Tag Archives: tests

December 4, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Yet I Will Praise Him

If you’ve ever read the book of Job, you may have found yourself feeling sorry for him. There may have been times in your life when you’ve even related to him too. I know I have had those moments. When you go through periods of loss or continuous disappointment, Job is a great book to read. You will find that there’s always someone who has it worse than you, there is purpose in pain and that you can endure anything. I don’t know how many times I’ve read the book, but I can tell you that I’m still amazed when I come to the end of the first chapter. After Job has lost all his livestock, his riches and his children, he doesn’t curse God. He doesn’t cry out, “Why me?” Instead, it says he fell to his knees and worshipped God. He recognized that everything he had came from God, and if God took it all back, he was good with it.

I can honestly say that during my times of great disappointment and loss, that was not my attitude. To stand on rock bottom in life, look up from the hole you’re in and bless God seems unfathomable, yet Job was able to. If he was able to, you and I are to. He made the choice to worship instead of to whine. He chose to bless God instead of to curse Him. He made the choice to recognize everything he had belonged to God and wasn’t a result of His own work. The perspective he had challenges me to readjust and calibrate how I see God and how I react in the bad times. It’s easy to worship when things are going well, but can we worship when everything seems to be going wrong? Can we praise Him when our prayers are unanswered? Can we thank Him when we don’t see a way forward? Can you say, “Even though I’m broken, yet will I praise you”?

Habakkuk 3:17-18 says, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” (NLT) There’s a very similar picture here to the attitude Job had and that we are to have. Joy is not something that is circumstantial. It doesn’t rely on what’s going on around you. Joy looks at where your strength comes from. It looks at who your hope is in. It is defiant in the face of any circumstance you may face, and it says, “My hope is not in all, these things. My hope is in God. No matter what comes my way, I know that my God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than I can ask or pray for. Even though things look bad now, yet will I praise God! He is my rock, my fortress and my salvation.” You and I have that same spirit of joy within us. In tough times, activate it and worship. Remind yourself that God is in control, He has a plan and that no matter what happens you will continue to trust and to praise Him.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 4, 2024 · 5:43 AM

God’s Gift Of Joy

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a group of angels appeared to shepherds nearby. At first the shepherds were afraid. Luke 2:10-11 says, “But the angel reassured them. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!’” (NLT) God was gifting the world a savior and with Him joy. Biblical joy is more than the emotion of happiness. It is a contentment in any situation that comes from faith and trust in God. His joy also gives us strength to endure whatever we’re going through. God wasn’t just giving us a Savior from our sins. He was giving us Immanuel, His Son who would be with us in whatever we face.

In John 15, Jesus was telling us that He is the vine, our source, and we are the branches. He reminded us of God’s love for us and that we are to remain in Him. Life’s pressures will try to separate you from Him, but we must remain because there is nothing that can separate us from His love. In verse 11, He goes onto say, “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” Our joy comes from remaining in Him and resting in His love when fear, hunger, worry, death or all the powers of hell come against us. Our choice to remain will produce the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. One of the fruits that He wants to cultivate is joy because it is not contingent on our circumstances. Our faith sees beyond the moment we’re standing in and trusts in His plan.

When Paul wrote the letter to the Church at Rome, he had been in prison and been beaten for His faith. His words to them were born out of faith and trust in God rather than his temporary pain. In Romans 15:13 he wrote, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Those words should encourage us today. God will not only give you hope that this too shall pass, but He will also give you joy in the midst of your pain. He will give you strength to endure and come out on the other side producing fruit in a barren season because you trust in and remain in Him. His gift of joy to you this season is a gift worth cherishing and holding onto.

Photo by Jon Carlson on Unsplash

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November 19, 2024 · 5:31 AM

No Shortcuts

Several years ago there was a college admissions scandal. Several rich, prominent families were paying people off in order to give their kids an unfair advantage in getting into colleges. A lot of famous people committed fraud doing this while paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribe money. What they didn’t understand was how they were setting their kids up for failure in life. By contrast, people like Kevin O’Leary and Warren Buffet have given their kids very little to help them in life. They have said that they don’t necessarily want their kids to inherit their wealth because they won’t have struggled to gain it. The struggle is where they learn to appreciate it and value it. They believe that taking financial struggles away from their kids will cripple them in the long run and destroy their character.

In the Bible, God used struggle and hardship as part of His process to strengthen people, develop character and to get people ready to lead. Joseph stands chief among them. When he was a teenager, God gave him dreams of what his future would hold. He shared them with his family and was a punk to his brothers. They resented him for his behavior and dreams, so they grabbed him, stripped him, and sold him as a slave. His favored status was gone and years of struggling ensued as he worked in Potiphar’s house and went to prison. While he was in prison and forgotten, God worked on his character. When he was ready, God redeemed him from the pit and placed him second in command to Pharaoh. When his brothers came seeking help, he didn’t take revenge. He recognized God’s hand in the struggle.

James 1:3-4 says, “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” (NLT). God has a process to grow you and place you. It isn’t an easy one. Don’t have the mindset of the people above who tried to shortcut the process. That ultimately affects your development and character. Trials and tests are part of the growth process. If you want to be complete, lacking nothing, you must submit to the process. It won’t be easy, but the strength you will gain will maximize your ability to reach the potential God placed in you. Instead of trying to use a shortcut, ask God for strength, wisdom and courage to endure. You can become the person God sees in you and be used for greater things.

Photo by Jason Hogan on Unsplash

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June 17, 2024 · 5:33 AM

Open Space

In some of the most difficult times in my life, my focus had to become very narrow. I found that thinking of the future became overwhelming. There were times I had to think a minute ahead or five minutes ahead. I had to have tunnel vision to help me survive that period of time. As I began to move forward, I began to start thinking a day ahead, then a week and later a month. It took a while though. When you’re going through a tough time, your energy has to be focused on survival. Over time, God leads you out of the valley of the shadow of death into wide open spaces filled with green pastures and beside the still waters. He doesn’t leave us in the tight spaces. We go through them, but they’re on our way to where He’s leading us.

In Genesis 26, there was a famine in the land where Isaac lived so he moved to Gerar. God never left him during that time and continued to bless him and his crops. The neighboring Philistines became jealous and filled his wells with dirt. Then the king of Gerar became afraid of him and kicked him out of that country. Verse 17 says he moved into the narrow valley of Gerar. He began to reopen the wells Abraham dug and also dug some of his own, but they were contested. The shepherds from where he was kicked out of claimed his wells so he named them “Argument” and “Hostility”. He gave up his rights to them. Verse 22 says, “Abandoning that one, Isaac moved on and dug another well. This time there was no dispute over it, so Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means ‘open space’), for he said, ‘At last the Lord has created enough space for us to prosper in this land.’” (NLT). The Lord led him out of the valley into an open space.

Psalm 66:12 says, “We passed through fire and water, but you brought us out into a wide open place” (NET). This was referring to the Israelites leaving the bondage of Egypt into their promised land. You and I will pass through the fire and water of trials. We will experience being in tight spaces where it’s dark and where there seems to be no way out. However, God will always lead us to an open space that full of abundance. Continue to cry out to Him and rely on Him when things seem unfair, when your wells of blessing are plugged up by the enemy and when you’re falsely accused. There is freedom and healing ahead in the open spaces God has for you. Follow the leading of your shepherd for He cares for you.

Photo by Aditya Saxena on Unsplash

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June 12, 2024 · 5:43 AM

Remain Faithful

After having gone through a difficult season, I asked my son how he was feeling and what was he thinking about it. He immediately said he didn’t understand why things happened as they did because we had fasted and prayed for a different outcome. He then said, “It makes me question if God really exists.” I began to explain how trials and tests can cause us to question His existence at times because we don’t understand. It can also cause us to question if our prayers are heard and other things as well. What matters is we push through our feeling of the moment and grab onto the reality of who He is. I reminded him of the time God supernaturally answered our prayers and times He’s specifically showed up. I let him know we all go through moments like that at times when we’re going through trials. It’s important to refocus on what God has done so we can remain faithful.

In Luke 22:31, Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff” (GNT). What Peter didn’t know was his world was going to crumble that night. He would also deny knowing Jesus three times. Jesus then said, “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers.” Jesus prayed for Peter, and He also intercedes for us in our moments of testing. Peter beat himself up pretty badly for failing in the test the way he did, but that wasn’t the end. He did turn back and remained faithful and led the Early Church. His failure in the test, like ours, is not the end.

James 1:12 says, “Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him.” Everyone will face tests because Satan wants to sift us and cause us to doubt our faith making us ineffective. He wants us to return to our old life, but Jesus is praying for you that your faith won’t fail. He’s waiting to restore you and strengthen you. It’s in times of testing we find out where we truly stand. Sometimes we pass with flying colors and other times we’re left questioning everything. It’s good to keep a journal of what all God has done so you can remind yourself of the faithfulness of God in those moments. When we remain faithful and make it through the trial, God will give us more of His abundant life He promised us and we will receive the crown of life.

Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash

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September 8, 2022 · 5:30 AM

Passing The Test

Whenever I was in school, I remember one teacher who enjoyed giving tests. He would wear a “test tie” on the days he was giving a test, which was really an uncoordinated, loud tie. Sometimes he would wear a red contact lens. Once he opened a bag of chips and started eating them and crinkling the bag during the test. Whenever he gave tests, I made sure I studied because I knew there would be distractions and the test would be more difficult than the other classes. I used flash cards and met with other students to prepare to make sure we passed.

It’s funny that we spend so much time preparing for school tests, but very little time preparing for life’s test. God had so much faith in Job’s ability to pass any test that Satan could give him that he agreed to allow him to be sent through the wringer. Satan even tried to get in his head to distract him with his wife and friends who constantly accused him of wrongdoing. However, Job was prepped for the test, In Job 23:10-11 he says, “But he (God) knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside.”

Job put something inside of him that was greater than any test he would face: God’s Word and a determination to stay on God’s Paths. When life tests us and we aren’t prepared, we may be like Job’s wife and friends who wanted to curse God and die. But if we will determine in our hearts to stick with God and trust what He’s doing in our life, we will pass any test that comes our way no matter how many distractions there are. God has enough faith in you to allow you to be tested. It’s time you trusted your faith in what you’ve been taught so you will pass this test.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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January 4, 2022 · 5:41 AM

Seen By God

How do you react when everything seems to be going wrong? Sometimes your fight or flight kicks in. Flight seems to be the first choice for many of us. We just want to get away from everything, crawl under a rock and try to hide from it. A pity party is also a popular choice. There’s nothing like giving up and complaining that life just isn’t fair. Then there’s the “Why, God” approach. We complain to God about how we’re being treated and wonder if He even cares. I can say I’ve been through all these at one time or another. However, there’s also the choice to let hard times push us closer to God. When nothing makes sense, it only makes sense to search for the One who can make sense of it all. He also is an excellent place of refuge.

In Genesis 16, Abram and Sarai had decided to help God fulfill His promise to them of making them parents. Sarai gave her servant Hagar to Abram to have a kid with, then they would take the kid and raise him. Except when Hagar got pregnant, she began to look down on Sarai. SoSarai became vengeful and treated Hagar so harshly that she chose the flight option. While she was away, desperate, broken and in need, God found her and sent His angel. After giving her a promise for her soon to be born son Ishmael, she gained hope. In verse 13 it says, “Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, ‘You are the God who sees me.’ She also said, ‘Have I truly seen the One who sees me?’” NLT

God sees us in our distress. No matter how far we run or how big of a pity party we have, His hope is that we will search for Him and trust His plan. Psalm 9:10 says, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.” God has not abandoned you in your time of need. He’s not left you to fight your battles alone. You may not see it, but going through difficult seasons is often how He builds our faith, course corrects and draws us closer to Him. His desire is that we will search for Him and fully rely on Him. You can trust in Him and in His plan especially when you can’t see the way forward. He is a good God and has a plan you can trust in even when it seems all hope is lost. He sees you in the middle of your storm. You are not forgotten.

Photo by Michal Matlon on Unsplash

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May 3, 2021 · 5:54 AM

Going Through The Valley

I’ll never forget the first time I climbed up the side of a mountain. I was somewhere in Washington State a month or two after my mom passed away. I remember the climb up was more difficult than I imagined. When I got halfway up, I sat down to take break. As I looked down on the valley, I was struck by its beauty and lush vegetation. I remember thinking that while I couldn’t stay in the valley, I could at least grow while I was in it. What had seemed dark and dry from below, now looked like fertile soil from higher up. God used that climb to speak to me and to bring healing. I wasn’t meant to stay in the valley, but just because I was walking through one, it didn’t mean God couldn’t grow me through it. What seemed like a dry time in my life was really God planting seeds in fertile soil.

When we go through some of the darkest times in our life, we refer to it as going through a valley. David famously wrote in the 23rd Psalm, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me” (NLT). God doesn’t leave us when we go through the valleys of life. He’s close to you even when you can’t feel Him, and He’s given you tools for protection and comfort. He then prepares a table for you there representing that you will be taken care of and that you can thrive even in the darkest times of your life.

I like the promise given in Psalm 84:6-7. It says, “As they pass through the dry valley of Baca, it becomes a place of springs; the autumn rain fills it with pools. They grow stronger as they go; they will see the God of gods on Zion” (GNT). Your dry, dark times will become a place of life that you will look back on the rest of your life to draw strength from. It doesn’t feel like it in the moment, but when you get more perspective as you move forward up the mountains in your life, you will see that God never left you and He uses these times to make us stronger. Keep pushing forward through what seems like a dark and dry time, trust the promises in God’s Word and know that what you’re walking through is preparing you to make a difference in the lives of others. What seems like an end is truly a new beginning.

Thanks to Sohaib Ghyasi @sohaibghyasi for making this photo available freely on Unsplash

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April 27, 2021 · 5:16 AM

Your Rubicon Trail

I have a friend with a Jeep and one of the things he likes to do is to take it off road. There are trails around the country that Jeep enthusiasts go to. These trails are rated by the package on your Jeep. To go on certain ones, you have to have a certain package or another with upgrades or you won’t make it. There’s one in the High Sierra’s near Lake Tahoe called the Rubicon Trail. It’s a grueling 22 mile off road trail that challenges even the most seasoned off road drivers. I’ve watched several videos of people doing some amazing driving on this trail. These drivers move forward on this trail confidently and help others along the way. It’s pretty cool to watch them navigate, learn and maneuver some rugged terrain.

When talking about our spiritual walk, we often refer to the good times as “mountaintop experiences” and dark times as “being in the valley”. However, like the Rubicon Trail, sometimes the challenging times of life are high on the mountain or on your way up. You may get some bumps and scratches on the way through the rugged terrain. Some of the toughest times in David’s life were after the high of being anointed king. He had to navigate through some rough terrain, but in the process, God was preparing him for the responsibility of what was coming. There were some emotional set backs on his Rubicon Trail to the throne, but he kept moving forward with the confidence of his calling.

I’m reminded of Habakkuk 3:19. It says, “The Lord GOD is my strength [my source of courage, my invincible army]; He has made my feet [steady and sure] like hinds’ feet And makes me walk [forward with spiritual confidence] on my high places [of challenge and responsibility]” (AMP). I don’t know what your Rubicon Trail is, but I do know that God is your source of courage and your navigator through rough terrain. He will help you to keep moving forward towards your goal with confidence even when the roadway is seemingly blocked and you can’t see the end. He uses these times as part of His process to prepare you for the promise. Look around you to see who He has placed in your life to help get you through. Don’t travel this terrain alone. Find a strong believer to help guide you and pray you through.

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