Oh, how we struggle with the idea that God will test us! Yet, after God gave the 10 Commandments to Moses, the Israelites became terrified. They had just seen the lightening, heard the thunder, saw the mountain smoking, and heard the trumpet of the Lord. Of course, they were terrified! They wanted Moses to remain as the one who God would speak to. They were afraid, and were happy for Moses to continue in his job.
Sensing their great fear, Moses speaks to them the words I quoted above. Jesus also came to test the hearts of all men. Some will permanently fail the test; others will pass the important test (belief in Him), but fail countless other tests, and never attempt to consistently please the heart of God.
I pray that I can be found in this last category. I know that I have passed God’s first test of believing in my need for a Savior, and inviting Him to come into my life and change me. And I am now in the process of learning how to pass His tests every moment of the day. These individual tests have only one question that I must answer: “Who will be in charge right now?” This one question only has two answers: The Holy Spirit or my sinful flesh.
God desired that His chosen people would not sin. He still desires that I would not sin. They Israelites had no Old Testament or New Testament. I have both. Israel had no Holy Spirit inside of them to help them make the right choices and do the right thing. I do. I can understand why they struggled so in the tests God brought to them, failing miserably most of the time. I, however, have absolutely no excuse!
For the Israelites, God used their fear of Him to motivate them toward surrender and obedience to His word. God uses something quite different in me; He uses my faith and my need of Him to motivate me toward that same surrender and obedience. In both cases, God has only one goal. “That we may not sin.”
I desire to pass all of my tests today, and everything is a test! I surrender to the Lord Almighty, and to His Spirit within me, that I may walk by the Spirit in obedience to the will and command of God. I desire an A+ at the end of the day! What about you?
