Trials to Entrustments

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." But he said to Him, "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!" And He said, "I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me."

Luke 22:31-34

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Proverbs 15:3 "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good."

Matthew 16:18

"For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His...."

2 Chronicles 16:9a

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?"

Luke 16:10-12

Life is a test. At times it can be a very hard test. If we do not go into situations with certain foundational truths, these tests can be very difficult and end up very unfruitful if not responded to correctly. I feel it is necessary to explain the importance of why we need to be tried. I believe it is all to see what we can ultimately be trusted with. Our foundational mentalities will determine whether we pass through the fires of trial and come out as refined gold; or whether we get midway through and run out the same way we came just charred and burned.

God has designed life in such a way. that, without resistance, I cannot grow. We see this principle in action on many different levels. Take weight lifting for instance, if I want to be "trusted" with lifting the big weights, I must pass a few resistance tests with smaller weights. Am I going to fail? Certainly! Will there be times that I do not feel like working out? Absolutely! But if I keep the end result in mind, it can give me some patient endurance. I believe we see the beginning of some serious resistance training with Peter in Luke 22 above. Have you ever wondered why in the world Jesus would give the enemy permission to test Peter? I believe there are a few reasons, but the one I would like to zero in on is what Jesus wanted to trust him with - His church. Remember when Jesus said "... thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." I believe in order for Peter to be the rock of the church in the future, he first had to be the doormat of trial.

Let's think about this in weight-lifters terms again (which I am not BTW lol, just a good analogy I think). If I have not trained you or prepared you to lift a considerable amount of weight, I cannot trust you to bench 300 lbs; if you were to try to bench 300 lbs, you would probably come out injured without prior training with 100...150...200 etc. So if I could "trust" you to bench 250 a few times, I can eventually "trust" you to bench 260...then 270...then eventually 300lbs. Jesus knew what Peter was in for (the other disciples were tested greatly as well, I am just focusing on Peter). So because Jesus knew what Peter was going to have to endure eventually, He wanted to allow resistance training to begin when the enemy requested permission to try him to begin training him for the "bigger" stuff.

We see this "entrustment" principle in Luke 16:10-12 above. I understand the context is specifically about money, but, just as the context about "greater love hath no man than this, that a man would die for his friends" was refering to Jesus' death for the ones whom He loves; it is still a general principle that there is no greater love than dying for someone, no matter what context it is used in. Hence the reason I will use Luke 16:10-12 as a general principle. If God can trust us with a little, He can eventually trust us with much! This is the foundational principle we need to get through tests better. Once we truly realize that it is God that promotes me and not man, it makes taking the blows a little bit easier.

There are some of us that would love to do great things for the kingdom of God, but can we say we are passing the "little" tests God is giving us in the now? What about the attitude test (ouch)? The pride test (ouch)? The patience test (ouch)? The road rage test? (I hit a nerve there didn't I? :P) Have you been unhappy with your boss? Your marriage? Your children? Maybe the fault lies not with them, but with us refusing to pass these tests. God longs to give you more and more entrustments, but if you do not prove faithful in the small matters, how can you be faithful when the big ones come?

I was told about a show once called "Boiling Points" and I proceeded to look up some clips online. For those of you that have not heard of this show, it is about a man who tries his best to get under peoples skin for 20 minutes or so. If they do not blow up at this man or walk away from the situation, they are given (I believe) a $100 dollar bill. Now you would be correct in guessing that most of these people fail this $100 dollar test. This man who is "testing" these people will try to poke, prod, and stare these people to defeat. The issue with the people who fail is the foundational mentality by which they have entering into this test. They have no mental anchor as to why this is necessary, therefore they end up tanking from a lack of understanding of the 'why?'. In this analogy I believe the man doing the poking and prodding is Satan, and the camera would represent the Father. The camera is sitting back and watching to capture proof that they indeed passed this test.


Now let's take a step back and think again about why people fail (we all do at times). We have established that they fail because of a lack of knowledge as to the 'why?'. So using the "boiling points" analogy would you venture to say that if I pulled these people aside and said, "Look, I am going to harass you non-stop for the next 20 minutes. If you are able to weather this storm, I will give you $100 dollars at the end." I do not think one person would probably fail, in fact, the things this man will do to them will now seem humorous and/or not a big deal in light of what they know is coming. Isn't that what we are told as followers of Christ? Galatians 6:9 "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

So then, where is our advantage? We have been told that even the smallest of things is a test and that if we pass these tests and do not grow weary, at the proper time we will reap a HARVEST!. Now I am certain Paul could have been talking about (and probably was) eternal rewards, but could we apply this to the patient endurance needed to arrive at places God would desire us to arrive at in the present?


I am claiming no perfection to this teaching whatsoever, but it has been on my mind a lot lately. The other day something happened that bummed my wife and I out - kind of frustrating. As I was beginning to allow myself to get upset this thought passed through my mind, "Chris, God is testing your attitude." I looked at my wife and I said wait, God is testing our attitudes, and this seemed to put a smile on my face; because now the object of my joy was focused on passing a test to show myself approved unto the Father rather than the mere thought of something bad is happening to me! That is why our foundational mentality is so important in weathering the common blows of life. Do I believe I am going through it unto an eventual entrustment or do I have no such anchor of a thought, and with that drift any which way my attitude will take me?


I think Peter does a great job summing this principle up in 1 Peter 4:12, "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." Sufferings of Christ, let's take a look at Hebrews 5:8, "Although he was a son (in reference to Jesus), He learned obedience from what He suffered". Why must we pass these tests? Because no servant is greater than his Master, again, context is persecution, but we know the enemy persecutes us trying to get us to fail the tests.


We should really encourage one another in the passing of tests. Call upon the name of the Lord daily. DO not try to tackle tests yourselves or you will surely fail. God has provided a way of escape (pass) from every temptation (tests) - 1 Corinthians 10:13. Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."


Will there be still moments you fail? Sure, we will all stumble along on our journey to "the complete man/woman"..."the mature man/woman". Passing the test may seem to be hard at first, but remember it will only get better through PRACTICE! Hebrews 5:14, "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."


One failure story real quick and a reason I am glad for the church in my life (in this case my wife). My wife and I have been reminding each other (in light of this teaching the past couple of weeks) that everything is a test. My wife and I were stuck in traffic the other day, and I started to get a little "mouthy" about the situation. I started complaining (as if it would actually help anything anyways) and was kind of grumbling. My wonderful wife looks at me and says "It's a test" with a smile on her face. I needed that reminder. You may say, "I think you are taking this testing thing too far with that story." If things like this are not the "little" tests, then what are? Do not underestimate God's sovereignty in positioning you to learn about His testing through something as simple as a traffic jam.

Remember, if He can trust you with little, HE CAN TRUST YOU WITH MUCH! So now when your boss asks you to do something you hate, you can put a smile on your face because you are doing it unto God and not unto men! (Colossians 3:23) When your spouse is snapping at you for no good reason, you can now be a facilitator of peace. When you get the news that medically, things may not be looking good for you; Take heart! God is testing in order to give you a greater inheritance!

Thanks brothers and sisters! Let's remind one another frequently of God's truth in this area! I hope this teaching was as much of a blessing to you as it has been to me!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff