The Bible always comes alive to our hearts in a special way during a period of afflictions and testings. How can we hope to understand some of David’s cries in the Psalms unless we also experience the same deep afflictions and testings, the same despair he felt when he saw the arrogance and prosperity of the wicked. When we are living in a similar situation where David found himself, then we can better understand his Psalms.
What is the purpose of testing’s? God’s Word keeps telling us that He is working to draw us close to Him. The way we respond to opposition depends upon what is in our heart. If we are not living wholly for God, we respond to opposition by withdrawing. If we are living wholly for God, opposition simply makes us draw closer to Him.
This is an important truth that you must recognize and retain deeply in your heart. There is no greater test of your love for God than to go through a difficult period of testing. That testing is designed, not to see how strong you are, but to determine how motivated your heart is toward the Lord.
There is no temptation, no testing, and no trial that cannot be overcome by faith. We know that this is true. Then why doesn’t God just let us knock down the enemy right from the beginning? Because God is very interested in having a people with a pure motivation. He led the children of Israel for forty years through the wilderness to test them, to know their heart, to determine whether or not they were going to serve Him (Deuteronomy 8:1–6).
He wanted them to understand that man does not live by bread alone. He wanted them to be diverted from living in the temporal realm. Their focus had to be diverted from both temporal blessings and temporal oppositions. In the process of their daily living they had to be motivated to seek God above everything else; it had to be the hunger of their heart.
When people draw away from walking with God, it is usually because their motivation is wrong or it is not what God really wants it to be. When Jesus distributed the loaves and fishes to the multitude, the people had a marvelous time. They listened to Him preach, they brought many people to be healed, and they had a wonderful picnic. However, when they learned that they could not make Him the kind of king who would always provide loaves and fishes, then they were ready to turn away from Him (John 6:66). We must understand that we cannot serve God for temporal reasons alone. We must have a driving motivation to walk with God and to seek Him above everything else. When we seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, then we can look for other things to be added (Matthew 6:33).
God brings us to the place where we simply believe Him and trust Him with faith. It all comes down to the fact that the whiners, and those who withdraw will receive very little. God will bless those who press in to do His will. As they listen to the Word of God, that Word will hit them with an impact which looses in them a positive pattern of faith.
We will be earth-bound as long as we are affected by earthly things. Jesus told His disciples, “Forsake all and follow Me.” They did leave everything; they forsook every possession, every endearing relationship, every significant place in life. Why did God place that burden on them? Was He trying to tell them something that we have not yet understood? I believe so. I believe the Lord was saying, “As long as you are affected by the things on earth, as long as you set your heart on those things, you will not break through to the higher dimension of faith.” As long as your motivation and your heart’s desire is on an earthly level, you will live an earth-bound life. However, when you break through to a higher realm, you will live in the realm of faith.
We know that there is an earthly realm, but there must also be a realm above the earthly plane. Many teachings in the Psalms, in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the New Testament epistles seem to indicate that there is a higher life, a life apparently governed by different rules and regulations.
As long as we are affected by the lower realm and bound to it, that is exactly where we will live; and there the dealings of the Lord will be upon us. When God strips away the blessings on one level, do you not believe that His intent is to bring us into a higher realm?
We have seen marvelous truths in the book of Job, but perhaps we ought to look at it again because we may have missed a deeper truth. We know that God wanted to give Job a double portion, but if that was all He had in mind, it seems as though He used rather extreme measures. Perhaps God had something greater in mind for Job.
As the story of Job begins, Job is seen as a pious and prosperous man. He prayed to the Lord. He feared that perhaps his sons might have cursed God in their hearts, but his awareness was still rather limited (Job 1:5).
We would say that Job was a good and righteous man. But when his devastation was complete, God said, “Gird up your loins, Job; I’m going to talk to you” (Job 38:3; 40:7). Then Job stood before God, while He talked about some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, He realized he was there to witness it.
After his period of testing, he was moving in a higher realm than before. Was that perhaps what God wanted for Job all along—not just to bless him with a double portion, but to bring him up to the realm where he could walk and talk with God?
For years we have been taught to wait on the Lord, but I wonder if an important ingredient in the teaching may be missing. Do you want to be a prophet of God? Do you want to hear the voice of the Lord?
Before you will understand how to wait on Him, I wonder if God may first put you through some deep dealings upon your heart before I could learn to wait on Him and hear His voice.
Nevertheless, out of these dealings comes a driving motivation to seek the face of God and to hear what He had to say.
As we look back to the earlier years, we can say, like Job, “Why did God put me through those hardships?” All of these testing are designed to draw us near to Him and to open up another higher realm.
Until we reach the place where nothing else matters except the Lord, we will live in the lower realm where circumstances, testing’s, and trials constantly beset us.
When we are driven up into the higher realm, we find a whole new set of rules, laws or principles.
For instance, Jesus never worried about inflation. When there was a need for food, He blessed the loaves and fishes and they were multiplied. He did not worry about transportation or other problems. If He had to get across the sea, He could walk over it, because of His great faith. If there was a storm, He could stop it. Christ moved with faith, and He was an example for us, showing how we ought to walk. He tried to teach us that there is a faith factor which is greater than anything else—a faith factor that looses us into another realm. As we seek Him first, we do not have to worry about many lesser things. He will give us the answers we need when we reach up and draw upon His grace.
Let us become more focused on seeking God first, and then cooperate with every testing that He brings. We go through heavy battles, but is it because we are to be prophets of the Lord, Because we will hear His voice? If we are not dedicated to seek Him with all of our heart, we will listen to every lying spirit that comes along. If there is bitterness in our heart, we are open to deception. If our motivation is not a desire to be pure before God, we will be open to hear other distracting voices. We dial them out so that we will hear only the voice of the Lord.
Satan does not necessarily have to speak to you himself personally. He can use the misguided intentions, even of friends and loved ones, to throw a destructive word at you.
The Scriptures do not tell us what God thought of Job’s wife. Job must have loved her, for he had seven children by her. Yet when the seven children were killed, she became almost an enemy to him. She told Job, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9).
If Job had not been motivated to set his heart upon the Lord, he might have been influenced by his relationship with her. The dearest person you know can become an enemy or at least detrimental to you if seeking the Lord s not your first motivation. Until you seek first the Lord Jesus Christ, you will never be able to handle problems in your relationships or in your circumstances.
Some young people reached the place where they had to break the ties with their parents; some of this was necessary because their parents were not spiritual or even Christians. However, it was important that at the time those young people could still deeply love their parents but remain unaffected by them in spite of the fact that their parents may have been like Job’s wife and said, “Don’t be involved in a walk with God. Do something else.”
If our young people truly desire to walk with God, no one will be able to affect their dedication. Even if someone says, “Curse God and die,” they will not be moved by it, because they will have reached into a whole new realm. This is a deep truth that we need to remember.
We must break into this new dimension where the faith factor presides over our lives, where the promises of God are very real. It will not be attained by someone who exclaims, “Oh good, if I abide in Him and His Words abide in me, then I can ask whatever I will.”
That is placing the emphasis on the wrong part of the verse. The key to the breakthrough is that you abide in Him and let His Words live in you (John 15:7); then you reach the place where the other realm does not matter too much—in fact, you will be able to control it very easily. Then when you ask whatever you will, the desire for those things will no longer trouble you and therefore they will not become an occasion for defeat.
What did Paul mean when he said, “Henceforth let no man trouble me. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). That verse is worthy of a little meditation.
Could he not have been actually saying, “From now on let nothing and no one trouble me. Even if they want to kill me or beat me, it will be no trouble to me at all because I already bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. I have suffered to the point where I know that my motivation is pure; I am set to walk with God, no matter what happens to me. From now on, nothing will discourage me.” It is necessary for us to see this aspect of Paul’s thinking.
The faith factor is an important key. The Bible tells of men whose motivation was so set on God that they reached into the upper realm, where they were governed by different laws and principles than those by which the world is governed.
When we read in the Word about a prophet who performed a miracle by his faith, we usually find that he was a man who cared very little about the natural realm.
Neither Elijah nor Joshua worried about anything except to wholeheartedly seek the Lord. Yet they both moved in a realm of authority that actually took dominion over the laws of nature. Elijah brought fire down out of heaven, which consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and also licked up the water which flowed in the trenches around the altar (I Kings 18:38). That miracle was an utter defiance of natural law! Joshua also defied natural law when he commanded the sun to stand still, so that Israel could win the battle (Joshua 10:12–14).
Both Elijah and Joshua set their hearts wholly on God, even though great adversity came against them. Elijah experienced much opposition from King Ahab, Jezebel, and the prophets of Baal. Joshua had to wander patiently through the wilderness for forty years, watching a whole nation drop dead around him. And yet, in spite of everything that happened, his heart was totally set on God. When the time came to possess Canaan, he said, “Now we can do it. God’s promises are real.” When Joshua went into battle, he had already been thrust into the highest motivation that a heart can have: he was set to love and serve God with all of his heart and soul, mind and strength. Because he had reached that place, he was able to prevail. When he commanded the sun to stand still, it obeyed. He was able to see miracles wrought in the name of the Lord. That faith factor really works for those who are that motivated in their love for God.
Even though you feel that you love the Lord, He may still temper and perfect that love through testing. The fires of adversity do a great deal to perfect your motivation of love to serve the Lord. Of course, times of affliction do a great deal to bring out the flaws, too.
If there is anything wrong in your dedication, you soon discover it when you come to a time of testing. Have you ever reached a point where you are grumbling and complaining, and you say, “This is not the way of life I want for myself? If that is the case, it is best that you find it out now. How far do you want to go in your walk with God? People will settle on various levels, but blessed are the ones who will be content with nothing less than the highest level of dedication, those whose motivation is to serve the Lord and to love Him with all their heart.
Walking with God should not be defined as a matter of completing the projects set before you. True, often you are required to work hard. There are times when you probably would like to quit halfway through your job and do something else. But you will not quit, if you see that task as an expression of the will of God and not just as a menial job. Then you will submit to doing it joyfully and cheerfully.
In doing the will of God, we may experience a certain amount of drudgery and apparent confinement. All of those things test us until we come into a higher level. On that higher plane, every lowly task is dignified by the fact that we are pleasing Him. We glory in washing one another’s feet. Even the most humble service becomes utter joy to us.
Many times our relationships will test us. A husband and wife may experience changes which almost require them to establish a new relationship with each other. That relationship will come forth, not as they love each other less, but as they love the Lord so much that the lower level irritations and conflicts no longer matter. Suppose a husband is not very attentive to his wife; consequently, she feels as though she is being neglected and is no longer loved. She can become quite jealous, frustrated, and confused over the situation, and not know what to do. She can search her own heart to find out how much she is to blame, but that may not help very much, because during the time of the testing she will probably become angry anyway. Once the fuse is lit in a relationship, an explosion usually occurs on schedule.
How then should the problem be approached? Should the couple try to work out a nice compatible relationship? The first step for both partners should be to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Let the pure motivation of love bring them up to the higher realm. What will happen then? In the first place, the situation will be easier to live with, for they will be motivated to serve God, rather than toward a compromise relationship in which they give and take. We could almost say that the relationship means less to them—in the sense that it is not an end in itself. Consequently, it will not be able to destroy them. If the will of God is uppermost in their lives, then, very objectively, they focus their faith to dominate their relationship and bring it into the will of God.
It is necessary for there to be some control exercised over every relationship. This is true in the case of a husband and wife, where there is a mutual understanding about the situation, and it is also true in a parent/child relationship which involves the submission of a child to parental authority. Everything will go wrong until they can move into the realm where they are able to control all the components of that relationship and bind it over to the will of God. When the sacrifice is not willing to be given to the Lord, we must “bind it upon the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27).
When animals were sacrificed in Old Testament times, the priests often had trouble with the goats. Many times, when a goat came near the altar and smelled the blood from the previous sacrifices, he began to protest and fight—he did not want to die! He did not want to be bound to the altar! In that case, the priests roped the goat and dragged him to the horns on the corners of the altar and tied him down. Even if the goat protested, the priests would still have control over the sacrifice.
As a parent, what should you do if your child does not want to be dedicated to the Lord? Should you grieve and say, “Lord, I want to give my children to You, but they don’t want to be given to You. I’m sorry God, but You will have to find someone else’s children to bless. I want my children to serve You and I laid them on the altar, but they jumped off.” Your child may not be like Isaac, who was willing to be bound, laid on the altar, and killed because he loved his father and was submissive to him. Isaac was a full-grown man—probably in his thirties at the time—yet he was ready to lay down his life because of the faith and dedication of his father. That seems unreal, does it not? How does one reach that place of dedication? You move up into the higher realm. You love God and lay everything else on the altar. In doing this, you will not lose your relationships. Instead, you will actually control them and bind them over to the will of God.
There is another realm in which we can live, and that realm can govern the relationships that we have magnified above the Lord. We may have said, “This relationship is the most important thing in my life.” It is not the most important thing. Every relationship will be tested until we come to the place where we are loving the Lord first, and we are seeking Him first. Every relationship within the Body of Christ will be tested that way.
When you really set your heart to seek the Lord, you tap into the realm where this faith factor is everything. You love Him, you believe Him, and your faith will ultimately control everything. That brings us to the place where we do not have to pray against circumstances; instead, we control them, as the men of faith before us did. We will be able to exert tremendous factors from God upon our relationships. We will be able to bind our children and many other things over to the will of the Lord. We will leave the state of frustration. Your state of frustration may be the prelude to faith, but it is not the realm of faith’s pure exercise.
As our motivations are refined, through the testing circumstances and assaults, we will find our heart wholly set on the Lord. We will no longer be earth-bound, but we will live in the realm of spirit where the faith factor dominates and overrides everything.