How often do you hear people say "God is tempting me?" Quite honestly it drives me crazy because they don't seem to realize that God will never tempt us to sin. That is, after all, what temptation is. Satan will always tempt us, it is his plan to de-rail us from our walk with God, to cause us to sin and consequently feel ashamed, guilty, unworthy, anything that will make us turn our backs on God. Temptation comes in many different forms. We are all familiar with the well known ones of lust, adultery, pornography, addictions like alcohol and gambling, but there are far more subtle temptations that we have to resist. For example, to spend your tithe money on a new gadget or handbag, to spend hours playing games on the computer when you could be spending some of that time in prayer or reading your Bible. To find other "important" things to do when the Church calls for volunteers to help feed the poor, etc., etc. I am sure that everyone of you reading this can come up with some secret "pleasure" that you have that takes your attention away from God and fritters your time away on some useless pursuit.
God however, will test us. In the same way that a motor vehicle is tested for safety, endurance, reliability, so God will put us through various tests in life. The tests that God gives us may include hardships, persecution and suffering. The testing that God puts us through will refine us, strengthen us and draw us ever closer to Him. There are so many examples in the Bible of how God tested people, Job, of course being the most well known one. Put yourself in Job's shoes for a minute; would you have reacted to God's tests as he did? Or would you turn your back on God, not trusting Him with the bigger picture of your life.
We have to understand that our problems and trials are the testing ground for how God is going to use us, throughout our lives, to advance His Kingdom. We are being molded and shaped by the master potter, however, unlike clay, we have a choice as to how we are going to react to that molding and shaping. Just as a lump of clay does not know what it is going to be shaped into, but through being malleable and workable the Potter is able to turn it into a work of art that is both functional and beautiful, so we do not know what God is shaping us for. That is where faith comes in, and when we have faith we are able to be obedient and when we are obedient God uses us in amazing, life fulfilling ways that will be rewarded for all eternity.
Hi, thought I would comment on this one too! I am busy reading a new book by Bill Hybels called "When God Whispers". It is really excellent. He talks about how all throughout his life God has whispered to him and how as he followed those whispers it directed the course of his life and how if he had not followed some of those whispers that he would be in a very different place that God would not have been able to use him the way that he has to reach thousands of leaders all over the world. I am sure if we all think about it we can see where in our lives God has whispered to us to do something - where we listened to the whisper and what happened and maybe where we didn't listen and we thought later when it was too late...I wonder what would have happened if I did listen to that prompting.
ReplyDeleteI think that goes along a bit with what you are saying. We get too busy with our lives to make time and space to listen to God's whispers. If we keep it up it will soon be too late and we would have missed out on what God had planned for us to do for him. Those temptations that you speak about can be the evil one trying to derail us and stop us from hearing God's whispers.
Something that really struck me in the book was where he described a time when his father sent him on a holiday overseas by himself (often did that so Bill could gain experience in life. This time he sent him to Copa Cabana Beach in South America! He was sitting on a balcony in this posh hotel overlooking this amazing view. In front of him was an old couple having breakfast. He overheard the man say to his wife..."wow, to think we have worked our whole lives to get here...we finally did it!". Bill thought...is that all you worked your whole life for ...to sit here on this beach? Imagine if they had listened out for God's whispers...I wonder what legacy they would have left then?