Pondering today…..
Deuteronomy 8:2
“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”
Psalm 26:2
Examine me, O Lord, and try me;
Test my mind and my heart.
Psalm 139:23
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
Jeremiah 17:10
“I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds.
1 Chronicles 29:17
Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You.
Isaiah 48:10
“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
1 Corinthians 3:13
each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
James 1:3
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/God-Test
With all new discipleship students, one of my first lessons includes Matthew 4, Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness where he had been led by the Holy Spirit to be tested. He was there 40 days.
The Old Testament has numerous references to God testing the hearts and minds of men, the purpose of which seems to be if they will be obedient. In the story of the Hebrews’ exodus from exile we are told that God led them there for 40 years to humble and test them, to know what was in their heart and whether or not they would be obedient.
The New Testament has far fewer references to the testing of men. Jesus’ testing, or temptations by the devil, gave in three attempts after Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. (Matthew 5, Luke 5).
The ways in which Jesus was tempted/tested were
the same three ways Eve experienced in Genesis 3 and the dames ways about which John wrote in 1 John 2:16 as being “all there is in the world”….lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. As I have written before, these three appear to be the lowest common denominators of temptation that all people experience. Everything can be boiled down to these three. This is means by which the testing of one’s knowledge of God’s Word, gratitude to God, and obedience to God.
Of the few Scriptures about testing that are in the New Testament, after the ones about Jesus’, the ones that hold my attention are these two;
1 Corinthians 3:13
Each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
James 1:3
….. knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
The 1 Corinthians passage references the quality of each person’s “work” built on the foundation (Jesus Christ) as being revealed by fire. Elsewhere Jesus speaks of two foundations, one built by the foolish on sand, one by the wise on the rock. So the testing by the storm’s fury is but a first test of the steadfastness of the foundation. The wise person’s house passes the solid foundation test….. that being the foundational object upon which one’s faith is built, Jesus Christ, as New Testament believers know. It seems clear to me that this is a reference to believers who are justified by faith in Christ. The further testing by fire is that which is accomplished by one’s growing awareness of and cooperation with the Holy Spirit’s refining work in one’s spirit, soul, and body, in other words, the work of sanctification. This revelation of the work built on the foundation of Christ that comes by fire would only apply to believers who have received and seek to abide in Christ by means of His Holy Spirit present in them. Believers who have progressed to become faithful, obedient followers will be known by their attentiveness to the Holy Spirit’s urging by which the fruit of the Spirit is brought to bear in believers. The testing by “fire” is revealed by how one responds in the face of temptation when the cautionary and convicting work of the Holy Spirit is active instead of squelched, quenched, or silenced by neglect, rebellion, or distancing, How does one respond to the Holy Spirit’s caution through His means of recalling to one’s mind remembrance of the Word of God or with conviction in the face of having yielded to temptation? How promptly, how well, how sincerely, how obediently does one attend to and respond to the urgings and revelations by the Holy Spirit? That is the further test, beyond foundation to construction and “finishing” work. Will one’s mind and heart be a home worthy of God’s eternal abiding? Will its frames stand strong and be able to stand and be restored? Or will all that one escapes with is the clothing on his back, which itself is smoldering with embers?
James further informs us that the testing of faith, revealed in the steadfastness of the foundation that withstood the storm, will also be tested to assure that the house constructed upon the firm foundation is also that of a wise man. The wise man will, one would expect, further take care to assure that the home’s supports, framing, walls, windows, doors, and roof would be secure and that he has “counted the cost” of all that is required to make the home and its contents secure and enduring in spite of other risks, too,…. like insects (moths), rust, thieves, and, of course, fire. Homes in the Kingdom of Heaven, where Jesus Christ told His disciples he was going to build homes with His Father for them, as well, where the master will be found dining and abiding. They will have been carefully and intentionally constructed from bottom to top….. That is what Christ’s Spirit has done in heaven and is now doing in the world, as well…constructing Kingdom homes for all His “family,” His bride, to which He will return to bring her into it. But rather than bringing her to heaven to mansions and gold streets, He will usher in a “New Heaven and Earth,” one where those things of heaven are brought down into the realm of the other……heaven and earth together, forever, as it was intended from the beginning. And only the righteous will move in and out of the New Jerusalem. Those who are not righteous will be forbidden to enter.
And even the gates of hell will not prevail against that which Christ is building and bringing against it.