Testing You…

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Testing You…

Sometimes life feels like a hamster’s trek  on its running wheel — getting nowhere fast.     It can seem like an aimless journey  on a dirt road filled  with deep ruts  and big rocks.     We get the feeling we’re not  on the right road.     And,  we wonder why.     It seemed right  when we first got started.     We might not know exactly  where we are,  but God does — and He has a purpose  for us.

Before the children of Israel finally got  to enter the Promised land — after forty years of wandering  in the desert — God had this to say to them  in Deuteronomy 8:2-7,

And you shall remember  all the way  which the LORD your God has led you  in the wilderness  these forty years,  that He might humble you,  testing you,  to know  what was in your heart,  whether you would keep His commandments  or not.

And He humbled you  and let you be hungry,  and fed you with manna  which you did not know,  nor did your fathers know,  that He might make you understand  that man does not live  by bread alone,  but man lives  by everything that proceeds  out of the mouth  of the LORD.

Your clothing did not wear out on you,  nor did your foot swell  these forty years.     Thus you are to know  in your heart  that the LORD your God  was disciplining you  just as a man disciplines  his son.

Therefore,  you shall keep the commandments  of the LORD your God,  to walk in His ways  and to fear Him.     For the LORD your God is bringing you  into a good land…

Our whole life is a journey filled  with testings  of all sorts.     When we journey  with the LORD,  we are headed  “into a good land”.     We can look back  on how God disciplines us  in this life.     We’ve had some really trying times.     But,  it is all for our good  in the end,  and so God tells us,  “Thus you are to know  in your heart  that the LORD your God  was disciplining you  just as a man disciplines  his son.”     If we are willing  to really honestly look  at our every past experience,  it was God Almighty teaching us  a very important lesson  for this life.

Are we learning  from what God is teaching us?     Or are we balking and fighting  all the way,  frustrated with needing  to learn  to trust and obey?     Do we want  to enter this  “good land”  or not?     There is only one  “good land”.     God will lead us there  while teaching us the blessings  of faith,  hope,  and love.

Let’s head for home  with our heavenly Father.

Remembering how God has led us  in the past,  we say,  “Hallelujah!     Lord,  You work all things  for the good  of those who love Your name.     Help us to really know that  ‘man lives  by everything that proceeds  out of the mouth  of the LORD’.     Help us to abide  in Your word only.”

Love,
Margaret

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A Christian devotional to glorify the LORD of lords and God of gods

 

Pray for our country.

 

This is the day which the LORD has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

 

The word of the LORD is tried;
He is a shield  to all  who take refuge  in Him.
Psalm 18:30

 

Sing for joy in the LORD,  O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming  to the upright.
Psalm 33:1

 

How blessed are those  who dwell in Thy house!
They are ever praising Thee.
Psalm 84:4

 

Just as a father has compassion  on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
Psalm 103:13

 

Oh give thanks to the LORD,  for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Psalm 107:1

 

Glory in His holy name;
Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.
Psalm 105:3

 

Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that
I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12

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