Will God Test Us?

• Printable Version - Share on Facebook - Posted by Jim Jarrell July 26, 2017 - Filed in Teachings - #Will God Test Us?  - 2,195 views

  Will God Test Us? from Jim Jarrell on Vimeo.

   

   

  I would like to welcome everyone to the Wednesday evening service for Refreshing Hope Ministries. I hope everyone has had a good week so far. Thank you all for the kind comments that were posted after my last video. Those comments help me to know that I am going in the right direction. I had intended to do a follow up teaching about God’s glory, but that was changed because of a conversation I had with a friend recently. I would also like to thank Dion and Sylvia for asking me to do these videos.

   

  Tonight, I will use a different edition of the Bible, the New King James Translation. This seems to be an edition that so many of you have. It is worded a little differently than my New American Standard Bible, but hopefully in a way that I think most of you listening, will better understand what I am trying to say.

   

  Not long ago I was talking with a close friend. He is the kind of friend who knows me very well. I told him that I felt like I was being tested by God and it was not that much fun. He responded with, “My pastor says that God will not test anyone, that is what Satan does.” I have heard others say the same thing, but it is not what I see written in the Bible. My goal is to show you from scripture, so that when people say things to you that they have heard, you will know how to respond and why.

   

  Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 22:1-2, the Bible says; “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham” and he said here am I. Then He said, Take now your son, your only son Issac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Please notice first of all, that the Bible says God was testing Abraham.

   

  Like many of you listening tonight, Abraham had been following God for years, why would God need to test him? God had already called Abraham, the Bible says in Genesis12:1; “Now the Lord had said to Abram: get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” Abram, was a much younger man, but he believed God and he left. He started out following God and God blessed him in so many different ways. Like us sometimes, Abram did not even know where he was going or how. Then at age ninety nine years old, God spoke to Abram again. Genesis 17: 5 says; “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but you name shall be called Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” Now God was about to give Abraham a son. Then, after years of raising Issac and even though Abraham had been following God for such a long time. God still saw the need to test Abraham before he was able to see his next promotion.

   

  The Bible says in Genesis 22:15-18; “Then the Angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said; By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessings I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you obeyed My voice. When God promotes you, you are truly promoted.

   

  I understand that many of you might say Jim this is so Old Testament, sense Jesus came, we live under the new Testament. This testing seems to continue even in this age. There are so many examples written in the Bible. The old Testament is just a shadow of the new Testament to show us what to expect. I believe we all need to read the Bible for ourselves.

   

  I find it hard to understand how some teach that God will not test you. I do not believe that anything can happen without God giving His permission. If Abraham is any example, I question if one can even fail the test God allows sent your way. If you are feeling like me, and life is not much fun right now, just maybe you are going through one of these tests. Just maybe there is a promotion just waiting for you on the other side of this test. I suggest that you keep your heart and mind on Jesus, and go on through even if it is not fun. You may find that all of heaven is rooting for your success.

   

  I hope to see you all again, my name is Jim Jarrell and I thank you very much!