What Have You Been Given Today?
I had a chat with my daughter this weekend about life at college, life in the ministry, making, choosing and being a friend. It was one of those talks that I wish I could bottle up and save for forever.
It is hard to tell your daughter that roommates won’t be perfect, people will let you down and that even sometimes those who should be helping you spiritually are sinfully negligent. But, unfortunately, this is the fallen world we live in.
I tried to stress to her one last time a principle that has helped me so often: God gives us our daily portion.
All things come to us from God’s hand. In other words, God allows all things, good and bad to test us. What is God’s test all about? It is all about our humility and our remembering to obey him.
In Deuteronomy 8: 2, God tells the children of Israel
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
Later in the chapter he warns that they should not forget the Lord in prosperity, when they get into the Promised Land and have all they need.
In other words, in prosperity and in want, God is testing our humility and our hearts, to see whether we will obey him or not.
When life gets hard, do you tend to mumble and complain? Do you blame others for your problems? Do you think you have the right to speak your mind, settle the score or get even?
When life is easy and everything is great, do you forget God or think that your cleverness or competence has brought you where you are today? Or do you acknowledge that through God we have our breath and being and without him we are nothing.
I heard a pastor put it this way once: “The measure of our humility in adversity is usually a pretty good indicator of how our humility will be in prosperity.”
God will humble us if we will not humble ourselves. He limits and disciplines those who refuse to submit to his will or think that they can make life work without God. I have seen this played out many times. God humbles a person who is self seeking, self exalting, self promoting or self reliant. And it is for that person’s own benefit.
Limitations, deprivation, opposition from friends or family, financial need, financial gain, defeat and success are all a test to see if you will remember to obey God or not.
How are you doing today, right where you are?
Are you acknowledging God as the one who brings certain people, problems, situations, trials into your life? How are you responding? According to God’s word or in a manner that satisfies your flesh? We make choices, and they show how well we are passing the humbleness/obedience test. We choose gratitude or complaining? Humbleness or Arrogance? We submit to God and surrendered or we become stiffnecked and stubborn?
What do you see today as a trial? How are you responding?
What are your blessings today? How are you responding?
The answer to both should be with humbleness, knowing that it is all from the One who loves us, and with a renewed commitment to obey him.
Linked To Courtney
Wonderful post! In June, I was going through a really hard time at the same time that I was teaching vacation bible school, and I just knew it was a really important test of my faith to focus on God.
I read the book of Job and then talked to my husband about how I thought I was going through a test, and he said, “Hunny, God wants you to win, and he’s allowing this to happen because he knows you can pass the test.” It was the perfect thing for me to hear, because it gave me the determination to push through the pain and do what God was calling me to do.
It will not be easy, but if we can keep our focus on God during the trials of this life, then he will send the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to pass the test.
Thank you for sharing!
Very good post. There is so much truth in this. Thank you for sharing.