Passing the Test

Let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up (Daniel 3:18).

A young nurse was assisting a surgeon for the first time.

As he was completing the operation, she told him he had used 12 sponges, but she could account for only 11.The doctor curtly replied that he had removed them all from inside the patient. The nurse insisted that one was missing, but the doctor declared he would proceed with sewing up in the incision. The nurse, her eyes blazing, said, "You can't do that! Think of the patient!" The doctor smiled and, lifting his foot, showed the nurse the twelfth sponge, which he had deliberately dropped on the floor. "You'll do fine!" he said. He had been testing her.

You may be put to the test today. You may be pressured into going in a direction not compatible with your Christian walk. Will you pass the test today?

Strength Out of Weakness

That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10, NLT)

Often suffering provides an opportunity to know the presence and upholding the power of Christ in a way we otherwise would never know it. This was the experience of the apostle Paul. In his second epistle to the Corinthian church, he states that three times he asked God to remove his affliction, and God said, No.

We need not fear suffering! God is in control of every circumstance. When He permits it, He will use it for His glory and our good. And He will be with us.

God wants us to trust Him—not our gifts or abilities, our experience, or our “spiritual reserves.” Just about the time we feel self-confident and able to meet the enemy, we fail miserably. “For when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).

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Testing

But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10, NKJV)

Sometimes things come into our lives and there seems no purpose, no sense in them. We wonder how any good can come out of them. We may at the time be overwhelmed. We may feel a sense of desperation. We may find ourselves questioning God and His goodness to us. "No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way." (Hebrews 12:11, NLT)

James urges his readers, " when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." (James 1:2-4, NLT)

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