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You’re ‘Graced’ For This Test
‘When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.’ Job 23:10 NIV
Job lost his family and his fortune in a single day. Yet, looking back he wrote, ‘When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.’ It takes much more heat to produce gold than it does to produce tin. So which of the two do you want to be? To enjoy the blessing God has in mind for you, you’ve got to pass life’s tests.
In the early days of television programming, schedules were routinely interrupted by a thirty-second test of ‘The Emergency Broadcast System’. And those tests are a lot like the ones that come into our lives— unscheduled… unwelcome… and they always seem to come at the worst possible time. But unlike television test patterns, life’s tests don’t last for thirty seconds then go away. No, they can last for weeks, years, and in some cases, for a lifetime. And the reason why may never be completely clear to you.
However, there’s an aspect of the test you can control—how you respond to it. The truth is, tests are an invaluable, integral, and indispensable part of your spiritual growth. Without them you’ll never grow and mature as much as you need to. And it’s how you handle your ‘tests’ that decides your ‘testimony’. Paul writes about testing: ‘All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up… our spirits are being renewed every day.’ (2 Corinthians 4:15–16 NLT)
Bottom line: you’re ‘graced’ for this test.
written by Bob Gass
‘When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.’ Job 23:10 NIV
Job lost his family and his fortune in a single day. Yet, looking back he wrote, ‘When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.’ It takes much more heat to produce gold than it does to produce tin. So which of the two do you want to be? To enjoy the blessing God has in mind for you, you’ve got to pass life’s tests.
In the early days of television programming, schedules were routinely interrupted by a thirty-second test of ‘The Emergency Broadcast System’. And those tests are a lot like the ones that come into our lives— unscheduled… unwelcome… and they always seem to come at the worst possible time. But unlike television test patterns, life’s tests don’t last for thirty seconds then go away. No, they can last for weeks, years, and in some cases, for a lifetime. And the reason why may never be completely clear to you.
However, there’s an aspect of the test you can control—how you respond to it. The truth is, tests are an invaluable, integral, and indispensable part of your spiritual growth. Without them you’ll never grow and mature as much as you need to. And it’s how you handle your ‘tests’ that decides your ‘testimony’. Paul writes about testing: ‘All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up… our spirits are being renewed every day.’ (2 Corinthians 4:15–16 NLT)
Bottom line: you’re ‘graced’ for this test.
written by Bob Gass
