True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit. It is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us. (Tryon Edwards)
Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors. Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would really obey his commands. (Deuteronomy 8:1-2 NLT)
I cant think of many tests that Ive totally enjoyed taking. In school there were some tests that I was prepared for and didnt have near the anxiety as other tests, but even when prepared there was always the thought that maybe I had missed something. God led the Israelites through the wilderness for forty years testing them the whole time. Seems unfair to the ones that had their hearts right, but still had to go through the testing. Today I am sixty years old, when I was twenty years old forty years seemed like a very long time. It seemed like eternity, a lifetime away. Today at sixty, I look back over the past forty years and realize that it wasnt so long after all. The years that end on a zero seem to be milestones in my life. 0-10 was childhood and took forever. 10-20 I became an adult and it also seemed to go on endlessly. 20-30 I became independent and somewhat responsible for my own life, this time period went by quicker than I anticipated. 30-40 I went from realizing that I was not really young anymore, and wondered how I became old so quickly. 40-50 clipped along so quickly that I didnt have time to do all I wanted, and even played catch-up most of the time. 50-60 just happened, I was fifty one day, turned around and I was sixty. A forty-year test is not as long as we might think it to be. As I look back over the last forty years I can see that I also have been in a test. Some of the important lessons that I have learned are that when I fail a test, I will have to take it again. I dont care if it is in the natural, material or the spiritual realms, if I fail a test I find myself taking it again. I can look back over the past forty years and see where time and time again I was led into the wilderness for testing. As a result I grew, gained wisdom and knowledge, and had the experience to pass the test if needed to again. I dont want to give you the idea that I was an A student. Many tests I just barely passed, but I learned. Today as I find myself several years into recovery, I know that I need to be truly grateful for my testing in the wilderness of life. Without the tests and having to swim upstream, I would have floated away just like a dead fish. Today I am learning to use each difficult occasion as an opportunity to allow God to demonstrate His power and love in my life. God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself ..JRE
God often uses the hard times in life to teach us important lessons. Here we see that he had a twofold purpose in Israels forty years of wandering. First, the trials were brought upon Israel to teach them humility. God wanted them to learn who they really were in relationship to him. Second, the trials were given to test the Israelites, so they could demonstrate what was really in their hearts. Sometimes God tests us in similar ways, pushing us to examine ourselves. We need to take advantage of the difficult times, using them as stepping-stones toward recovery.
The Life Recovery Bible, page 224
Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors. Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would really obey his commands. (Deuteronomy 8:1-2 NLT)
I cant think of many tests that Ive totally enjoyed taking. In school there were some tests that I was prepared for and didnt have near the anxiety as other tests, but even when prepared there was always the thought that maybe I had missed something. God led the Israelites through the wilderness for forty years testing them the whole time. Seems unfair to the ones that had their hearts right, but still had to go through the testing. Today I am sixty years old, when I was twenty years old forty years seemed like a very long time. It seemed like eternity, a lifetime away. Today at sixty, I look back over the past forty years and realize that it wasnt so long after all. The years that end on a zero seem to be milestones in my life. 0-10 was childhood and took forever. 10-20 I became an adult and it also seemed to go on endlessly. 20-30 I became independent and somewhat responsible for my own life, this time period went by quicker than I anticipated. 30-40 I went from realizing that I was not really young anymore, and wondered how I became old so quickly. 40-50 clipped along so quickly that I didnt have time to do all I wanted, and even played catch-up most of the time. 50-60 just happened, I was fifty one day, turned around and I was sixty. A forty-year test is not as long as we might think it to be. As I look back over the last forty years I can see that I also have been in a test. Some of the important lessons that I have learned are that when I fail a test, I will have to take it again. I dont care if it is in the natural, material or the spiritual realms, if I fail a test I find myself taking it again. I can look back over the past forty years and see where time and time again I was led into the wilderness for testing. As a result I grew, gained wisdom and knowledge, and had the experience to pass the test if needed to again. I dont want to give you the idea that I was an A student. Many tests I just barely passed, but I learned. Today as I find myself several years into recovery, I know that I need to be truly grateful for my testing in the wilderness of life. Without the tests and having to swim upstream, I would have floated away just like a dead fish. Today I am learning to use each difficult occasion as an opportunity to allow God to demonstrate His power and love in my life. God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself ..JRE
God often uses the hard times in life to teach us important lessons. Here we see that he had a twofold purpose in Israels forty years of wandering. First, the trials were brought upon Israel to teach them humility. God wanted them to learn who they really were in relationship to him. Second, the trials were given to test the Israelites, so they could demonstrate what was really in their hearts. Sometimes God tests us in similar ways, pushing us to examine ourselves. We need to take advantage of the difficult times, using them as stepping-stones toward recovery.
The Life Recovery Bible, page 224
