READING 3 – The Test of Faith

By Jose Vicente Giner

A blatant satanic goal

The enemy has always sought ways to distort and mis- represent God’s character, to present Him as a Being who is revengeful, hard, and ruthless. The great adversary has tried to attribute to God all the misfortunes that afflict human beings, to make them appear as caused by the One who created this planet and all life on it. Thus, impressions and opinions have arisen that have led thousands and thousands of souls to believe that, if God really exists, He is cruel and ruthless for allowing suffering to exist and millions of people in the world to suffer from disease, catastrophe, war, pain, and death.

The Bible and the Spirit of prophecy confirms this. In the first case, we find the story of Job, a righteous, godly man, who was put to the test and suffered the most unspeakable affliction. It was not God who caused his misfortunes, but Satan, because he hated Job, who loved and served the true God. The devil hates everyone who loves God, and he will do everything possible to make man suffer and then blame the One who gave him life. Also, in the book of Genesis we find the story of the young Joseph, who was sold as a slave by his brothers. After this terrible mistreatment, worse things followed. He went from one suffering to another like a trunk floating in the sea and being battered again and again by the waves. King David is another Biblical ex- ample of one who was hit hard by the hammer of suffering. He prophesied the words of Jesus in Psalm 22:1: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” For the psalmist it was incomprehensible to understand why God did not intervene to end suffering.

Several centuries later, the descendant of David suffered and died on the cross of Calvary, a punishment that He did not deserve. He took the world’s sin upon Himself and by His stripes all are healed. Who put Him to death? The devil himself.

The Spirit of prophecy confirms what we have said: “Sa- tan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer…. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them….

“Satan and his emissaries represent God as even worse than themselves, in order to justify their own malignity and rebellion. The great seducer endeavors to shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our heavenly Father,… Thus he succeeds in luring souls away from their allegiance to God.” –The Great Controversy, pp. 589, 534.

God has redeemed His people in Christ

As we see, the enemy pursues a deadly objective and will not give up his efforts to make people believe either that God does not exist or, if He does exist, that He is very harsh and devoid of feelings of love for His children. But from His holy word we know that God has wonderful attributes of character; we have not seen Him, but we know Him by His character. The Bible presents Him as omnipotent, omni- scient, loving, unchanging in His love, kind, eternal, merciful, just, holy, good, and much more. These attributes speak loudly in favor of our beloved Creator’s benevolence and kindness.

God does not want the wicked to die, and this is especially true of His children (Ezekiel 33:11); He wants everyone to be saved–everyone–and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4). His love for man is so great that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save man from eternal damnation. (Galatians 4:4-7). He is always willing to forgive man’s sin through Jesus (Ephesians 4:32); He is his refuge in time of trouble (Nahum 1:7); He delivers him from every tribulation (Psalm 34:19); He is compassionate (Luke 6:36); He takes into account all of man’s needs and grants him His Spirit (Luke 11:13); He is the door of salvation, the way man must travel, the truth he must believe (John 14:6), and much more.

God’s educational process

Why does it sometimes seem as if our little boat is going to sink in the stormy sea of life? Why do we sometimes feel that our sufferings are so great that they will destroy us as a consuming fire? Why does God allow such things? Isaiah gave the answer: “I have refined you, but not as silver is re- fined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.” (Isaiah 48:10, New Living Translation). Notice that God has a clear objective. The devil wants to destroy us through trials, but the Lord takes advantage of such things to “refine us” or, as stated in other Biblical versions, to “purify us.” That is what the following testimony explains: “The trials of life are God’s workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character. Their hewing, squaring, and chiseling, their burnishing and polishing, is a painful process; it is hard to be pressed down to the grinding wheel. But the stone is brought forth prepared to fill its place in the heavenly temple. Upon no useless material does the Master bestow such careful, thorough work. Only His precious stones are polished after the similitude of a palace.” –Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 11.

Here is the key, dear reader. God allows difficulties to come upon us to educate us in the Christian life, so that we learn to trust Him, so that our faith is rooted in His promises, and so that He may bless us both now and forever. This is reflected in the apostle Paul’s words: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Ro- mans 8:28.

Strength for the test

Taking into account these explanations from the Bible and Spirit of prophecy, we can better understand the role that faith plays when trials assail us. What we are experiencing to- day are issues that are painful enough to shake anyone, but they are especially for those who trust in God. What are we to do? Stand on the platform of eternal truth and embrace God’s promises, whether we see the light or not.

“In this time of trial we need to be encouraged and comforted by one another. The temptations of Satan are greater now than ever before, for he knows that his time is short and that very soon every case will be decided, either for life or for death. It is no time now to sink down beneath discouragement and trial; we must bear up under all our afflictions and trust wholly in the Almighty God of Jacob. The Lord has shown me that His grace is sufficient for all our trials; and although they are greater than ever before, yet if we trust wholly in God, we can overcome every temptation and through His grace be victorious.

“If we overcome our trials and get victory over the temptations of Satan, then we endure the trial of our faith, which is more precious than gold, and are stronger and better pre- pared to meet the next. But if we sink down and give way to the temptations of Satan, we shall grow weaker and get no reward for the trial and shall not be so well prepared for the next. In this way we shall grow weaker and weaker, until we are led captive by Satan at his will. We must have on the whole armor of God and be ready at any moment for a conflict with the powers of darkness. When temptations and trials rush in upon us, let us go to God and agonize with Him in prayer. He will not turn us away empty, but will give us grace and strength to overcome, and to break the power of the enemy. Oh, that all could see these things in their true light and endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus! Then would Israel move forward, strong in God, and in the power of His might.” –Early Writings, p. 46.

“The very fact that we are called upon to endure trials proves that the Lord Jesus sees in us something very precious that He would have developed. If He saw nothing in us whereby we might glorify His name He would not spend time refining us. We do not take special pains to prune brambles. Christ does not cast valueless stones into His furnace.” –That I May Know Him, p. 277.

“God’s love for His children during the period of their severest trial is as strong and tender as in the days of their sunniest prosperity;…” –The Great Controversy, p. 621.

My dear brothers, sisters, and friends of the faith, what God’s word says that His people will have to face in the future is not pleasant, because before and after probation closes a series of events will occur that will shake the world. There are many who will not endure the final test but will apostatize from the faith. Only those who have prepared during good times, having a deep experience with the Lord, delving deeply into the Biblical message, and being rooted in God’s promises will be in a position to face the powers of evil. The grace of Christ will be necessary to overcome the trials of the Sunday law, persecution, and the death sentence that will be issued against the keepers of God’s law. Our heavenly Father will not do all these things to harm His children. No. The devil, knowing that his time is short, will lash out at God’s faithful children in the attempt to wipe them from the face of the earth. But the Lord will be with them and be their very present help in time of need.

Let us not doubt His love. Just as God was with His children in the past, He will also be with us in the midst of the storms that we have to face. The devil may attack us in every way, but we have the deep assurance that “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13. Let our highest aspiration be to grow in holiness and especially to cling to the Saviour when the storms threaten to sink us. May you be blessed greatly during this Week of Prayer is my desire and prayer.
Amen.