Tag Archives: Troubles

How to Pass a Test

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One of the things that worries me, that worries many of us, is this, how will I be ready when a test comes?

None of us look forward to tests, want tests, desire to be tested.

We all want peaceful, calm, easy lives.

That’s something we all really, really want.

But, we all also know that a time of testing and trial will come. It’s something we all face.

Today’s readings seem to fit together (to me) in a way that showed me some truth about testing that I needed to be reminded of.

First, the Psalmist in Psalm 105 talks about the faithfulness of God, and recounts all God had done. But, he says in the Psalm

17 He sent a man before them, *
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet in fetters; *
his neck they put in an iron collar.
19 Until his prediction came to pass, *
the word of the LORD tested him.

Testing will come, even for God’s people.

Just because you love God and He loves you, that doesn’t mean that testing won’t come. Don’t regard your tests as a failure. Don’t thing you’ve done anything wrong. Don’t think you’ve failed. Test come to us all.

Then, in Zechariah, the Lord says these words to His prophet:

“This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

The Lord has just given him a calling to go and proclaim God’s Word. But, before he does, the Lord reminds him – it’s by God’s Spirit that he will accomplish what God has for him.

That really nailed me this morning. So often I try to pass those tests on my own.  I try to beat back tests and trials and temptations on my own.

By my will.

My strength.

My might.

And, I fail.

But the Lord reminds us, not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.

The surest way to fail whatever test we face today is by relying upon our ability.  Our strength.  Our will.  We simply can’t do it alone.

How to pass a test?  The Lord.  His Spirit.  His life.  His power.  Through Him.

We will face tests, each day.  May we remember that it through Him and in Him, we can come through theses tests and cross over to new and abundant life.

Gathering up Tears

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Today, as I was reading Psalm 56, verse 8 drew my attention:

8 You have noted my lamentation; put my tears into your bottle; * are they not recorded in your book?

A friend of mine gave me a pottery jar one day. It’s replica of a piece that women used in ancient times, and what they would do is this. As the men would go out fighting wars, when the women would cry over their men being gone, they would cry into the pot. And then, when the men came back, supposedly they could show their tears to their beloved as a sign of much they missed then and how loved they were.

I think that’s a great story about love and longing and that is what I think of when I read that passage today.

We have a God that loves us enough that no only does He notice our tears, but He gathers them up in His bottle. We have a God that loves us enough that our tears matter to Him.

Sometimes we can let our feelings fool us into thinking that God is only there during the good times.

That only when things are going great that His presence is with us.

That only the laughter is blessed.

That only happiness counts.

Today, we see that God gathers our tears. God knows our pain. God cares for our hurts.  God knows our longings. God mends our hearts.

God is not just god of the good and the easy. God is not just god of the carefree and the happy.  God is not just god of the easy valley and smooth road.

He is God, even when we walk through the shadow of death. He is the God when the tornado comes and the oil slick is headed our way.

He is God, even in the tears.

Today, He will gather up our tears. Because they are precious to Him. Because we are precious to Him.