I have often wondered about this: if God knows our minds and hearts, why bother to test us?
I mean, he already knows what we will do, so what’s the point?
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After thinking it over, I came to the realization that God doesn’t test us so he will see what we do, he test us so that WE will see what we do.
Let’s look at Abraham: when Abraham and Sarah went to Egypt to escape the famine (Genesis 12), Abraham asked Sarah to say she was his sister because she was quite a hottie and he was afraid he would be killed so another man could take her as his own wife (it ended up being the Pharaoh).
I don’t get it: it was wrong to take a man’s wife away from him,
but if you killed him first then it was OK. SMH!
I believe this showed Abraham’s faith was not yet ready for him to be given a son, since he didn’t trust in God to protect him. And this wasn’t the only time: he did the same thing later when he was in the land that belonged to Abimelech (Genesis 20). Fortunately, when she was with Pharaoh and Abimelech, God intervened to protect her from being misused; but, still and all, it showed Abraham’s faith wasn’t strong enough yet for his greatest test.
God knows that the one thing human beings rarely understand is their own heart. The best way for us to know what we will do in any given situation is to be in that situation: we may say we would do what is right when asked, but we really don’t know what we will actually do until we are in the midst of the trouble.
I hate to admit it, but I believe that if I lived in Yeshua’s time, it is very likely that I would be in the crowd asking for Barabbas.
It is always easy to know what we should do, but until we are facing that situation, no one can be sure how they will react.
That is why God tests us- it isn’t because he doesn’t know what we will do, it is to show us what we will do.
In war, no one can tell what they will do until the bullets start to fly, and even in everyday life, you don’t really know what you will do until you have to do something.
When you see a homeless person on the street, do you pass them by or offer to buy them something to eat?
When you have old clothes still in pretty good shape, do you toss them in the garbage or clean them and take them to a Goodwill?
These are tests- remember what Yeshua said about feeding him when he was hungry and clothing him when he had no clothes (Matthew 25)?
We are always tested, sometimes by God and other times by people, and (as I said) no one can really know what they will do until the test is before them. My suggestion is that we read the Bible constantly so that when there is a situation before us, we can recognize the test and by knowing what God wants from us, we will be able to pass it.
When we are in school we generally know when a test is coming, so we study for it in order to do well. In life, the best way to study is to know the Bible- the entire Bible- because it is a rare thing to know when life will test us; life is full of pop quizzes and surprise tests, and the best way to prepare for them is to know what is right in God’s eyes.
So, I’d say it is a good idea to review your past to see when you have already been tested; I believe we are tested daily but so few of us realize it.
I don’t know about you, but I want to have a passing grade when God reviews me at Judgement Day. And yes, Yeshua provides the “curve” to ensure I pass, but there are different levels when we will be on the new earth, and I want to make the Honor Roll.
Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!