The Trial of Your Faith (Part 5)

 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7)

 

God is not a liar. The reason it sometimes seems as if He is a liar is that we do not recognize the Truth. Thus, the problem is not with God, it is with US. We need a great deal of spiritual adjustment and freedom. We place more trust in our understanding that we can imagine. Indeed, many of us put our faith in our understanding, or our faith in our ability to believe, rather than put our faith in God Himself.

 

A fundamental trait of any trial of faith is that you will not be able to understand God in it, and He won't explain Himself to you. It should be encouraging to know that such a condition is normal, because then when it happens, we will be less apt to think that it is abnormal, or that something is wrong. No. Everything is right. You CANNOT understand, and God CANNOT explain. Get that. This isn't a matter of God refusing to explain. He can't.

 

The goal of any trial of faith is never to obtain some piece of information. No. Rather than information, what we need is a REVELATION -- of God Himself. The way in which I finally come to receive this revelation is by standing in faith unto death if necessary.

 

Again – God is doing a work IN ME through this trial of faith. He is doing a work of the Cross, so that I can BECOME someone who is able to better live and move with Him. Information will NOT accomplish this – not even a correct teaching about the Cross. No. I must pick up the Cross – not just seek teaching about it.

 

There will comes occasions in any trial of faith where you will face the choice to surrender to God – and you will not have any proof or assurance that He is even there to receive you. You will have to put aside your complete lack of understanding, and trust that it is sufficient that HE understands. If you do this, something in the realm of self-ownership will DIE in you. But there will burst forth LIFE – and with that life faith and eventual understanding will come.

 

Just as spiritual life comes through death, so does understanding come with that life. You cannot separate the two. You will never truly know the Truth until you die to the error in yourself, and have the Truth Himself revealed to you through resurrection life. Try to replace this with theology and academics, and you may convince yourself you are very smart. But you will be deceived.

 

If God explained Himself to us, we might have INFORMATION. But that would change nothing about us. It would do nothing to adjust us to God. In fact, the information would harm us, because we would settle for it. And we'd never go on to find God Himself.

 

I have uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not…..I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye sees thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:3-6)

 

Job knew a lot of true facts about God. He spoke those true facts – but finally admitted that he had no clue as to the God behind all those very true facts and doctrines. Job repented. But of what? Of thinking he knew God simply because he knew true facts about God. Oh, that we might see this today!

 

God wants us to know true doctrines and facts. But Christianity is not a list of doctrines, facts, and Bible teachings. It is a RELATIONSHIP with God through Jesus Christ – Jesus Christ who is IN US. Thus, what we need is more than information about God, or information about our trial. We need a REVELATION of God Himself.

 

If we will hang in during our trials and continue to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, God will reveal Himself to us in a way we will never regret. Do we want explanations from God, or God Himself?

 

Get it settled once and for all: God is NOT going to explain Himself to you. Ever. Forget it. But He will reveal Himself to you -- and with that there will come much understanding. But this revelation and understanding is always a by-product of a process of death and resurrection – not of study.

 

Excerpted from : THE TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH by David A. DePra at THE GOOD NEWS  © 1998-2005. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).