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A Faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted.
A Faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted.
There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.” When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s household. He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.
But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!” Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.
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God uses and allows trials not only to verify our faith but also to purify it and remove the unwanted material.
Like the stuff that’s called dross, the scum or unwanted material that forms on the surface of molten metal, the impurities.
Peter compared our Christian trials to the testing of gold in the furnace.
so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And Job used the same thing :
Yet he knows the way I have taken;
when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.
The point is that God knows what kind of Faith we have, but we don’t know, and the only way to advance in the “school of faith” is to take the tests.
Like Abraham, as we grow and move in our faith or “school of faith”, we will face three tests:
Circumstance,
There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.
People,
When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.” When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s household. He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.
But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!” Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.
Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev—he, his wife, and all he had, and Lot with him. Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold. He went by stages from the Negev to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been, to the site where he had built the altar. And Abram called on the name of the Lord there.
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and things
Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents. But the land was unable to support them as long as they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they could not stay together, and there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. (At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.)
So Abram said to Lot, “Please, let’s not have quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, since we are relatives. Isn’t the whole land before you? Separate from me: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”
Lot looked out and saw that the entire plain of the Jordan as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the Lord’s garden and the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose the entire plain of the Jordan for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities on the plain and set up his tent near Sodom. (Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning immensely against the Lord.)
After Lot had separated from him, the Lord said to Abram, “Look from the place where you are. Look north and south, east and west, for I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. Get up and walk around the land, through its length and width, for I will give it to you.”
So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.
Circumstances
Circumstances
There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.
This is when Abraham and Sarah have left their families and traveled to an unknown land, this was a giant leap of faith.
They arrived and God spoke His word of promise to Abraham for the second time.
Abraham was expecting to settle down and enjoy their new home and life.
But God had other plans.
Instead, God permitted a famine to come to the land.
Why did God allow the famine?
To Teach them a basic lesson in their faith, a lesson we must also learn:
Tests often follow triumphs.
We can see this principle illustrated in the history of Isreal. No sooner had the nation been delivered from Eygpt than the Egyptian army chased them and cornered them at the Red Sea (). Triumph was followed by testing.
God brought them through, but then they faced another test: no water ().
After that came hunger () and an attack from the Amalekites ().
Tests follow triumphs.
One of the enemies of the life of faith is pride.
When we win a victory, we might feel overconfident and start telling ourselves that we can defeat any enemy at any time.
We start depending on our past experience and our growing knowledge of the Word, instead of depending wholly on the Lord.
God did not want Abraham to become proud and self-confident, so He put him and his faith into the furnace for testing.
After we have won a great victory of faith, expect the enemy to attack us, or the Lord t test us, or both.
This is the only way we can grow in our faith.
God will use the tough circumstances of life to build the muscles of our faith and keep us from trusting something other than His Word.
Don’t try to run away from the problem. It won’t work.
Instead of remaining in the land and trusting the Lord to help him, Abraham went “down into Egypt”
There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.
In the Bible, Egypt is a symbol of the world system and its bondage, while the land of Israel is a picture of inheritance of blessing God has for us ().
When people went to Jerusalem, they went up, but when they went to Egypt, they went down.
Spiritually speaking, “going down to Egypt” means doubting God’s promises and running to the world for help (; ; ; ; )
When circumstances become difficult and we are in the furnace of testing, remain where God has put you until He tells you to move.
Faith moves in the direction of peace and hope, but unbelief moves in the direction of restlessness and fear.
Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily.
In times of testing, the important question is not
“How can I get out of this?”
but
“What can I get out of this?”
James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings!
Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you encounter various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for it from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him. But let him ask for it in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed about. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Now let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his high position, but the rich person in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a flower of the grass. For the sun rises with its burning heat and dries up the grass, and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is lost. So also the rich person in his pursuits will wither away.
Blessed is the person who endures testing, because when he is approved he will receive the crown of life that he has promised to those who love him.
:1-12)
Always remember:
God alone is in control of circumstances.
We are safer in a famine in His will than in a palace out of His will.
It has been said,
“The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.”
Abraham failed the test of circumstances and turned from the will of God.
Next week we will look at the next test Abraham failed at People.