Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Test of faith
Luke 7:20
When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’”
Faith in God is a beautiful thing. In the church, we read about it and we talk about it a lot. However, genuine faith in God is only produced through experience. Genuine faith is not a theoretical construct for Bible School or weekend conventions. Genuine faith is built up over time as we walk with God through life.
There is a second thing about genuine faith in God, we can only confirm that we have it through testing. So when we think of faith we have to think of the circumstances that produce it and then the circumstances that prove it. Faith is like strength in that regard.
After we discussed the story of John the Baptist yesterday I got a note from a friend of mine who is a preacher. He said “[This devotional] informs us that though we are men and women of God possessing the Spirit of God, are hearing from God, and are being directed by God, there comes a time when our faith will be tested. It’s funny how as ministers can preach dynamic sermons and counsel people pointing them in the right directions but when it comes to us practising those very things sometimes it’s hard.”
Outside of church, we use the cliché “when the rubber meets the road,” the point at which all of our theory or talk is tested by the practical circumstances and challenges of life. We should note here that it is very easy to be critical of others when we are not being tested by the same issues that they are facing every day.
This is often the reason why successful people, or wealthy people, or others who we sometimes hold in a particular esteem seem to break down in the face of routine life challenges like disappointment or sickness and the like.
This is also why John the Baptist is a very good example for those of us who are ministers of the grace of God. Like my friend said, even ministers will face the test of faith and have to pass it, not on the basis of what great works we have done in the name of Jesus, but on the basis of our trust in what God is doing in our lives as we walk with Him daily.
John the Baptist, as we examined yesterday, had unique credentials in the prophecy of his birth, the experience of the presence of Jesus while yet in the womb, the leading of the Spirit, the witness of the Spirit and the voice of God at Jesus’ Baptism and the prophetic word when he saw Jesus in the streets.
John was a highly successful minister, “Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.” Matthew 3:5,6. He was also a very bold minister who took on the religious authorities of his time, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Matthew 3:7.
However, none of this mattered when John faced his own tests. So there he was in a prison cell falling into despair and depression. He could not understand how as a successful minister to God’s power he could be tested this way. He could not understand how as a herald of the Messiah, he was in prison rather than feasting with the Messiah. He survived the wilderness on the basics but now couldn’t survive a prison cell in the city, “Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.” Matthew 3:4
The thing about riding high is that we forget that we could be brought low and then is when we need a developed faith. We don’t need a developed faith when the seas are calm, and the captain had the vessel on the perfect heading. We need a developed faith when the waters are rough, and we cannot stay on course. Most of us fly rather than sail and we know that we don’t need a developed faith when the skies are clear, and the cabin food service is in full swing. It is when we experience sudden clear air turbulence and the crew stops cabin services that we start to pray.
There were others in a situation like this before us, “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:37,38. After Jesus calmed the storm He said to them “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Mark 4:40.
Andraé Crouch in his song ‘Through it all’ said “For if I’d never had a problem / I wouldn’t know God could solve them / I’d never know what faith in God could do”
The Apostle James before him said, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4.
John had to learn that the prison cell was for the perfecting of his faith. If you are being tested don’t question God, learn of Him. But if you haven’t been tested, watch out, the circumstances, like the weather, change suddenly.
Think on these things:
- Has your faith ever been tested?
- What did you do in circumstances that challenged your belief that God is with you?
- Have you ever been pulled out of a situation where all you had to depend on was faith in God?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that our faith would grow as we walk with God through the tests of life.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex