Path of purpose - Two way test

PUT TO THE TEST

Numbers 14:21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

PURPOSE OF THE TESTING

The ‘Ten times’ testing started at the Red Sea and ended two years later at Kadesh Barnea when the ten spies brought a negative report about entering the land. It was after that occasion that the forty years of going round in circles began for a whole generation. That generation never got to where they were going.

Deuteronomy 8:2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

TESTS TEACH US TO REST

At that time a generation had to die off for another generation to enter the land – a generation of faith. The trials are about that generation complaining about what they did not have instead of being thankful for what they did have.

The whole idea of the Old Testament was to demonstrate that we could not do what only God could do - even keep the commandments. They broke the first and second and third commandments before they even got them.

That is not to put us to shame but to promise us his good will of doing for us by His Spirit what we also could not do. The promised Land was to be a place of rest and blessing for God’s people.

Each one of us has us an internal generation of independence in our heart that has to die off, an attitude of complaining instead of thanksgiving, in order to enter our territory of rest and blessing.

Hebrews 3:8 don't turn a deaf ear as in ‘the bitter uprising’, that time of wilderness testing! Even though they watched me at work for forty years, your ancestors refused to let me do it my way; over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked, oh, so provoked. I said, "They'll never keep their minds on God; they refuse to walk down my road." Exasperated, I vowed, "They'll never get where they're going, never be able to sit down and rest

Hebrews 4:2 For good news has come to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they did not have faith to rest in it. But we who have believed enter that rest.

The journey is into the heart of rest. That is the territory - the land. The good news is we have entered the rest of faith. The only thing that keeps us out is the negative emotional activity of unbelief. The good news is that we get humbled so that we can realize we cannot live independently from God. 

The next piece of good news is that we get tested so that we can be reminded of our reactions and face reality and not our emotional delusions.

The third piece of good news is that we can know what is in our hearts and not just in our head. We can rest and hope in the miracle working power of a good and loving God. Not a bad journey.

All of this has been promised to us in the New Covenant. 

Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a soft heart. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My ways, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.