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Ordeals Make Some Things Obvious
A. Gen. 22:12, “Do not lay your hand on the young man, or
do anything to him; for now I know that you have reverence for
God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from
Me.” Occasionally, we are tested in ways that make it clear
what kind of persons we are. That’s not an easy conceptt
to fathom. But one this is for sure. Abraham learned a lot about
himself. After this Abraham would have known his own faith in
ways that were impossible before.
1. When we face difficulty, we find out what we are really made
of. In times of ease, we think we know ourselves and we say what
we believe in words that sound right to our own ears. And we're
not being deliberately deceptive. But, "Only after a painful,
self-sobering ordeal are we likely to discover what we actually
believe about God." There are two tests we all need to face:
#1, is the validity of our principles. It is one thing to think
about our principles; (Being Jack Horner is easy: Any one can
proclaim his own self-made goodness). But, it’s is something
else to have field-tested them.
a. #2, We need the value of a faith that has found its beliefs
to be consistent
with reality, on the battlefield as well as in the church pew.
And God invites
us to test His truths in the hard decisions of life. David said,
"Taste and
see whether or not the Lord is good." Ps. 34:8. Our allegiance
to our
principles needs to be tested. 9 times out of 4, that requires
a trial by fire.
"Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it, a man hardly
knows whether he
is honest or not."
b. It is through suffering that we learn our own mettle, and that’s
good. Jas. 1:2, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall
into various trials." There are some very practical, as well
as eternal, reasons why we need to understand ourselves. If it
takes hardship to help us understand, then so be it. Even if an
ordeal shows that we're less than what we've made ourselves out
to be in the past, the sooner we face that truth, the better off
we’ll be to make godly choices in the future.
c. Acts 20:32
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't
go away." Philip K. Dick
Spur - 07/27/03 pm
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