophy of Your grace.”
QUOTE: “A trusted faith must be a tested faith. Without a testing of faith, we have no evidence of real faith”