Being Tested by the Lord

 Many Christians think that when they have hardships it is Satan giving them a hard time. Of course, that is the case some of the time. However, even when Satan comes to tempt us, He can only get to us if God allows him to tempt us. Then, at other times, God sends us times of testing Himself. Either way, the tests come to see what we will do.

God sent a test for the younger generation of Israel after they had taken the land of Canaan. (Judges 3:1,4) He left some of the Canaanite nations to test the Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. They were left to test Israel to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. They knew the commandments, but would they keep them? We have the same test today.

We live in a world with all kinds of temptations to do the wrong things. People all around us believe the wrong things, and they are doing things that are opposite of what God has commanded us. I am sure that many believers think they are the problem. They think that if they would get right, everything would go well.

That is not the reality, though. If we don't keep God's commands now, we wouldn't keep them if the unbelievers around us were gone. We obey God because we love Him. If we love Him, we will do His will, no matter what everyone else is doing. God allows us to be tested, so we will see if we really love God as we should. If we fail His tests, we need to get our heart right with he Lord and stop worrying about other people.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Judges 6-8.