The God Exam

01.27.12

Exodus 17.2 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” NASB

It is one thing for the Lord to put us to the test – it is quite another to put Him to the test. Putting the Lord to the test is unbelief. Asking the Lord for a sign is unbelief. Questioning His presence or His methods is unbelief. As I said yesterday, the Lord expects from us complete obedience and a fully trusting heart. The surest indicator that we are failing God’s test is to try to test Him.

I know the people were just learning how to walk in faith and for most of them it was a struggle. They hadn’t been used to walking in much faith while they were in Egypt under their taskmasters. But it was the cruel oppression of the Egyptians that awoke in them a desire for deliverance. And they cried out to the Lord. And God responded. But they found that crying out for deliverance was one thing and for it to actually happen was another. They began to realize that part of crying out to the Lord meant their walking in faith to His response. They were being asked to trust God. Sometimes that is really a struggle for us. I know it is for me.

Testing the Lord is my asking for Him to prove Himself. The Lord doesn’t need to prove Himself. I need to be proven faithful, but God never does – He is always only faithful. So my response to the things in my life that don’t go my way needs simply to be: may the Lord’s will be done. He is testing me, and will use whatever means necessary to accomplish the test. I must accept that. But I also must accept that only He gets to do the testing, not me. It’s a hard lesson to learn but it is the only lesson I’m allowed: He is God and I am not.

And Moses was being tested as well. Whatever is good for those being led, is also good for those leading. Moses, we’ll note, was also given explicit instructions of what to do and how to do it. We’re the ones who need tested.

I am guilty of asking the Lord to prove Himself. I have actually prayed – when in difficult times – Lord, You brought me here! In other words, why are You treating me this way since You brought me to this!? It’s usually more accusatory than that. My arrogance reaches fever pitch when I go through tough stuff and then accuse the Lord of mistreating me. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true. In the current test, I am learning to stop doing that and to stop asking for the Lord to give me a sign – I don’t need signs, I need faith. We all need to learn that lesson at some point and to some degree.

Moses, to whom I look to as an example, not to equate my life with his, spent nearly forty years wandering around in a desert ignoring God. And then one day the Lord showed up and asked Moses to be the leader of His people and to bring them out of Egypt. That was a big ask. Moses needed to unlearn some stuff and so do we when God shows up in our lives and asks us to do something bigger than we can accept: like walk with Him and do His will. The last thing we should do is ask Him to prove Himself. The last thing we should do is to put Him to the test. We are called to be faithful and that is exactly what the Lord is perfecting in each of us…