Testing Our Faith
We cannot please God unless we live by faith in Him. We know that from Hebrews 11:6. Therefore, we need to understand faith, because when we fail to have faith, God will send us tests to see if we will really decide to trust Him or not.(Judges 2:21,22) The tests are opportunities to trust Him, so they are for our good. Let's learn something from this passage.
God's instructions were clear. Israel was to take over the Promised Land by driving out all of the people and then destroying all of their religious items, so that they land was free from temptations to not go in God's way. If they had obeyed God, it would have been easier to do His will. They did not have faith in God. Yes, they may have known He was real, but they failed to trust Him. Faith is doing what He says, and they failed to do that.
Then, God told them He would no longer drive out the people, so that they would be a test for Israel. The people would have to choose to serve God or not. Every time they saw a pagan altar or heard a Canaanite ask them to worship an idol with them, they were being tested to see if they would choose God. God did not want them to have this test in the beginning, but he allowed it later. He was hoping they would see their sin and turn to Him and His ways.
This is a great example for us. If we do not trust God, and we do things our own way, He may choose to stop helping us, until we turn back to Him. He may just let us do things our way, and each time we are confronted with a decision, it will be a test to remind us we need to decide to follow the Lord. The problems comes in that each time we choose to disobey God's way, our hearts get harder and harder, so the test gets harder and harder to pass. We can get so far from God that we do the opposite of what is right, but we think we are doing the right thing. That is what happens to Israel in the rest of the book of Judges.They never pass the test and turn back to the Lord, so things get crazy.
Please, do not let this happen to you. Choose the Lord. Don't fool yourself. You do not have faith, if you are not doing His will by following His Word. Faith without works is dead faith. However, He is so gracious, if you will turn to Him and choose to trust Him by going His way. That is what He wants. That is why He allows the testing of our faith.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Judges 5-8.
God's instructions were clear. Israel was to take over the Promised Land by driving out all of the people and then destroying all of their religious items, so that they land was free from temptations to not go in God's way. If they had obeyed God, it would have been easier to do His will. They did not have faith in God. Yes, they may have known He was real, but they failed to trust Him. Faith is doing what He says, and they failed to do that.
Then, God told them He would no longer drive out the people, so that they would be a test for Israel. The people would have to choose to serve God or not. Every time they saw a pagan altar or heard a Canaanite ask them to worship an idol with them, they were being tested to see if they would choose God. God did not want them to have this test in the beginning, but he allowed it later. He was hoping they would see their sin and turn to Him and His ways.
This is a great example for us. If we do not trust God, and we do things our own way, He may choose to stop helping us, until we turn back to Him. He may just let us do things our way, and each time we are confronted with a decision, it will be a test to remind us we need to decide to follow the Lord. The problems comes in that each time we choose to disobey God's way, our hearts get harder and harder, so the test gets harder and harder to pass. We can get so far from God that we do the opposite of what is right, but we think we are doing the right thing. That is what happens to Israel in the rest of the book of Judges.They never pass the test and turn back to the Lord, so things get crazy.
Please, do not let this happen to you. Choose the Lord. Don't fool yourself. You do not have faith, if you are not doing His will by following His Word. Faith without works is dead faith. However, He is so gracious, if you will turn to Him and choose to trust Him by going His way. That is what He wants. That is why He allows the testing of our faith.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Judges 5-8.