WHEN GOD CALLED ABRAHAM, he willingly set out for the promised land with his family. Yet God didn’t give him a child which was his greatest desire. He allowed him and his wife go through many years of childlessness and the reproach and embarrassment that go with it.
Listen, dearly beloved. It wasn’t because they sinned. It was because, as a divine rule, God tries the righteous.
Isaac kept himself pure even though he was a Billionaire’s son. He waited till the age of 40 before marrying. For such a man, you’d expect that as soon as he married, the cries of triplets would be heard in his home in the ninth month after marriage. But it wasn’t so for Isaac. Several other women who had been sleeping around as Spinsters easily conceived, gave birth and were already playing with their babies. Yet Rebecca who married as virgin was childless. She probably looked at them and wondered. Isaac had to begin intercessions that lasted 19 years before Rebecca could. Thank God she gave birth in the 20th year. What was the matter? Why the long and painful delay? Did they sin? Is God partial then? Never! Reason is simple. God tries the righteous!
While his twin brother was fornicating and even married two ungodly women at once, Jacob kept himself pure.
On the day he was to be given his wife, someone else was shrouded in multiple veils and brought to him in the night. In the morning he discovered it was Leah the lady he NEVER desired to marry! She was forced on him by the traditions on men. When he married his heartthrob, Rachel, alas, she was barren for very many years! Eventually, she gave birth to Joseph. But while delivering the second child, the worst happened: Rachel, Jacob’s sunshine, sweetheart, flame and his endlessly cherished wife died. To add salt to injury, Reuben the son of Leah committed incest with the maid of Rachel who could have been a replacement for her mistress and a consolation to Jacob. Where was God when all these befell His Servant, Jacob? What had he done to deserve pain after pain? Nothing. He was a righteous man and GOD TRIES THE RIGHTEOUS!
Dear married couple, I don’t know exactly where you are right now in your journey. But if you love God and are born again and are walking with HIM, then do not be astonished at the negative things that might be happening to you at the present moment. Stop thinking that they’re probably because of your sin or sins; because it’s most likely so!
When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, do you know that there was a shorter route to Canaan land through which He would have led them? But He didn’t because they needed to go through a way in which they’d experience the necessary spiritual exercises of testings and trials.
Since He brought great swarms of flies, an army of frogs and an innumerable multitudes of locusts to Egypt, He could have also miraculously brought millions of horses for the Israelites to ride on instead of trekking. He could made them a daily feast all the 40 years in the wilderness but didn’t. He, instead allowed them experience hardships for divine purposes.
Hear what Moses told them at the end of their 40 years’ journey:
“2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, TO HUMBLE THEE, AND TO PROVE THEE, TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THINE HEART, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
3 And HE HUMBLED THEE, AND SUFFERED THEE TO HUNGER, AND FED THEE WITH MANNA, WHICH THOU KNEWEST NOT, neither did thy fathers know; THAT HE MIGHT MAKE THEE KNOW THAT MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY BREAD ONLY, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LORD DOTH MAN LIVE.” (Deuteronomy 8: 2-3)
It wasn’t that God could not make their journey to the promised land a long holiday or daily picnic. He however wanted to achieve greater purposes that included:
(1) EMPTYING THEIR LIVES OF PRIDE.
(2) INSTILLING HUMILITY IN THEM.
(3) TO TEST THEM; THAT IS, TO REFINE THEM AS SILVER IS REFINED; BURNING OUT ALL IT’S IMPURITIES.
(4) TO MAKE THEM EXPERIENCE THE WORD OF GOD AS FOOD THAT NOURISHES THE BODY.
Similarly, the trials and inexplicable difficulties you and your spouse experience aren’t because God cares less about you or because He loves you less than others. Never! He allows those difficulties as a means of purifying your life, removing every dross in your life and equipping you with the virtues and the character He desires for you; while working on manifesting His blessings in your life at the right time, even the fullness of time.
Let’s consider Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. They were both holy and pure. Yet all their prayers for the fruit of the womb seemed in vain until they were fully aged and stricken in years(Luke 1:5-7). But God’s plan was for them to bring forth a mighty Prophet who would be the forerunner of Christ. But God didn’t disclose this secret to them.
Similarly, the seeming delay you experience are allowed by God to put you in accord with His plans.
Finally, when you and your spouse are going through tests and trials , never murmur, grumble or speak against God because it’s dangerous. See what happened to the children of Israel who murmured:
“4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.”(Numbers 21: 4-7)
Never murmur or speak against God. Never compare yourselves with other couples and say something like, “I don’t understand Christianity anymore. See ‘Mr and Mrs LMN’ who married only yesterday. They now have a limousine and children but we that have been toiling in the sun for God have nothing to show for it.” It can be painful to see “new arrivals” getting ahead. But you need to hear this: your experience isn’t new. God is fully aware of it and will recompense you like He did Sarah, Hannah, Rachael and others. God is never unrighteous to forget all the labour of love you have bestowed on His work. He will reward you at the right time and also satisfy all your longings!(Psalm 107:9)
In the meantime, be joyful and glad like Prophet Habakkuk who refused to let the harsh and painful experiences he’d gone through to sour him or define him. He instead chose to rejoice in the God of his salvation:
“17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.
” (Habakkuk 3: 17-19a)
🔥🔥🔥 FAITH DECREE:
🔥LET THE GRACE AND ENDURANCE TO STAND FAITHFUL TO THE END BE GRANTED ANY ONE READING THIS PIECE THAT’S GOING THROUGH DIVINE TRIALS NOW, IN JESUS’ MIGHTY NAME!⚡
🍷🍗 TAKE-HOME LESSON: LIKE ABRAHAM, GLORIFY GOD IN THE MIDST OF YOUR TRIALS.
LIKE HABAKKUK, REJOICE IN THE GOD OF YOUR SALVATION; KNOWING THAT YOUR TESTS AND TRIALS ARE FOR YOUR GOOD AND GLORY!
💕❤️ TONIGHT’S ONE FLESH ASSIGNMENT IN THE BEDROOM
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