Judg 2:22 | KingComments | STEP | God does not leave the nations in the land only to discipline His people. The wonderful thing is that God also uses these peoples to test His people. God can have several goals in mind in a particular act. One of the reasons for not completely eradicating the enemies is to check with His people whether they will follow the way of the LORD or not. It is not difficult to be permanently in the Lord’s way if everyone around us is also in the Lord’s way. Then there is no danger that anyone will lead us astray. The situation becomes different when we live among people who do not take God into account. To keep our course straight before God requires a lot more effort. We have to go against the tide. Just then we can show that we seriously want to live according to God’s Word and to His honor. The same goes for our lives among people who say they are Christians, but fill in their being a Christian in their own way. How they justify their lifestyle can sometimes sound very plausible. Taking over their way of thinking will mean that the enemy has hit the target. It can be a trial of our faith if we discover what the Bible says about it. If we come to the conclusion that God’s Word says something other than they do and we obey the Bible, we have defeated the enemy. This is to God’s glory. In local churches there are also situations where faith is put to the test and those who want to live according to God’s Word become evident. We have an example in the church in Corinth. The believers do come together in one building, but do not form a real unity; there is division among them. There are many causes for division. Such situations sometimes are allowed by God to see who is faithful to Him and His Word. Those who are approved become evident in this way ( ). Paul writes to Timothy about such a situation. He compares professing Christianity to a large house with all kinds of vessels. The vessels are of different materials and there is a distinction between vessels to honor and vessels to dishonor. Everything is mixed up. God uses the mixing of the honorable vessels with the vessels to dishonor to reveal the former ( ). The vessels to honor are the faithful believers who separate themselves from evil and go the way God indicates in His Word.

‏ Judges 2:22

Tested

God does not leave the nations in the land only to discipline His people. The wonderful thing is that God also uses these peoples to test His people. God can have several goals in mind in a particular act. One of the reasons for not completely eradicating the enemies is to check with His people whether they will follow the way of the LORD or not.

It is not difficult to be permanently in the Lord’s way if everyone around us is also in the Lord’s way. Then there is no danger that anyone will lead us astray. The situation becomes different when we live among people who do not take God into account. To keep our course straight before God requires a lot more effort. We have to go against the tide. Just then we can show that we seriously want to live according to God’s Word and to His honor.

The same goes for our lives among people who say they are Christians, but fill in their being a Christian in their own way. How they justify their lifestyle can sometimes sound very plausible. Taking over their way of thinking will mean that the enemy has hit the target. It can be a trial of our faith if we discover what the Bible says about it. If we come to the conclusion that God’s Word says something other than they do and we obey the Bible, we have defeated the enemy. This is to God’s glory.

In local churches there are also situations where faith is put to the test and those who want to live according to God’s Word become evident. We have an example in the church in Corinth. The believers do come together in one building, but do not form a real unity; there is division among them. There are many causes for division. Such situations sometimes are allowed by God to see who is faithful to Him and His Word. Those who are approved become evident in this way (1Cor 11:17-19).

Paul writes to Timothy about such a situation. He compares professing Christianity to a large house with all kinds of vessels. The vessels are of different materials and there is a distinction between vessels to honor and vessels to dishonor. Everything is mixed up. God uses the mixing of the honorable vessels with the vessels to dishonor to reveal the former (2Tim 2:21). The vessels to honor are the faithful believers who separate themselves from evil and go the way God indicates in His Word.