242. To test and see whether we will keep the way of the Lord: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

19 January 2022

To test and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord.

Judges 2

22 “I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.”

Psalm 139

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting.

"“A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted,” Warren Weirsbe observes.

Many of us want to give God “a place” in our lives. 

May I say it clearly: God does not want “a place” in your life. You say, “Then I’ll give Him prominence in my life.” God does not want prominence in your life. 

God desires, deserves, and demands preeminence in your life. He will not be a part-time God with a duplex for a throne.

The test of faith is not primarily between love and hate, but between two loves: those things we love dearly and that which we must love supremely.

One of the greatest saints who faced one of the greatest tests was Abraham. 

Hebrews chapter 11, the “Hall of Faith Heroes” chapter, says,17 “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called….”

Abraham’s only hope of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren would come through Isaac. Can you imagine taking your son and offering him as a burnt sacrifice? Yet in obedience to God, Abraham was obediently willing.

How could he do that? 19 “Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead….”

We know the end of the story: having put Abraham to the test, God sent a ram to be the substitute sacrifice for Isaac. This provided for us a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death on the cross—Jesus as our substitute.

God is going to test your faith by asking you to do something that may surprise you. Not by giving up wrong things or bad things, but by giving up good things or perhaps setting aside some good thing. Abraham’s test was in giving back to the Lord the blessing of his son.

Here’s the question I’m asking you: Are you able to give your blessings back to God? Not are you willing to give up your sins for God, but are you willing to give your blessings back to God? That’s what Abraham was asked to do.

God will never take second place to anything or to anyone in your life.

Could it be that Abraham was coming to love Isaac more than loving God? Loving the gift more than the giver? That God now was moving into second place? It was not wrong for Abraham to love Isaac. What God wants to know is, Abraham, do you love Me more than you love Isaac?" From lightsource website/ministry/love-worth-finding/articles/the-testing-of-your-faith-part-1-17853.html

It's great to be considered a "self-made" man.

Proverbs 27

21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,

    but people are tested by their praise.

Helpless, that's what I did not want experiencing while growing up and when I started to have my family.

I wanted to stand on my own two feet.

But later in life, I changed paradigm. I embraced the life of being helpless, contradicting that of being totally dependent on my ability, I would say my God-given ability.

There was the time that everything in life seems to be in the proper place.

Until things changed for the worst, things went upside down.

In a span of 5 years, in gaps, half of that period I was not earning. I defaulted on payment for the housing loan and the property was to be taken by the bank. The cars were gone.

During that period of crisis, the Lord provided for college for my three children, in tuition fees that should be more than a million pesos.

At age 44 I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, as did my wife. Later, my children became Christians on their own choice. I thank God for that, if I will go through such affliction again I would not decline for the Lord restored my life.

Disappointments are God's appointment, indeed.

""Test me, Lord, and try me,

    examine my heart and my mind;

for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love

    and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Before a word is on my tongue

    you, Lord, know it completely.

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well" (Psalm 26:2-3; 139:2, 4, 13-14). Lord, praises, honor and glory are Yours, in Jesus' name. Amen.

13 March 2018"

May you be blessed with God's Word.

Maraming salamat.