“Gold and silver are tested by fire, and a person’s heart is tested by the Lord” – Proverbs 17:3
Reflection
I was touched this morning by the Holy Spirit to bring more light on Christian testing. Our base reading comes from Proverbs 17:3 which clearly tells us what to wait as children of the Supreme God. In other words, we’ll say that just as Gold and Silver are tested by fire to prove their quality and value, the Christian’s heart which contains his faith or ability to believe and obey God is also tested in unlimited ways among which are those known and those still to be revealed by God.
If we are requested to name just a few ways through which a Christian can be tested, we’ll give the following: hardship, suffering, disgrace, misfortune, persecution, sickness, poverty, hatred, false accusation, and torture just to name a few. If Jesus Christ was subjected to all these conditions and went through them successfully, are we much better than Him not to welcome them? I guess not because a servant is never greater than His master (John 13:16).
Jesus Christ was not born from a wealthy family neither was He born in a luxurious hospital. He was born in to a box which was serving to feed animals. He suffered his body and subjected it to the will of God by going without food in the desert for 40 days. He was disgraced by having his cloths removed in public and being tortured for the sake of the Gospel. He was finally killed and hanged on the cross before his enemies. His immediate followers were all subjected to suffering and torture which led to the dead of many.
With all these in mind, my spirit shed tears when I hear today’s Christians shouting that suffering, hardship, and trials are not theirs in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures say in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that we as Christians must live a life of thanksgiving to God in every situation that we are facing because it is His Holy Will. Get me well, it does not say that we should thank God only when things are unfolding very well, rather we are to double are praises and worships when things are not moving well for us.
We are trying to say here that instead of focusing on the problem that we are facing, we should rather focus on thanking God. And because God knows our heart desires and what is best for us, He will certainly see us through. Prophet T.B. Joshua of the synagogue church of all nations (SCOAN) usually say that being poor does not stop a man from being Jesus’s friend. Suffering does not make you an unbeliever. Hardship prepares you to better appreciate the blessings of God. By blessing, singing praises, and worship songs to God in times of trouble, hardship, persecution, suffering, and poverty does prove your faith in God.
Spiritual promotion comes with a Christian test. If you desire to move ahead in your spiritual life and walk in the impossible dimensions, you’ll need to start welcoming all challenges on your path and thanking God for them. We know what happened to Job, he was indeed the richest man in the east who did serve and love God. When God wanted to take him to another level of physical and spiritual blessings, He allowed Satan to come and test him. Satan made away with all his riches, live stocks, wealth, and even his children. Yet this did not remove the love of God from his heart neither did it give him a reason to curse God and die just as his wife recommended him to do. He remained faithful even when Satan attacked his personal body with intense sickness. When Satan was through testing him, he reported to God that Job had no point of weakness and as a result God multiplied all the blessings that Job initially had thereby making him even more famous and wealthy.
Still in the same light, when Jesus Christ was through with His 40 days fasting in the desert, Satan saw the glory ahead of Him that’s why he came trying to stop the glory with a series of tests. But because Jesus Christ had a deep love and faith for the heavenly father, he remained faithful till the end and now He has been made Ultimate King of Heaven and Earth being at the head of all spiritual and physical powers.
When we are dragged into confrontations with our bodily desires and ambitions, we must not always say that we are tested by God for God Himself does not test us. What he wants from us is our ability to overcome the weaknesses of our bodies in order to do his works. The different situations that we are facing as Christians are not meant to hurt us, rather they are meant to improve us for greater achievements.
We can have another Biblical example of Abraham who was told by God that he will be a father to many nations. Abraham welcomed the message yet He found himself at an old age which could likely bring death at any moment yet he had no child. It is quite clear here that his patience or ability to wait on God’s time was being tried by the physical effects of age and time. It was left for him to challenge those physical elements with the words that God gave him and stay focus on them while waiting for God’s time. As we can read from Romans 4: 20, Abraham’s faith remained strong and focus on God’s words even when his wife could no longer give birth. He continuously believed in the power of God to to make the impossible possible. And behold, God made him a father to many generations. And today, he is called father of faith. Whatever the case, we give thanks to God and pray that He will strengthen our faith in Him even when our surrounding events are showing the contrary.
You can successfully pass the Christian test by soaking yourself with the word of God and regularly coming into His presence for mercy and renewal just as the immediate Apostles of Jesus Christ use to do (Acts 2:4).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we come into your Holy presence through Jesus Christ our redeemer and ask of you to keep us firm in successfully overcoming all the trials that are on the way of our Christian race.
