Deuteronomy 13:3 –
do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul.
This verse is talking about prophets who dream of the future and promise signs or miracles. If they occur and the prophet suggests worshiping other gods, this should be our response. Now this response is something the concerns me a little, how many time are we being tested in our lives? John 16:33 says: “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” So I ask how many of these trials ad sorrows are tests and how many are just normal everyday life?
First point I wanted to expand upon was this aspect of tests vs. trials. For some reason many think becoming a Christian means everything is rosy from that point forward. I can point to many Christians whose lives have been turned upside down by tragic accidents and many nonbelievers who just successfully sail through life without a worry. I don’t believe God is repeating the tests Job went through to see our resolve and I don’t think being a Christian means we can enjoy the “good things in life.”
God will test us throughout our lives, but “sh&^ happens” sometimes and we just have to deal with it. Remember a bunch of the problems in life are us actively searching for piles and wallowing in them! We cannot blame God for testing us or live just being rough when WE actively participate in something that brings our demise. Look at the debt issues I am in now, I justified the debt for building the business. But in all honesty I should have managed our purchases better and even in good time operated in a cash positive mode. That was my doing, not God testing me. The economy was the circumstance, but it really has mainly hurt those overextended.
Second point was the worshiping other gods. In today’s vernacular we are dismissing God altogether. Or we describe God as a just energy that we tap into with our minds and create our reality. Our gods today are Porsche, Armani, Gucci, or whatever stuff that lights your fire. It’s interesting that religions of “other gods” are shrinking. The only ones that are “growing” are effectively worshiping the same God. The reason for this is science explains away most “signs or miracles” as natural phenomenon and not from any gods. So we sit and wonder, instead of not worrying about the trials and doing what John said and “take heart!”