Deuteronomy 8:2-3

God allows us to suffer difficulties and hardship for a purpose. God led the children of Israel to wander through the wilderness for 40 years in order to humble and test them. When they refused to obey Him and enter the Promised Land, the Israelites revealed that they did not really know Him. If they had, they would have had more faith. God spent the next 40 years testing the hearts of His people to see if they were prepared for his next assignment.

Testing reveals what is in your heart and produces a robust faith (James 1:3, 12). God allowed His people to hunger so they could experience His provision and develop a deeper level of trust in Him. As the people walked with God, they came to understand that their lives depended upon His word. They learned that God’s word was the most important thing they had. After depending on God for 40 years while living in the desert, the people listened when God spoke, and they believed. God provided them with water, food, and protection from their enemies for all those years. Maybe they only had  a pair of sandals and clothing, but they made it through. When they finally entered the Promised Land and waged war against their enemies, the Israelites knew that God’s word meant life or death. They were prepared to listen to Him, and as a result, He led them to an astounding victory.

When I have problems with my kidney, having undergone dialysis for almost 2 years now, at first I was bitter with God. I asked Him so many questions, and he said that he has a purpose.  I was able to witness to my doctors, nurses, technicians, and patients in the dialysis center. These days, we hear on the news about our economy getting worse, with American people jobless and homeless, and having lost their retirement savings and some of them even committing suicide. But if you are a Christian, Jesus Christ promised us eternity with Him, not a promised land. Just count all your blessings from God and you will forget all your problems. Remember we are aliens in this place; just wait for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We are heaven bound!

Is God presently testing you in some area of your life? What has His testing revealed? Have you become bitter toward God because of where He has led you? Or have you come to trust Him more as a result of what you have gone through?

Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did they fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”

James 1:3,12 “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”