Read Genesis 22
In this passage Abraham was put through a test of obedience. He was asked by God to take his only son, that God has promised him, up a mountain and sacrifice him. So in Abrahams obedience he sets out with his son in one hand and knife in the other and a heart full of TRUST in his God on a journey to obey his God.
Wow, can we fully comprehend this task. Can we say today that we fully TRUST our God and head out to ‘sacrifice’ our child?
Read Exodus 14
In this passage Moses was put through the test of patience. He was instrumental in leading the Isrealites out of Egypt. Then they reach the Red Sea and they feel trapped. And coming down upon them from behind is the Egyptians wanting to capture them and drag them back. But Moses has to TRUST God and be patient for God to deliver them. And God did. He worked all night and used the winds to part the sea so that Moses and his people to escape the pending enemies.
Do we feel like we have our patience tested sometimes? Waiting for God to deliver us from seems to be impossible. Are we like the Isrealites and want to just give up and go back to our life of ‘slavery’?
Read Numbers 13
In this passage Joshua and Caleb with ten other spies are put to the faith test. They were sent by Moses into the promised land to spy it out. They find a land that is flowing with milk and honey and the fruit so big that it took two men to carry one bunch of grapes. But 10 out of the 12 are afraid and warn the others about the giants in the land. Joshua and Caleb try to tell the Isrealites that they can TRUST God to help them overcome the obstacles and take the land as God had promised them. They have the faith but the others did not.
Do we live with that kind of faith? Can we say that we have faith in God to do or give us what He has promised us?
Read Matthew 4
In this passage Jesus is put through a temptation to sin test. Jesus is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. And He is in the wilderness where Satan comes to Him to tempt Him to give up on what God is asking of Him. Then Satan is promising Him great things if He just goes against what God is asking. Which is sin. And of course Jesus did not give in to that temptation. He too knew that He needed to TRUST God and His divine plan and knowing that it was perfect.
How many times a day do we too need to resist the temptation of sin? Walking away from things that we know is not Gods will for our lives.
The Bible is full of stories of ordinary people that have had to TRUST God through their different test and or trials. Jonah had to trust God when he found himself in the belly of the fish. Noah had to trust God while he was building the ark, and that God would send the rains as promised. Mary had to trust God that what he told her was true, and that she was going to give birth to the Saviour of the world. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had to trust God as they were thrown into a furnace for their commitment to God. And we could go on and on.
So for us to think that we are never to be tested, we are fooling ourselves.
It is through these trials and testing that God is teaching us how to TRUST him.
If you research some of these examples further, you will see that each of these people that stuck with it, God helped them and they moved into a deeper relationship with God. And we wouldn’t be here today if these people gave up. It is all part of our great and rich heritage. How blessed we are!
So my question to you today – How Much? How much do you trust in God?
Deuteronomy 7:9New King James Version (NKJV)
9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments