'14So he said to them: “Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.” Now for three days they could not explain the riddle.'
Judges 14:14
As we go through life, we are faced with many challenges. It would be accurate to say that every living soul on this earth has or will experience some form of difficulty at one time or another. These challenges could involve losing something of material value like a job or a house. It could be a sickness that one has to deal with. A hurtful betrayal from trusted people. A grueling court battle for custody of children following a bitter divorce. Grieving the loss of a loved one. Bankruptcy. A heartbreak.
All of these difficulties and challenges are part of the human condition. No one is exempted from dealing with trying moments in their lives, especially those of us who are born again followers of Jesus Christ.
The word of God shows us that believers are bound to face difficult moments on this earth on account of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is more than one word used in the bible to describe these difficulties: Persecutions, distress, tests, trials, temptations, infirmities, reproaches, necessities, afflictions, tribulations; these are some of the terms that are used in the bible to describe the difficulties that believers will face.
Every believer who is truly following Jesus Christ has gone through a trial at one moment or another in their lives. If you’re reading this and haven’t experienced any trouble in your life as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, well just hold on, I guarantee you that trouble will find you soon enough. Jesus said in John 16:33, '33… In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”'
Tribulations, tests or trials are part and parcel of the believer’s walk of faith. God had it planned out that under the new covenant, His children would be strengthened spiritually as their faith was tested by various trials. If your faith was never tested then you would never grow up spiritually.
The god of this world
Now these tests do not come from God. The devil is the author of all the afflictions that believers face. James 1:13 says, '13Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ' Temptations, tests or trials all come from the enemy of our faith, because Satan is the one who is opposed to the will of God being carried out in your life.
If God brought an affliction to any child of His, then God would be opposing His own purpose for that child. God would be putting a blockade on the path of the one who has set out to obey Him, and you can see that this notion is absurd. Very often precious believers have fallen into some form of affliction like sickness, and they concluded that the sickness was God’s will. But God doesn’t give sicknesses to people because He doesn’t have sicknesses to give to anyone.
God is not the author of sickness, He is the author of healing. Satan is the author of sickness, not God. Acts 10:38 says, '38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. ' Notice that the bible calls sickness, “Satanic oppression.” Jesus, the Son of God, went about doing the good work of, 'healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. '
From this verse we can readily see that it was the will of God to heal all whom the devil had oppressed with sickness and disease. If God was the author of sickness, then Jesus would have been going against God’s will by healing the sick.
If we want to know what God’s will looks like then we need only to look at what Jesus did. Did Jesus put sicknesses on anyone? No, He did not. Jesus healed the sick, and therefore healing must be the will of God. Did Jesus put anyone through trials or tests? No He did not. He delivered people out of trials, like He did when He rebuked the storm in the sea of Galilee. If the storm was God’s will, then Jesus would have been violating the will of God by rebuking the storm.
It is not God’s will that His children are afflicted by tests or trials. Tests and trials happen to us because we are in this world where our enemy is at work. The bible tells us in II Corinthians 4:4 that Satan is '...the god of this world ... ' Satan will therefore throw everything he can at you to try and sway you from standing firm in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now Satan may be the '...the god of this world ... ' but he is not the god of Christians. He has no power over any born again child of God that knows how to walk in their rights in Christ. Satan may dominate a Christian who doesn’t know how to walk in their rights and privileges in God on account of their ignorance of what the bible says about them. However, Satan cannot dominate a believer who walks in the light of God’s word, and he will therefore oppose them through tests, trials and afflictions.
Judges 14:14
As we go through life, we are faced with many challenges. It would be accurate to say that every living soul on this earth has or will experience some form of difficulty at one time or another. These challenges could involve losing something of material value like a job or a house. It could be a sickness that one has to deal with. A hurtful betrayal from trusted people. A grueling court battle for custody of children following a bitter divorce. Grieving the loss of a loved one. Bankruptcy. A heartbreak.
All of these difficulties and challenges are part of the human condition. No one is exempted from dealing with trying moments in their lives, especially those of us who are born again followers of Jesus Christ.
The word of God shows us that believers are bound to face difficult moments on this earth on account of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is more than one word used in the bible to describe these difficulties: Persecutions, distress, tests, trials, temptations, infirmities, reproaches, necessities, afflictions, tribulations; these are some of the terms that are used in the bible to describe the difficulties that believers will face.
Every believer who is truly following Jesus Christ has gone through a trial at one moment or another in their lives. If you’re reading this and haven’t experienced any trouble in your life as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, well just hold on, I guarantee you that trouble will find you soon enough. Jesus said in John 16:33, '33… In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”'
Tribulations, tests or trials are part and parcel of the believer’s walk of faith. God had it planned out that under the new covenant, His children would be strengthened spiritually as their faith was tested by various trials. If your faith was never tested then you would never grow up spiritually.
The god of this world
Now these tests do not come from God. The devil is the author of all the afflictions that believers face. James 1:13 says, '13Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ' Temptations, tests or trials all come from the enemy of our faith, because Satan is the one who is opposed to the will of God being carried out in your life.
If God brought an affliction to any child of His, then God would be opposing His own purpose for that child. God would be putting a blockade on the path of the one who has set out to obey Him, and you can see that this notion is absurd. Very often precious believers have fallen into some form of affliction like sickness, and they concluded that the sickness was God’s will. But God doesn’t give sicknesses to people because He doesn’t have sicknesses to give to anyone.
God is not the author of sickness, He is the author of healing. Satan is the author of sickness, not God. Acts 10:38 says, '38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. ' Notice that the bible calls sickness, “Satanic oppression.” Jesus, the Son of God, went about doing the good work of, 'healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. '
From this verse we can readily see that it was the will of God to heal all whom the devil had oppressed with sickness and disease. If God was the author of sickness, then Jesus would have been going against God’s will by healing the sick.
If we want to know what God’s will looks like then we need only to look at what Jesus did. Did Jesus put sicknesses on anyone? No, He did not. Jesus healed the sick, and therefore healing must be the will of God. Did Jesus put anyone through trials or tests? No He did not. He delivered people out of trials, like He did when He rebuked the storm in the sea of Galilee. If the storm was God’s will, then Jesus would have been violating the will of God by rebuking the storm.
It is not God’s will that His children are afflicted by tests or trials. Tests and trials happen to us because we are in this world where our enemy is at work. The bible tells us in II Corinthians 4:4 that Satan is '...the god of this world ... ' Satan will therefore throw everything he can at you to try and sway you from standing firm in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now Satan may be the '...the god of this world ... ' but he is not the god of Christians. He has no power over any born again child of God that knows how to walk in their rights in Christ. Satan may dominate a Christian who doesn’t know how to walk in their rights and privileges in God on account of their ignorance of what the bible says about them. However, Satan cannot dominate a believer who walks in the light of God’s word, and he will therefore oppose them through tests, trials and afflictions.
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