Awake SydneySample

In testing times remember: the test is not the test!

As a child, the earliest Australian Prime Minister I can remember was Malcolm Fraser who was famous for his statement “Life wasn’t meant to be easy”. I tell my own children that life is a series of problems- like an ongoing test. But the test is not the test. God has a purpose for us in testing times. How we respond to the test- that is the test. The Apostle Paul knew suffering and experienced much opposition but importantly he also knew that there was a purpose in his turmoils. Our suffering is not meaningless, and God can bring transformation from pain and opposition. Paul makes clear when he writes to his church after troubling times that “this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God” (2 Corinthians 1:9). The verses above state that the One we serve is “the God of all comfort” and His comfort to us is then something we can give to others.

Like when Peter was attempting to walk on water amidst the stormy waves, God uses troubles to get us not to focus on the deadly waves but the death-defeating Saviour. And then to be testimonies of God’s rescuing as we encourage and help bolster the faith of those going through their own storms of distress. Paul’s faith in God as he approached an uncertain future came from his experience of the faithfulness of God in the past. Just as David could face the giant Goliath by remembering that God had delivered him from the bear and the lion, so we can rest secure in God knowing that He who ensured we prevailed in previous struggles will “continue to deliver us”.

Prayer: Thank you God for your faithfulness in delivering us from perils in the past and for your promise to continue to deliver us. Please help me to notice those around me going through troubles and guide me in offering your compassion and comfort to them.

Mark McCrindle, 

Principal - McCrindle Research

www.mccrindle.com.au