FAITH THAT ENDURES THE TEST. 026

Moses had a deep sense of the personal presence of God. He was not only looking down through the ages for Christ to be made manifest in the flesh, but he saw Christ in a special manner accompanying the children of Israel in all their travels. God was real to him, ever present in his thoughts. When misunderstood, when called upon to face danger and to bear insult for Christ’s sake, he endured without retaliation. Moses believed in God as one whom he needed and who would help him because of his need. God was to him a present help. {5T 651.2}

Take a second and meditate on what it means for God to be a present help.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

In the context of the scripture it was given in, for God to be a present help essentially means He is there in trouble, and of course out of trouble as well.

Do I know God as a present help? Before I do my amen, hallelujah and agree with my mouth let me sit and ponder if in times of despair, when things don’t go my way, amidst uncertainty, rejection, dejection and the valleys of life does the evidence show that God is –my present help?

Much of the faith which we see is merely nominal; the real, trusting, persevering faith is rare. Moses realized in his own experience the promise that God will be a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Here is another point in regard to faith which we wish to study: God will reward the man of faith and obedience. If this faith is brought into the life experience, it will enable everyone who fears and loves God to endure trials.

MERCYYY. God will reward the person of faith and obedience.

This faith will allow that same person to endure trials.

Read that again just in case you miss it, I missed it the first time I read it.

If God is rewarding me for something, that same thing that I am being rewarded for is the key to endure trials. So essentially, in a sense, God rewards me when I am ready to endure trials. We like to quote this verse:

Luke 12:48 For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required

This verse is a cycle, God gives much, then requires much, but if He can require much of you, then He gives you even more.

The best blessings lie at the other end of trial. God wants to give us those blessings, but guess what, we have to endure the trial. The trial doesn't always mean outright negative things, it could be life's hardships, but it could also be an incubation season that seems long and pointless; a job that feels stagnant, school that gets repetitive, maybe just being at home waiting for the next things. All these can be trials.

Rainbows come after the rain, and the sunshine after the night, we’ve heard it before, but oh how we need to become one with the idea, we need this to be beyond what we merely intellectually ascent to, and have it wrought and woven into every fibre of our being.

This makes us invincible. Faith, with the help of God makes you invincible.

Moses was full of confidence in God because he had appropriating faith. He needed help, and he prayed for it, grasped it by faith, and wove into his experience the belief that God cared for him. He believed that God ruled his life in particular. He saw and acknowledged God in every detail of his life and felt that he was under the eye of the All-seeing One, who weighs motives, who tries the heart. He looked to God and trusted in Him for strength to carry him uncorrupted through every form of temptation. He knew that a special work had been assigned to him, and he desired as far as possible to make that work thoroughly successful. But he knew that he could not do this without divine aid, for he had a perverse people to deal with. The presence of God was sufficient to carry him through the most trying situations in which a man could be placed. {5T 651.3}

Moses did not merely think of God; he saw Him. God was the constant vision before him; he never lost sight of His face. He saw Jesus as his Saviour, and he believed that the Saviour’s merits would be imputed to him. This faith was to Moses no guesswork; it was a reality. This is the kind of faith we need, faith that will endure the test.

Faith to endure the test.

Oh, how often we yield to temptation because we do not keep our eye upon Jesus! Our faith is not continuous because, through self-indulgence, we sin, and then we cannot endure “as seeing Him who is invisible.” {5T 652.1}

Make Christ your daily, hourly companion, and you will not complain that you have no faith. Contemplate Christ. View His character. Talk of Him. The less you exalt self, the more you will see in Jesus to exalt. God has a work for you to do. Keep the Lord ever before you. {5T 652.2}

Lord, please evermore of the faith that will endure the test.

IJN,

amen