Lecture

Do you remember the opening of this entire series? When I talked about the mysteries that God has placed in His Word, mysteries He wants us to discover, to uncover, to find out the secret information so that we could use it to be changed people. Romans talks about this whole transformation and Paul says that you’d be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It’s all here that you have to change how you think. That I used to think this way, then I get some of the truth and I get initiated into it. Then I use the truth and then God gives me more truth. Remember what Christ said? You got to use what you hear, take heed to what you hear, that you use it. If you use it, you know what God does? God opens up heaven and says, Look at one of my children right there. They are flourishing. They are responding to my secrets, give them more secrets.

Well, I hope that you hunger for everything that God has to give to you, that you want it, that you desire it. You don’t run away, you don’t harden your heart. You don’t say, Well, I don’t know. I’ll think about it, but that you really make changes.

We’re halfway right now, we’re at the midway spot. Right in this break, we’re making a major transition. Session one and two are the elementary foundations of this initiation into the mysteries. “The Purpose of the Tests of Faith,” “The Patterns of the Tests of Faith.” You remember this? You should have this down pat by now: the marathon, the crisis, the ordeal, the cluster and the loop. Those are the things that God uses.

And then we move to the challenging of the intermediate stages. In “The Stages in Test Failure” we saw God works basically with us by sending difficult tests that stretch our faith. And He doesn’t want us to fail, but there are some universal signs that we’re going to fail, as we move from focusing on the situation, to the source, to the sovereign, and what we begin to say and complain. And we talked about, how do you break out of this? How do you stop the lead domino? Stop complaining, but rejoice.

And then we moved into “The Steps for Test Success.” One of the most shocking revelations the Bible has is the opposite the way we think, that we are in control of how much faith we have. It’s not just this kind of weird thing that floats around or it’s in the power of God. It’s my faith, and Christ says, I command you to have faith in God and Christ says, Why did you disbelieve? Why’d you do that? And He rebukes our unbelief. Therefore, we gave you five steps that you can use to radically increase your faith.

But now, in a sense, we’re closing those first two chapters of the foundational and the intermediate. And we’re walking for a while now into another level. And I know that many of you are ready for this. You’re wanting to know, how do I go on beyond this? And we’re now moving into the advanced stage. Then there are two of these. Session five is “The Tests of Belief.” What does God actually test when it says the trials are tests of our faith, what is He testing us about what we believe? Wait till you hear this. It’s going to make things clear. And then we’re going to take a deep dive right here. Before we go into the master level, we’re going to talk about the triggers of unbelief. What makes us move from believing to unbelieving? There are triggers and this is going to be a major shift to prepare you for the master level.

But right now, I want to take a little bit of a change. We’ve been all about truth, truth, truth, and some illustration, but so many people say, Oh, you know what really helps me as you’re teaching the Bible? What really helps me is when you give some of those stories that happen to you, so I know how it works out in real life. So in these last four, I’m going to share more personal stories with you. I hope that they are of great encouragement. That we’re all the same. We all go through these same struggles and sometimes we succeed and sometimes we don’t. So let me give you one of the early loops in which God tested my faith and what happened.

So we’re on session number five, “The Tests of Belief.” It’s the same as “The Tests of Faith.” And what I want to do in this session is to jump on this part of the chart. Remember there’s five stages or parts of every test of faith: our response, the reality that we’re in a trial that tests our faith. My responsibility is to endure, the result is I’m transformed, and the reward is both earthly and heavenly. And I want to focus with you on this particular part right here, the test of your faith. What does it look like when God actually does test your faith? How does it feel? What do you struggle with? What goes through your mind? Do you ever wrestle with fear or worry or concern as God begins to test?

Now, you know, there’s two different ways that tests of faith happen. One is a negative type, you’re being persecuted or you’re suffering for Christ. The other one is when He’s asking you to do something way beyond your comfort zone, way beyond what you think you can do, way beyond what you can do. Both of them test your faith. Both of them are difficult.

And I want to give you, if you don’t mind, just a personal story, way, way back, more than forty years ago when I was a young man and didn’t know any of this, none of this truth, I was just going through it. And it happened when Walk Thru the Bible, which was a major ministry that I helped start and which I led for twenty-five years, but in the beginning, I did a survey when I was in my graduate school. And I did my master’s project on a survey of the Bible called Walk Thru the Bible, or Walk Thru the Old Testament and New Testament, and we began to teach these in churches all across the country. And then there were so many requests that I began to train some of my classmates at seminary how to teach this course. And upon graduation, I went out to the west coast and became a professor of college students and graduate students and Walk Thru the Bible was just a weekend hobby, a way to minister to more people.

And I decided it was time to revise the Old and New Testament seminar. And so, I invited the other six people that were teaching these to fly up to Portland, Oregon on the west coast for a week to improve the seminars. Well, I had a whole itinerary, lots of sheets to go through and I budgeted fifteen minutes on the first question. It was just to get our creativity going. It was where do we want Walk Thru the Bible to be in ten years? I never had answered that question myself. It was just a tool I used in the classroom.

Well, as the seven of us sat around that table, we began to pour out our dream of what we wanted to do in the future. And because there wasn’t a ministry called Walk Thru the Bible, we never incorporated it. It didn’t really have a bank account. It was just something we did to serve the Lord on the weekends, but God began to move, and I can’t explain it to you, but we never left that conversation of where we wanted Walk Thru the Bible to be in ten years, all day Monday. And then it leaked over to all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday, and we were in tears. We were dreaming and the power of God was working in ways none of us could have dreamt possible.

And I can’t tell you the whole story, but on Friday, do you know what we all did? We all realized God was calling us to quit our jobs. I was the professor, there was a seminary professor. There was an associate pastor of a major church. We all had major jobs and we all decided to quit, to quit. And nobody asked about where’s the money? Because the call of God was so clear, and we all knew it. And they all were going to move to Portland, Oregon, and they all flew back home. And I went back and told my wife, they’re all moving up here. What are we going to do with them?

And so that was test one and for seven guys to quit their jobs, to move to another state with their families because the call of God was so strong. That was a major test of faith, and everybody passed it, but then they flew home, and I said, I need to get us a building, but we had no money in the bank hardly. And I was only making a little bit of money as a college professor. And I said to the man that turned out to be our executor, the executive director, in a sense, to make things happen. Let’s go look at buildings. He said, Okay, do we have any money? No, but God will provide.

So we started looking for a week. And on the following Monday, I was flying to Israel because I was going to prepare for a major trip in which we brought 250 Americans over for two weeks over in Israel. And I went to make all the preparations. And I said to Burt, his name is Burt Downs. I said, Burt, we’ve got to find a building before I leave. Because these guys are moving up. So on the last day we found this building and it was a Christian Scientist church building. And it was just perfect. And the real estate broker, Richard Boer was his name, was in the front seat of the car with me and Burt was in the back seat. And I said to Dick, I said, Dick, what’s a good price for this?

He said, Listen, it’s on for sale right now for $130,000, which is a steal. You ought to buy it.

I said, Okay. But I sensed the pull. And I said to him, Dick, what would be a miracle price, a miracle price?

I don’t know, $100,000 would be a miracle price.

I said, Dick, what would be a miracle price? He said, Well, I went and checked the records and the tax assessed value of this building, which is always way less than you can sell it for, was $75,000. He said, If you could buy that for $75,000, it would be a miracle.

And I almost said, Okay, go call them. But I had this unrest and I said, Dick . . . When you got no money in the bank, it makes no difference with the price is. And I said to Dick, What would be a really big miracle?

And Dick kind of laughed. And he says, Come on, Bruce, $75,000 is a really big miracle. And I didn’t feel peace about it. Another test of faith.

So I turned around in my front seat of the car and I said to Burt, Burt, I want you to just pray quietly. And I’ll pray quietly in the front and ask God what He wants us to bid on the building.

And Bert said, You want me to ask God for a number?

I said, Yeah, He may not do that, but He may. And I’m going to do the same thing. I said, Burt, write it on a little piece of paper and I’ll write the number. Dick was, What are you guys doing? So Burt then folds a piece of paper. And I ask him in a minute or so to pass it up. And I open it up and it was $37,500. He took $75,000 and divided in half.

And Dick said, There’s no way. No way.

And I said, Dick, would you open my folded piece of paper? And he opened it up and it said $37,500.

And he said, Listen, I’m not going to go in the building and call them and make an offer. They’ll be offended. And you’ll lose the building.

I said, Dick, I think God’s doing something here. Don’t you have to make an offer, if we make the offer, don’t you have to present the offer?

He said, Yeah, but you’re going to lose the building.

I said, Okay, but go ahead. So he gets out of the car, walks inside and he calls the headquarters for this building and Burt and I are praying like crazy, God, only you could do this, come on. $37,500, you couldn’t even buy a garage for that amount.

Well eventually Dick comes out and he’s walking like this and he’s kicking the gravel. We were in a gravel parking lot, and he was kicking the gravel. Both Burt and my hearts just fell through the floor. And he sat down, and he says, You know, I’ve been doing this for over thirty years. I can’t believe what just happened.

Dick, what happened?

They took the deal. They took the deal, but they gave you thirty days and you got to pay cash for it, thirty days.

I said, Okay, that’s great, man. So it was wonderful. And I said to Burt, Listen, Burt, I’m gone for more than two weeks. It’s not going to be hard for you to get a loan on this big building for $37,500 while I’m gone. And he said, No, that’s not going to be a problem. My goodness.

So I flew off and came back and I called him the moment I hit the United States. And I said, Burt, Burt, how’d you do on the money?

Bruce, I can’t believe it. I can’t get the money.

What do you mean you can’t get the money?

No, they ask for how much money does Walk Thru the Bible have in the bank? He said, We’ve only got a couple thousand dollars. They asked for our assets. Bruce, we don’t have any assets. They asked what my income was Bruce, my income. And when they found out what you get paid at teaching a religious college and seminary, it’s very little money and nobody will loan the money. Nobody. He said, We’re going to lose the building.

I said, No Burt, it can’t be, it can’t be that we’ll lose the building. Look at everything that God’s doing. He moved us to move up here. And He led us to the building and He gave us a price that is not a miracle, not a big miracle, but a mega miracle, God’s going to do it.

Well, we worked the rest of that week. We had one week left and I was one of the speakers for that last week down in California at a place called Mount Herman, which is a major conference center. And I was asked to be a guest speaker for the Dallas Seminary Week, along with the president of the seminary, Dr. Howard Hendricks, and some of the other famous people on the faculty there. And they never assigned a topic to any of us, but we all were moved, all four speakers to talk about faith and the miracles of God. And I was sharing, and Darlene says, We’ve got to have our answer by Friday.

I said, It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. On Monday, nothing happened. Tuesday, the president, I used to work for the president of Dallas Seminary. A very, very brilliant man. Dr. Walvoord, way up here, six foot something. And he called me aside, he said, Bruce, you’ve been sharing these miracles that God’s been doing, but you know, God doesn’t always do miracles, you know?

I know.

And he says, What about this building?

I don’t know.

Is God going to come through?

I hope so, I hope so. And I told the people the story that sometimes God decides not to say yes, but sometimes He says yes and does a major miracle. I never told how much money it was or anything. Because it wasn’t a fundraising week.

On Thursday night, Darlene says, We’ve got one more day, one more day.

I said, I know. And I’m already scrambling, what can we do? I was afraid. I was afraid I had no power to do this. And the question kept coming into my mind. Can I count on God? Is He going to provide? Is He going to provide or not? I mean, did He walk us out on the edge of the limb? And we go out there with Him, and then has He got a little saw and He’s sawing the branch? And I expect Him to catch us, and when we’re falling down because we trusted Him, He moves out of the way and says, You’re stupid, man. Why’d you trust me? It’s impossible.

And all those fears came flooding. And Darlene and I prayed in our room in that conference center Thursday night, Lord, it’s up to you, only you can do this. What is that? That’s a test of belief. Wasn’t it? And who’s pushing me and us? It’s God. What’s He pushing me to? In an impossible situation, loop number one, we quit our job with no money in the bank. Loop number two, will you trust us to give an office building? And He did at a mega miracle level. And then we’re at the third time, all three loops are on the same thing. Do I, along with the other guys of course, and Darlene, do we believe God will provide? Same truth, bigger and bigger challenges. Do you understand how it is, how it feels? I didn’t understand the loop back then. I didn’t understand the test of faith back then. Maybe it’s like how you felt before we started this course. This was all new initiation truth to us.

So Friday morning came up and I’m trying to believe. I’m trying to believe. Friday afternoon, three o’clock, Darlene and I are sitting on the bench because we’re way up in the beautiful mountains of California. And we’re both quiet. And we see this old couple, much shorter than us, about this tall, slowly looking at us, walking toward us. And he has a brown paper bag. It’s about this tall and he’s holding it, has obviously something very precious in it. And he’s walking right to us, and my first thought, he’s got the money in the bag.

And he walks over, and they sat down on the bench and said, We’ve been very touched by your series this week. And we have a very special gift we’d love to give to you. And I was, my mouth was dry, and I was sweating. And he says, Here we have some pecan trees at our place. Here’s a bag of our pecans for you and Darlene. Thank you very much, and my heart sank.

And he says his name was Sam Garst and his wife’s name was Vera Garst, first time we met them. And then Sam said to me, So this building you mentioned in passing, do you need money for that?

Yeah.

Well, how much money do you need?

$37,500. Now back then, that was three times my whole salary. It’s a lot of money, impossible.

$37,500, is that right?

Yes.

Do you happen to need any money to fix anything up in the building?

Well, yeah, it needs carpet, and it needs paint.

He said, Well, how much would all that be?

I don’t know, maybe $2,500 more.

$40,000?

Yes.

Then he gets emotional. He gets emotional and he looks at Vera and he says to her, Oh this is our big miracle isn’t it sweetheart?

Our big miracle? I’m the one in need of a miracle. Could God be doing two tests of faith at the same time and using each other person to make it come true? Do you see how intricate and brilliant God is? I didn’t back then, but boy do I today, oh man, is He just amazing.

So he looks back at me and he said, You know what happened thirty days ago to the day? He said, Somebody came up to our door and knocked up on the door and said, Do you own this piece of property?

And he said, we did.

And the man said to him, We’d like to buy it at this amount in cash. And that was part of our retirement. And so, we said, Yes. It was a great price. And we got the money and we put it in the bank. Well, we weren’t ready to retire, he’s telling me, yet. So we said to God, he said, Vera and I prayed and said, God, if you need the money until we retire, you’re welcome to use it. He said, Do you know how much money we have in the bank? We told God He could use the money if He needed it, $40,000. And today is our last day. And this is your last day. And God burst open our hearts at the launch of the ministry called Walk Thru the Bible.

Can you identify with this? Oh my goodness. Alright, let’s get into it. By the way, by the way, that’s the first test of faith God tries on people. Will He provide? What’s the second? What’s the third? What’s the fourth? And what’s the fifth one? Because you’ve been tested in all of them and you’re going to be tested in them in the future. So let’s go back up here and take a look at some of the Scripture as we begin.

So our introduction, “The Tests of Faith Make Us,” wow, “Worthy for the Kingdom.” They make us more worthy, look at this passage. Second Thessalonians chapter one, “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren,”—believers—“as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith,” yeah. “In all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,”—that you endure. Remember that middle red arrow? “. . . that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer” (vv. 3–5 NKJV). You suffer for the kingdom of God. And this is counting you worthy because you suffer for God. You don’t run away; you don’t harden your heart. You don’t cave. You endure with patience and your faith is growing. That’s the result of a test of faith. There’s much more we could say about that, but you get the big idea.

Look at Philippians chapter one, “. . . not in an any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of [judgment coming], but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you . . .” Now look at this verse, “For to you it has been granted . . .” It’s a gift that’s been granted to you “on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him,”—read it now, come on—“but also to suffer for His sake” (vv. 28–29). It’s been granted to you to suffer for His sake. The tests of faith make us worthy for the kingdom. And it’s a gift from God.

Now I have a little chart for you. I want to kind of back away and talk about, how does all this work out in real life? First of all, we have a trial, which is a major test of faith that we are to have endurance. When that test of faith is over, either we endured or we didn’t, there’s usually a transitional period of time. If we passed or did we do it partially? It’s incomplete, you got some of it right but not enough, or like my loop, I believed a little and I needed more, and I needed more. Or did I fail?

So what happens? What is God’s normal way of responding to us? Positive: We get a major blessing if we pass the test, who knows what it’s going to be, but there’s a blessing because you’ve become perfect, complete, lacking nothing. And you’re going to get honor, praise, and glory at the second coming, and God probably will give you some other kind of blessing. You’ll have a period of recovery. If it was a major test of faith that lasts some time, you’ll have a period of recovery and you’ll get some kind of reward. Who knows what it will be? We’re not in control of that.

What happens if it’s incomplete? It’s time to be retrained, it’s time to be retrained. How does that work? God comes and reteaches us some more. And then He retests us, the same test and a loop.

What’s the negative? If I fail, I get some discipline. Yep, there’s two sides of this. They don’t always both happen to us. A reprimand where God lets His displeasure be known to us, You weren’t supposed to fail this, son. You didn’t believe Me that I’m good, that I’m in control, that I’m fair and this is for your good. And you caved. And sometimes there’s a recompense. There is sometimes some painful discipline that comes as it happened to the Jews when they failed their tests that we’ve talked about.

Alright, let’s go on a little bit further and deal with the tests of faith reveal—watch this now—the tests of faith reveal something. They reveal our present faith level. How much faith did we have at the time of the test? And I put together a simple little chart that I want you to see. Across the top, there are seven levels, one through seven, using the same words we taught you earlier. Anti-belief, disbelief, unbelief, half belief and half unbelief (doubt), weak faith, little faith, great faith. Anti-belief, if this is a zero line through the middle, this is a person who has a great deal of unbelief. More than unbelief, departing from. This is disbelief, I won’t believe. This is unbelief. This is half belief and half unbelief. This is weak faith, little faith, and great faith.

Now all of us right now, if we were to put all of our life together, we could come before God and say, Where are we as a person in our faith in you? Where are we from here to here? Now something may happen this week to you. You could go from here to here or you could go from here to here. Everyone has a different faith level about everything, everything at all times.

Remember I told you there’s five tests of belief. Think about this for a little bit, it’s not that we have let’s say great faith about God coming through in all five areas. Some disappointments may have happened along the way. So let’s say we have these five areas just for a moment. And in one, we have this much faith. In number two, we have this much faith. Number three, we got some anti-faith. Number four, we could have some doubt, some belief and kind of some unbelief. Do you understand? If you have faith that is not great, there’s room for God to work on you till you have complete faith about God coming through in that area of your life. So not only do you have different amounts at different times, but different areas. You could have a really strong faith, I do believe God’s going to provide, but over here in belief test number four, you may say, I don’t know if God’s going to ever do that for us. Think about what you’re hearing.

So as you’ll think about that, then let’s move on to point two. Everyone has varying faith levels about God, depending upon their situation. Number three, everyone is tested by God to either increase, strengthen, purify their faith. He wants you to have unwavering conviction about God. Number four, everyone is tested to provide stronger faith to fulfill their destiny, which is going to require more faith in God. And number five, everyone must use their faith to pass the five universal belief tests.

All right, let’s transition now and explore quickly, quickly, five universal belief tests. What’s the first one? Take a look at the little logo. These are five logos in this session about the nation of Israel in the wilderness. What comes out of a rock that they weren’t expecting? Water. And what birds are given by God to cause you to have food? Quail, remember?

So what’s universal test number one? Well take a look at Exodus 17. “Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water, that we may drink.’ So Moses said to them, ‘Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?’ And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, ‘Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst’” (vv. 2–3)? Is that really true? That God redeemed them out of Egypt to kill them with thirst? How’d they do on that test of faith? F minus.

How do we express this? Why isn’t God meeting our needs? Why isn’t God taking care of us? Why doesn’t God help us? Look at these words: Why? Why, why, why doesn’t God help us with our financial crisis? What’s the test? God’s provision. What was my three loops? God’s provision. This is an elementary, first level of a test.

Now look what God did, “These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7). And then he gives an extreme: for forty years! There was no department stores, no food, no clothing stores. “Your garments did not wear out on you,” — For forty years! — “nor did your foot swell these forty years” (Deuteronomy 8:4). Wandering in the wilderness. What’s God saying? Think about it. Not only do I provide for you, but your clothes didn’t wear out. Haven’t you had your favorite clothes wear out? I have a sweatshirt that I love. It’s ratty, it’s all torn. It’s frayed at the bottom. I love it but it’s wearing out, my wife can’t wait for it to fall off of me. She says, Come on. I want to buy you a new sweatshirt. No, I don’t want a new sweatshirt. I love my old sweatshirt. What God’s saying? Your clothes didn’t even wear out. Guess who did that for you?

Christ teaches the same truth. “Therefore,” he said, “do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” Look, all those happened to the Jews. That’s why the Bible says these were our examples. “For after all these things the Gentiles seek.” But your heavenly Father, what’s He going to do? Reveal the truth. “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” He knows it. “But seek first . . .” We’re going to talk about this in session eight. “. . . seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness . . .” And if you do, and if you do, then “. . . all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:31–33). God will make them come into your life. You seek what He wants, and He’ll come through for you.

So is it true that God takes care of our needs? Whoa. 1 Peter 5, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (v. 7). Is that true? When you’re in a provision test, you wonder if God cares even anything for us. Why? He’s testing us. See, when we have this need, we want God to come through right then. And God says, No, I’m going to come through when I want to come through, but I’m going to come through right here and I’m going to test you. Will you keep believing or will you crash? You don’t have to have it yet. I’ll make sure you get it before you need it. Philippians 4, very famous passage. “My God shall supply all your need . . . —all of them—“. . . according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (v. 19). Do you got this? Tests of provision—many of us around the world right as I’m taping this, are in the middle of a massive test of provision. Whoa.

Number two. Look at this, this is Moses holding up the rod and the Red Sea parting. What does that demonstrate? Yeah, the power of God. Now this is a very, very helpful passage. In this passage, God says something to Moses that He’s going to do for the people of Israel that goes beyond the edge, the edge of what Moses can believe even God can do. What did he do? He hit the wall in which, I believe this far, but God, you can’t do that. That’s impossible. Oh man, guess what God wants to do? Push past his unbelief threshold so that he believes the truth that nothing is impossible for God. Even what you used to think is impossible, you shouldn’t anymore.

Take a look at this passage. You know, the Bible is so real isn’t it? “And Moses said, ‘The people who I am among are 600,000 men on foot.’” And you know, they’re married. They have children. There’s a massive number of people, yet with that huge number, “‘yet you [God] have said . . .’”—you’ve said something. You’ve said, “‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’” Lord, there’s millions of people. And this blew Moses’ mind. “‘Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough?’” What’s Moses saying? There isn’t enough animals in the world to feed this massive army. “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Has the Lord’s arm been shortened?’” Is He no longer able? Because you have decided He can’t, He’s not powerful enough. “‘Now [said God], you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not’” (Numbers 11:21–23). Mercy!

What did God do? You got to put this together in your mind to understand how this happens to us. Did God push those seven people in the early days of Walk Thru the Bible, to the edge in which they were getting rid of their job and moving without any supply known? Yes. Did God push Burt Downs and myself to find a building past the very last day? Yes. Did God push me and Darlene to the very Nth degree as well as Sam and Vera Garth at the same time, and they both needed two things and their answer to each other was a miracle to each other. Did He push us? Yes. Think about this. Don’t miss it.

What’s my point? Did God push Moses to the edge? Yes. Why? It’s at the edge where we can believe on this side, but we have unbelief on this side, and God says, I want no unbelief in me. I am the Almighty, stop making me your non-almighty.

So what is this? A universal test of God’s power, His power. How come God isn’t intervening with His power to fix this? Why doesn’t God heal? If God is all powerful, why didn’t He act? Really? Here’s God’s reaction. “‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm.’” Has my arm been shortened? Am I weak now? “‘There is nothing too hard for You’” (Jeremiah 32:17). Nothing. “And said: ‘O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You’” (2 Chronicles 20:6)? No one can overthrow God’s power. “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:26). Everything. Taking care of these families? Yep. Finding a building the last day? Yep. Giving it exactly the money to buy it and fix it up? Yes, all things are possible.

Does God even have the word “hard” in His vocabulary? He doesn’t have anything that’s hard. Can He lift 1,000 pounds? Yes. Can He lift 100 million pounds? Yes. Which is harder for God? God doesn’t have “hard.” He speaks and the world is created. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think . . .” He’s able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we think and ask. “. . . according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

Are you tested in God’s power to come through, where seemingly things are impossible? Of course. Guess who pushed you there? Guess who allowed you to have fear? God. What did He want? You to overcome that with the truth.

Universal test number three, “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not’” (Exodus 17:6–7)? Whoa, it’s not His provision, is it? It’s not His power, something else. This represents the pillar of fire that was right in the middle of the tents of the nation of Israel in the wilderness, the presence of God. Do you believe God is with you, right with you in the midst of your test? Where on earth is God? Why isn’t He answering my prayers? I feel abandoned. If God was with me, then this wouldn’t have happened. Really? Is it true that if God’s with me, then the thing that’s difficult that God sent wouldn’t be there?

What’s the test? The test is God’s presence. I remember years ago we lived on a farm, and we hired a man, young couple actually, to live in a little trailer that was there to take care of the property. And I called three people that he used to work for. They all gave glowing recommendations. So we hired the couple and then he began to show behavior that showed he was mentally unbalanced. I mean really, and it made Darlene and the kids afraid. And I got on the phone, and I called one of these three guys I spoke to and said, Sir, I interviewed you before I hired this man. And you told me he was reliable, had integrity, all the rest of it. And I’m finding he is unstable in lots of ways. Was he unstable for you?

Well, yes he was. I fired him.

You fired him? You told me he was a good employee.

No, I didn’t want him to get angry at me because I didn’t know what he would do to me, so I lied to you.

Oh, thank you very much. And it became so unstable that I had to let him go. And he and his wife got in their truck and they tore out. And I was, the next day, walking in the field on our farm with my good friend of many, many years, sixty years we’ve been friends, and we were walking together in the field and this guy’s truck came roaring in and it slid. And he did a fishtail, opened the door, had a huge shotgun, came out of it, yelling at me, I’m going to kill you, you ruined my life! And he points it just like this.

And I had an immediate thought: Christ is right here. He’s right with me. And with Christ with me, I don’t have to fear anybody. And I said to myself, if you can let me just share this. I said to myself, I want to see how I respond to this. Because I might die right now. Yeah, but where did I go? Christ is right with me. I don’t need to fear man. And slowly we talked to this man and comforted him, and he drove and left. And Kenny said, Man, that’s as close as you can get to dying I ever want to be around. I said, Me too.

God protected us, but what did I go to? Christ is with me. Why did I go to that? Take a look at this passage if you would. Is this helping to understand what are the tests God’s going to give you about your faith? And this helped me a great deal. God speaking, “‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:23–24). David, classic passage, “Where can I go and hide from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; And if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:7–10). That’s the truth. Yeah, but do you get tested at that? Do you ever feel like where’s God, I can’t feel Him. He’s not with me any longer. What did Christ say? “‘I am [personally] with you . . .’” Sometimes? “‘. . . always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:20). All the way.

Look at this passage in Hebrews. “For He Himself [God Himself] has said,” I promise you, “‘I will never leave you,’”—no matter what you do—“‘I will never leave you nor [will I ever] forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5). Yeah, what’s the takeaway from that? That’s truth. What’s the behavioral change that God wants in believing the presence of God? “So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear [be afraid].’” Why? Nobody can overcome me with my God next to me. “‘What can man do to me’” (Hebrews 13:6)? Nothing unless God permits it. Oh, the presence of God.

Test number one, provision. Test number two, the power of God. Test number three, the presence of God. And now we move into the last two, which are the more difficult, more difficult to cope with. God kind of builds along as we continue to grow in our faith, He gives us more challenging tests. Just like in school, a test you have in third grade isn’t the same as a test you have in the tenth grade, which isn’t anything like something you get in a master’s degree. And the point is, you’re supposed to be able to handle more difficult tests, but all about what? God. They’re tests of belief about God. Right.

What’s number four? This is a hard one, and the fifth one is the hardest. Same illustrations of the Old Testament. “Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, ‘Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord, [that God had killed us] in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger’” (Exodus 16:2–3). That’s your plan, to bring us out here that we may die? “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread.” ‘“Millions of people.” ‘“And you shall know [when I do that for you] that I am the Lord your God”‘“ (Exodus 16:11–12). I am the Lord, your God. “And the children of Israel ate manna . . .” (Exodus 16:35) for forty years. For forty years!

What was that? That was God’s plan. I’m going to take care of your food every day. And I’ll take care of the water every day and your clothes aren’t going to wear out and your foot isn’t going to swell. I’m here for you. I know you need all these things. And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land where there was food to eat for the first time. And “they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan” (Exodus 16:35). What is that? Oh man, that’s the plan of God, God’s plan. How good is His plan? When it looks like His plan is terrible.

They came back when they spied out the land and the clusters of grapes were so huge, because God promised the most amazing promised land and He proved His plan was there. But how do we express this test? My life doesn’t make any sense. This disaster proves God really isn’t in control. Nothing good can come from this terrible plan. Do you see this? But here’s the truth. “Remember the former things of old, For I am God [I’m God], and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” (Isaiah 46:9). What do I do that no other does? I declare the end, the end of it all, from the beginning. From the beginning, I tell you the end. Why? I planned it all for you. “And from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying,” I planned it all along, “‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:10). His plan and His power and His present and His provision. It’s all His plan. “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). It’s His plan. Is it good? Yeah, but is it good, when it doesn’t feel good? Is it still good if it doesn’t feel good?

Jeremiah 1 talks about God’s plan down to the individual level. “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb . . .’” Before your parents formed you in the womb? No, “‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations’” (Jeremiah 1:4–5). Jeremiah, it’s my plan for you that you’re a prophet to the nation. And I formed you in the womb to be the prophet for me. What is that? His plan. Jeremiah didn’t want that plan, but that was the plan of God. And ultimately, he achieved what God wanted him to achieve. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out” (Romans 11:33).

Number five, this is the why question. Numbers 14. “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land?’” Now look how they’re projecting the opposite of God’s goodness and plan, “‘. . . to fall by the sword.’” He brought us here so we would be killed and “‘that our wives and our children should become victims.’” God is wicked, is evil. “‘Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt’” (Numbers 14:1–3)? Go back, remember the blood on the sides and the top of the door when the death angel came down over Egypt? What was God’s heart? To redeem them, to offer them salvation through the blood, His own special people. That’s His purpose and to train them so that when it was time to go into the Promised Land, they’d be strong and ready to deal with the battles that they would face. What is that? That’s God’s purpose. It’s the why question.

How can anyone believe we have a loving God? How could anyone allow this? Look at the suffering in the world. God doesn’t really care. Is that really true? Look at how we sound when this is happening. “‘Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;’” You wouldn’t go into the Promised Land. Remember this? “‘and you complained in your tents.’” And what did you say when you’re failing this test? “‘“Because the Lord hates us.”’” Oh my, and “‘“has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us”’” (Deuteronomy 1:26–27). The real hidden purpose of God is to kill us. When we fail these tests, we don’t go to neutral. We go all the way down.

Isaiah 46 is in your workbook. Look at this. “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love . . .”—He chose us that we would be—“having predestined us to adoption as sons . . .” —that’s His purpose—“by Christ Jesus to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:4–5). His will is beautiful, and it’s for us.

Even in the most severe tests of us, is God still good? Can I still trust God? His ways are not my ways. As high as the sky is from the earth, so His ways are above mine. Oh, that my people would know my ways and accept them. Accept them. They’re for your good beyond what you can imagine. They’re for your good.

Let’s kind of summarize this in our chart like we did with all of them. Remember this? The water on the rock, the parting of the Red Sea, the pillar of fire, the Promised Land goods, and the salvation. What are these five tests? Provision, power, presence, plan, and purpose. Now what is the ultimate result of the belief tests? They’re all for our good, that’s the result.

Look at this passage in James, as we wrap up. “Do not be deceived . . .”—don’t be tricked. Don’t believe a lie. What about? “. . . my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift . . .” that you get. Everything you love about your life “. . . is from above,” everyone. Not most of them. No matter what you think you did, it’s ultimately from Him. Don’t be deceived. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.” Now, why does he give the rest of this sentence? “. . . with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:16–17). What is God saying here? Every good and perfect gift I give to you, I give them to you because I love you. And I am not changing. No matter how you think in the future, it doesn’t appear that that’s true anymore in your life. It’s still true. Don’t judge Me. Give it some more time. Don’t lose hope in Me. Don’t turn your back against Me. Don’t hold up your fist in rebellion against Me. Don’t despise My ways, don’t contend with Me. Don’t complain. Just trust me, I am love. I am love, that’s who I am and I’m for you like no one else in the universe. And I’ll always be for you, and nothing will change in me. I am forever the same.

The last passage we want to just read is a well-known one. It kind of puts all this stuff together and we know something. “We know that all things work together for good”—to the people—“to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Here’s some illustrations of how all things work together. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of [Christ] His Son.” What does He want for us? To become like Christ. “That He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things?” That He did all those things—what’s our reaction to this? “If God is for us, who [on earth] can be against us?” That it makes any possible difference? Can you get there? Can you get there? And “He who did not spare His own Son,” He didn’t even hold His own Son from all the suffering, “but delivered [God delivered] Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:28–32)? that we need.

Is there an exception to the goodness of God in your life? Probably. Where are you on these five? You’re good on this one, but not so good on this one. Guess what? You can give a prophecy to yourself. Oh boy, I’m going to be tested here. And if there’s somewhere along your life that your heart became so hard. And boy do I understand, don’t I? Became so hard that you closed it down. Did you judge it a little bit too early, too early? The story isn’t over yet. And you’ve decided, you’ve decided, I just read the last page of the book. No you didn’t. You read the last page of the chapter.

This happened to me on a ship. Yeah, a big, huge sailboat right off of Asia Minor, Turkey. Darlene and I were there with seventeen other presidents of ministries. And I was asked to be their minister that week. And one afternoon we were just on the sailboat sailing through and a friend of mine said, You want to play a game of chess? Sure, let’s play chess. So we were playing chess, it was a very good game. We were kind of equally matched. And one of the young guys working there on the ship kind of walked over and stood next to us, watching. And I made a move, and my opponent took the queen. Oh, the most powerful of all the pieces on a game, and he took it and the guy looked at me and said, That was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. Don’t you know what the queen is? You’re going to lose the game. That was dumb, weren’t you paying attention?

And the next move, I put my friend in checkmate and I said, You misinterpreted that sacrifice to win the game. It’s too soon. Why is everybody, everybody in heaven, they can’t stop saying, all praise to God, all glory to God, all power to God, He is wonderful. Now how come nobody’s saying, You didn’t treat me fairly. It’s the opposite, when they see the whole picture, the whole game, you know what they do? They dance forever and they worship forever. You are so good! Can you believe that right now? That’s the wish of God. Believe it like you will when you see it. Blessed is he who believes without seeing. Pass your tests.