UNDERSTANDING ADVERSITY PART TWELVE
Number twelve in our study deals with our work. Adversity Is God’s Means Of Testing Our Work.
Every spiritual house that is built must be tested in order to confirm that it is founded on truth: Matthew 7:24-27; says,
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
and, I Corinthians 3: 13-15; says,
Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
The test of our work will reveal if we are working in vain. Or who we are really working for. Are we working for our own glory or the Lord’s? That is explained perfectly by the Scripture found in Psalms 127:1; where it says, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” Psalm 127:1;
And you may want to take note, that both houses are built, (the one we build and the one the Lord builds that is), but the difference is, one is in vain. Grace is God drawing sinners closer and closer to him. God draws us closer, not by shielding us from an assault by the work, the flesh, and the devil. And He does not just draw us closer by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstance. Or by shielding us from troubles which we invariably created by our own temperament and psychology,
God draws us closer by exposing us to all these things so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy, and ultimately to drive us to cling to him more closely.
This is the main reason, from our standpoint, why God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort and another. It is to ensure that we will learn to hold fast to Him. He tests what our work is made of by allowing many things to come our way. Things that are designed to challenge us both in faith and commitment.
The reason why the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that God is a strong rock and a firm defense, and a sure refuge and help for the weak. The reason is that God spends so much of his time showing us that we are weak, both mentally and morally,
He shows us this so that we would not dare to trust in ourselves to find or follow the right road. When we walk along a clear road feeling fine and someone takes our arm to help us. More than likely we would impatiently shake him off; but when we are caught in rough country in the dark, with a storm brewing and our strength spent, and someone takes our arm to help us, we would thankfully lean on him. And I firmly believe that God wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing, so much so that we will learn to lean on him thankfully.
Therefore, He takes steps to drive us out of self confidence so that we trust in Him. That is, trust in Him so that we learn to, "wait on the Lord."
The Word says, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalms 27:14; When we wait on Him He will direct our works so they bear fruit for the kingdom and not glory for our own lives.
Shall we pray. If you do not Know Jesus as your Savior today, I invite you to say the sinner’s prayer with me now.
Lord Jesus, I come to you today in need of a Savior. I believe you came to this earth as a man and walked among us teaching and healing and saving souls. I acknowledge today that I am a sinner and that you died for me and rose on the third day, ascended to Heaven and are seated by the Father. I ask you to forgive me of my sins and come into my life and be my savior today. I believe I am now born again and one day I will be with you forever. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen
See you in Part 13. Have a blessed day.
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