September 13 | Week 2: Faith and Trust
God Wants To Know What Is In My Heart
Deuteronomy 8:2-5
2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
Will I Obey God…Or Not?
1. Why did God lead Israel through the wilderness (v. 2)? God led them through the desert to test them so he would know what is in their hearts.
2. What was God trying to find out about their hearts? Ultimately, God wanted to know if they would obey him and “keep his commands.”
What Is In My Heart?
3. Looking back, how has God used a hard season to show you what was really in your heart? I learned a lot in Eugene about my penchant for bitterness. God exposed my selfish ambition and hubris while serving in Portland. Additionally, if there is anything I could say to my mentor at that time it would be “I’m so sorry, I was completely blinded by my pride to the opportunity I was given to walk with you.” In fact, as I think about it now, every single time and place I’ve served as a leader there have been some deep lessons.
The Ultimate Test
Genesis 22:1-14
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love–Isaac–and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
The Apparent Contradiction In God’s Test
1. What did God ask Abraham to do? Why would this be the ultimate test? God asked Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. Undoubtedly, Abraham killing his son must have been a mortifying thought for him. Furthermore, God promised Abraham that through Isaac he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and sand the seashore. Therefore, Abraham sacrificing his beloved son would contradict God’s promises he made to Abraham.
By Faith, Abraham Reasoned…
2. What did the test reveal about Abraham? Abraham loved God more than anything – even the child of the promise, Isaac. Abraham trusted God completely, that he would not break his promise and that he was not ultimately cruel.
Hebrews 11:17-18
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Will I Reason By Faith?
3. Is there something God is asking you to trust him with that feels too costly? Amy and I diving back into a ministry leadership role is challenging. Our “cost” is making sure to have true faith and a trusting attitude. Additionally, Amy told me this morning that we must recognize that God has put us here and therefore God “believes in us.” (She is indeed my helper!)
1 Peter 1:6-7
6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Faith Refined By Trials
1. What is your faith compared to? What does the fire do to it? My faith is compared to gold. Gold is refined by fire. Therefore, trials are the fire that refine my faith.
2. Why is a tested faith worth more than an untested one? An untested faith has not been proven true. Also, If my faith does not undergo trials, it will never grow stronger or deeper. If I understand trials in this way my connection and perception of God will only become clearer. However, this is honestly a hard teaching because enduring a trial faithfully means not giving into bitterness or discouragement!
Greater Tests Mean Greater Faith
APPLICATION: A faith that has never been tested is a faith you cannot fully trust. Instead of asking God to remove the test you are in, ask him what he wants to grow in you through it. Write down what you think God is revealing to you.
“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2)
I have been given several trusts from God. God trusted me with his daughter Amy, his grandchildren Paisley and Dimitry, with the Global Cyberministry, and soon with the IE region. Will I prove faithful or will I grumble? I know that those that grumble will crumble. (1 Corinthians 10:10) Lastly, faith is the key to guarding my heart from bitterness and discouragement. A refined faith expresses itself in sincere love for God and others and is therefore worth the fires! (Romans 12:9, Galatians 5:6)
