Lookahead:  But what about when I watched the movie Salina yesterday that described the early years of the Wurmbrands’ torture for Christ? Or heard the words today from the movie trailer of a global Easter release about one extraordinary priest, “You probably shouldn’t pray for an easy life, but the strength to endure a difficult one….”? Was God the author and instrument of the suffering that tested these people’s faith?  Or if He didn’t initiate it, did He allow or use it?  The only thing I could say here is what I excerpted in the Easter memorial video that I posted on this website last week…Isaiah 53:4-6: Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. I.e., He was punished, so that we wouldn’t have to be.  

This week’s post was s’posed to address the end game result of joyfully embracing trials.  But…evidently, we were not through with trials discussion…😊 In running references for the Wednesday Ezekiel Bible Study that I attend, I came across a real gem in 2 Chronicles 31-32…the opposite bookend for 2 Kings 18-22.  2 Kings 18 implies that Hezekiah was the greatest king who had ever lived in Israel (“there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah and before” 2 Kings 18:5).  Both Bible books describe the myriad of Hezekiah’s accomplishments in glowing terms, but 2 Kings 18:7 prefaces everything with the caveat…And the LORD was with him; He was successful in whatever he undertook. 

Now here comes the clincher, “But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask (Hezekiah) about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God (left him, let him alone, let him loose) to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.” 2 Chron 32:31 (My parens)

So what’s up with “God left him?”  Various translations imply that Hezekiah was “open loop” when he bragged on all “his” wealth to the envoys.  Not only was he braggadocios, but when Isaiah informed Hezekiah of the consequences of that pride, Hezekiah seemed to have a totally selfish response:

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 2 Kings 20:16-18

“The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?” 2 Kings 20:19

After Hezekiah passed away (possibly from natural causes), the worst-ever king took the throne, and Israel’s (Judah’s) plummet into apostasy began in earnest.  The whole book of Ezekiel (and Jeremiah) spells out the consequences of Hezekiah’s pride—in excruciating detail, clearly reflecting what future gens had to endure. ☹

So the question is, seeing that God already knew the test results beforehand, was this trial for Hezekiah’s benefit…or for ours, millennia later.  The earlier 2 Kings 18 reference, two chapters back, might possibly imply that Hezekiah “got right with God” after he failed the open-loop test:  “And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook” or in another translation, “The LORD was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors.”  Maybe he turned his initial who-needs-God failure around by repenting and crying out to God for restored fellowship.  After all, and ironically, Hezekiah’s name is sometimes translated, “My strength is in God.” (If Hezekiah had only interceded for the future gens!!)

But if this situation was similar to Solomon’s Eleventh-Hour Nosedive, then the test results were for the benefit of future generations.  And in failing the test, Hezekiah showed us all what not to do.  At any rate, regardless of who the test results were for, they totally revealed Hezekiah’s heart condition at the time.  He had been pivotal in launching a major revival in Judah; not only did he destroy all the false idols, he pulled down the infamous, intractable high places—and he got people “back in the Word” and observant again.  I’m sure his religious fervor was genuine at the time, but had he degenerated to hypocritically going through the motions at some point? And in fact, his near brush with death, prior to the trial, probably represented a faith challenge.  My theory—as a result of failing the test, Hezekiah cleaned up his act. 😊 

Also and most important:  like Job—and Abraham for that matter WRT the ultimate Isaac test—Hezekiah never “dropped God.”

Therefore, it is my opinion that “James’ trials and tests” are meant to help us to define our spiritual level.  Will we hold fast to the LORD?  And sometimes this self-assessment may result in us tightening our grip on His hand again—if our assessment is that we did poorly on the test.  I guess that’s why James was able to say that trials and tests were cause for celebration.  

In the case of Philip (John 6:4-6 pop quiz at Loaves/Fishes MULT – please see last post), as well as those of the Old Testament pillars of virtue, they were all presented with an “am I going to trust God or trust in my own puny ability” situation.  The test was a set of benign circumstances which would bring them to that decision point—God allowing them to go open loop, God telling them to do something that made absolutely no sense, God asking them a probing question, God giving something like a Manna CONOPS and then immediately observing their performance, God instructing someone like Gideon to test others so that he could observe their performance, etc.  But what about Job?  If we define “test” by what happened to Job, it was basically a setup for a whole lotta hurtin’.  My opinion:  I do not believe that this scenario would apply today, where the believer is concerned, because Jesus defeated satan. (1 John 3:8)  And, all thanks to Jesus, we have the revelation about spiritual warfare and how to deal with the enemy.  We can send the devil etc. packing…in the Name of Jesus.   Job et al thought it was a punishment from God. 

But what about when I watched the movie Salina yesterday that described the early years of the Wurmbrands’ torture for Christ? Or heard the words today from the movie trailer of a global Easter release about one extraordinary priest, “You probably shouldn’t pray for an easy life, but the strength to endure a difficult one….”? Was God the author and instrument of the suffering that tested these people’s faith?  Or if He didn’t initiate it, did He allow or use it? 

The only thing I could say here is what I excerpted in the Easter memorial video that I posted on this website last week…Isaiah 53:4-6: Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

I.e., He was punished, so that we wouldn’t have to be.  And if I am going to pray anything about difficult situations in my life, I am going to pray with the understanding given in John 10:10:  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. However, if James is talking about “pop-quizzes” and tests that are of the Hezekiah variety, I can retroactively derive joy from that.  It shows me that God loves me and is the guiding force in my life…leading me to an endgame of…to be continued in next post 😊