How do we know someone is a winner if there is no competition? How do we know if someone is the best if she is the only? How can you be sure that you are the chosen one, if you were the only choice available? How can you be sure if the love someone expresses is true loyal love if it has never been tested?
God wants each of us - all of us - to love Him with our whole heart. He offers us loyal, steadfast love and asks the same from us. God knows us better than any social scientist can ever know humans. Because of this, from the very beginning with Adam and Eve, through Abraham down to the nation of Israel, God tested the loyal love of His children.
We read at the end of Joshua and in the beginning of Judges that the nation of Israel has taken possession of the Promised Land of Palestine. Although some of the conquered peoples were still living in the land, Israel was in the dominant position. God had given them victories as they fought their way through the land. But at times they were not passionate enough to pursue complete victory or to obey God fully.
Therefore God said:
I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. I did this to test Israel—to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the LORD as their ancestors did.”Judges 2:21, 22
God determined to provide an ongoing test for Israel. They would continually be tempted to borrow moral standards and objects of worship from the ethnic groups who lived among them.Their loyal love would be tested: faced with choices, would Israel consistently choose the God of their fathers? Sadly as we read the biblical history of the next few centuries, the answer is a recurring "no". Israel found it often too easy to join in pagan practices and pagan worship, ignoring the God who had brought them out of Egypt into their "homeland."
Many people claim to believe in and to love God. The proof of our loyal love is found in the times of testing. God has many "fair weather" friends. The issue is: when the weather is "foul", do we still love and obey God? It is in the hard times that loyal love is proved. May each of us pass the tests God allows to come our way!
God wants each of us - all of us - to love Him with our whole heart. He offers us loyal, steadfast love and asks the same from us. God knows us better than any social scientist can ever know humans. Because of this, from the very beginning with Adam and Eve, through Abraham down to the nation of Israel, God tested the loyal love of His children.
We read at the end of Joshua and in the beginning of Judges that the nation of Israel has taken possession of the Promised Land of Palestine. Although some of the conquered peoples were still living in the land, Israel was in the dominant position. God had given them victories as they fought their way through the land. But at times they were not passionate enough to pursue complete victory or to obey God fully.
Therefore God said:
I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. I did this to test Israel—to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the LORD as their ancestors did.”Judges 2:21, 22
God determined to provide an ongoing test for Israel. They would continually be tempted to borrow moral standards and objects of worship from the ethnic groups who lived among them.Their loyal love would be tested: faced with choices, would Israel consistently choose the God of their fathers? Sadly as we read the biblical history of the next few centuries, the answer is a recurring "no". Israel found it often too easy to join in pagan practices and pagan worship, ignoring the God who had brought them out of Egypt into their "homeland."
Many people claim to believe in and to love God. The proof of our loyal love is found in the times of testing. God has many "fair weather" friends. The issue is: when the weather is "foul", do we still love and obey God? It is in the hard times that loyal love is proved. May each of us pass the tests God allows to come our way!
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