EXODUS 20:20 – Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.”
THEME OF THE DAY. WHAT IS REALLY BEHIND OUR TRIALS, TEMPTATIONS, AND TESTS. An untested faith is a false faith. An untried faith is an unreliable faith and a life without temptations is a life without Christ. Those truths every believer knows by experience. The words of the Apostle Paul to the young believers in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch are “upfront and personal” to all genuine followers of the Lord Jesus – “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). To encourage challenged believers in Asia Minor, the Apostle Peter would write, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary (yes, it is necessary), you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). The familiar words of James always come up when discussing the tried and tested Christian life – “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2). And we must never lose sight that even our Lord Jesus was sent into the fires of trials, temptations, and tests – “Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1).
As we accept the reality of these experiences in our walks with the Lord, we know they serve good purposes. They build up our faith, developing spiritual maturity, and equip us to help other believers who enter the same types of trials, temptations, and tests. The latter reason is always one to be kept in our thinking when going through the Refiner’s Fire. What we go through isn’t just to get through. Let these words of the Apostle Paul give proper perspective in the suffering that is inevitable in times of trial, temptations, and testing – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). God uses all things to make us better servants to His people to include our trials, temptations, and tests.
Yet, I want to think about another purpose behind our trials, temptations, and tests. This has nothing do with other people. It is just between us as individuals and God. Before I share it, keep the question before our minds . . . “Do I see my trials, temptations, and tests like this?” And then after we read it, pray and ask God to make us see this reason behind all of them.
When it comes to tests, trials, and temptations in the Christian life what is ultimately behind each one is the question asked by Jesus to Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15). Every time we are tested, tried, or face a temptation to satisfy our flesh; choose comfort over holy self-discipline; and pursue worldly self-pleasure over self-denying service for others, we are telling the Lord Jesus, “Yes, I do love these over You”.
In today’s scripture, God tests His people to validate, not to Him, but to them, their loving allegiance to Him. And He will do the same to us – daily. Remember what is really behind every trial, test, and temptation. It is God putting us into a position to prove our love for Him. If we learn to live like this, then we will embrace each trial, test, and temptation with His strength and see them as opportunities to answer like Peter, “Yes, Lord, You know I love You” (John 21:17).
PRAYER: “Father, help me to see the whole of my life with You is about loving You and You will test to that end.”
QUOTE: “See trials, temptations, and testing for what they are – to validate our love for God.”