“For forty years—one year for each of
the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know
what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will
surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded
together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will
die.”
Numbers 14:34-35
I don’t really have to take the tests
God sends into my life seriously do I?
I mean after all, it is God we’re
talking about.
He’s the merciful, gentle and loving
Father, right?
Yes, He is.
But He is also a God of justice and
He offers us opportunities to be blessed and to choose life.
Every choice we make, every test we
take has consequences.
Were there consequences for Adam and
Eve in the Garden?
Were there consequences for Esau when
he gave up his birthright?
Were there consequences for Ananias
and Sapphira when they lied to the Holy Spirit?
There are so many lessons we can
learn from the story of the 12 spies and how the Children of Israel responded
to them but todays’ point is simply this -
Tests have consequences.
You and I need to take Gods’ tests
seriously because they come with real life consequences.
It was Gods’ desire that the Children
of Israel enter the Promised Land.
He did not delight in a generation dying
in the wilderness.
They faced a test, they made a choice,
and they lived (or in this case died) with the consequences.
Maybe you are in the midst of a test
right now.
We have looked at many we can face over
the last seven days.
They are not brought into your life
to entertain you.
They are there to test you so that,
with success, God might entrust you with greater work to do.
The children under twenty years of
age wandered with their parents in the desert.
As they stood with Joshua at the
Jordan about to have a second opportunity to enter the Promised Land they would
well remember the choice made by their parents’ generation.
Don’t wink, wink, nod, nod at the
tests you face.
Let the Holy Spirit work through them to build
in you the character of Jesus Christ.
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