I don't know about you, but in school I never preferred a pop-quiz. I always appreciated the opportunity to review and brush up on information to perform at my best. Being unexpectedly put on the spot with the possibility of failure was never a enjoyable feeling. The one major upside of a pop-quiz is all the students were in the same position, and if all did poorly it indicated ignorance of the students and the need of additional lessons.
Life is full of pop-quiz moments God allows for His good purposes, and when we realise we have failed it compels us to labour to be better prepared in the future. Though God knows everything He also tests us so the condition of our hearts will be revealed to all. These tests are not undertaken in a classroom with pencil and paper at a desk but in our responses to God in words, deeds, and attitudes. Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:2, "And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." There is the test of having little and trusting Him with obedience, and another unexpected test of having abundance and humbling ourselves before God and others too. This is the test God gave King Hezekiah after his life was miraculously prolonged, and it was a test he failed.
King Hezekiah is numbered among the good kings of Judah, a man who feared the LORD and laboured to please Him. When strong enemies besieged the city, lobbing threats and mockery over the walls, Hezekiah's faith did not falter. He looked to God and relied upon Him alone, and God did great wonders to save His people and Jerusalem. Hezekiah also cried out to God during a grave illness, and God saw his tears, heard his cries, and extended his life for 15 more years. 2 Chronicles 32:25-26 reads, "But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. 26 Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah." Hezekiah failed the pop-quiz of having great abundance he showed off to the ambassadors of Babylon, but repentance for his pride reveals the test fulfilled the divine purpose because a valuable lesson was taken to heart.
When we think of being tested or tried it is likely we picture a painful betrayal, an illness, a tragic loss, or conflict. But the test God provided Hezekiah came when the stores were well-stocked, the treasury was enriched, and his health was fine: the pop-quiz came with the smiling, friendly ambassadors who brought gifts to celebrate his recovery from sickness. In this entirely prosperous season of life this incident is contrasted in 2 Chronicles 32:31: "However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart." This is heavy, that God who had been leading and helping kind Hezekiah all the time "withdrew from him" so the real Hezekiah would show himself, Hezekiah who needed God to walk wisely and humbly. The inevitable result? Hezekiah failed the test being lifted up with pride, but he passed the test of humbling himself in repentance because God helped him.
Whether you find yourself in a trying season or things couldn't be better, know the only way we can pass the test is when we humble ourselves before God and are led by the Holy Spirit. In poverty we can despair and lose hope, and when all is prosperous we are easily lifted up with pride and forget to rely upon God. We never know what form the pop-quiz from God will take or when it will come, and the only way we can be prepared to pass is when we humble ourselves before God in faith and obedience. And when we fail, for there is no man who does not sin, may David's words in Psalm 51:10-13 be on our lips: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You."
Life is full of pop-quiz moments God allows for His good purposes, and when we realise we have failed it compels us to labour to be better prepared in the future. Though God knows everything He also tests us so the condition of our hearts will be revealed to all. These tests are not undertaken in a classroom with pencil and paper at a desk but in our responses to God in words, deeds, and attitudes. Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:2, "And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." There is the test of having little and trusting Him with obedience, and another unexpected test of having abundance and humbling ourselves before God and others too. This is the test God gave King Hezekiah after his life was miraculously prolonged, and it was a test he failed.
King Hezekiah is numbered among the good kings of Judah, a man who feared the LORD and laboured to please Him. When strong enemies besieged the city, lobbing threats and mockery over the walls, Hezekiah's faith did not falter. He looked to God and relied upon Him alone, and God did great wonders to save His people and Jerusalem. Hezekiah also cried out to God during a grave illness, and God saw his tears, heard his cries, and extended his life for 15 more years. 2 Chronicles 32:25-26 reads, "But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. 26 Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah." Hezekiah failed the pop-quiz of having great abundance he showed off to the ambassadors of Babylon, but repentance for his pride reveals the test fulfilled the divine purpose because a valuable lesson was taken to heart.
When we think of being tested or tried it is likely we picture a painful betrayal, an illness, a tragic loss, or conflict. But the test God provided Hezekiah came when the stores were well-stocked, the treasury was enriched, and his health was fine: the pop-quiz came with the smiling, friendly ambassadors who brought gifts to celebrate his recovery from sickness. In this entirely prosperous season of life this incident is contrasted in 2 Chronicles 32:31: "However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart." This is heavy, that God who had been leading and helping kind Hezekiah all the time "withdrew from him" so the real Hezekiah would show himself, Hezekiah who needed God to walk wisely and humbly. The inevitable result? Hezekiah failed the test being lifted up with pride, but he passed the test of humbling himself in repentance because God helped him.
Whether you find yourself in a trying season or things couldn't be better, know the only way we can pass the test is when we humble ourselves before God and are led by the Holy Spirit. In poverty we can despair and lose hope, and when all is prosperous we are easily lifted up with pride and forget to rely upon God. We never know what form the pop-quiz from God will take or when it will come, and the only way we can be prepared to pass is when we humble ourselves before God in faith and obedience. And when we fail, for there is no man who does not sin, may David's words in Psalm 51:10-13 be on our lips: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You."
No comments:
Post a Comment
To uphold the integrity of this site, no comments with links for advertising will be posted. No ads here! :)