"This Is Only a Test!"

You are listening to the TV or radio. Suddenly a loud, high pitched sound comes at you. You stop what you are doing and pay attention. After what seems like an excessive amount of time, a voice comes on and says, “This is only a test! This is a test of the National Emergency Broadcast System. If it had been a real emergency, you would be instructed what frequencies to turn to in order to receive emergency information. This is only a test!”

This always makes you stop and think, even if only for a moment, of the possible emergency situations: an air attack?? A tornado or a hurricane?? But we quickly return to the real world.

In the St. Louis area, there is a test of the emergency sirens in neighborhoods on the first Monday of every month at 9 AM. No matter what we are doing when those sirens go off at 9 AM, they always take us by surprise, at least for a moment. We again think of the possible emergency situations until we realize what day of the month it is. We say to ourselves, “This is only a test!” Then we quickly return to what we were doing.

This is the way that God wants Christians to respond to ANY seemingly adverse situation we encounter in the world. All problem situations will create some measure of fear about how to handle them. This is a given fact that we cannot avoid. Living in this world with the problems around us, we cannot help but have an initial response of fear, at least for a moment.

As a wise man once said, “It is not what happens to us that matters - it is our RESPONSE to what happens to us that really matters!”

Everyone has problems! Everyone comes up against adverse situations. God does not create these situations specifically for you as a TEST. The world, yourself, and the devil cause these situations and circumstances to occur. 1. the natural laws of the world, 2. the people around us, 3. our own wrong choices and 4. the specific actions of Satan all cause your problems.

God does not get up in the morning and say, “That guy Lou down there really needs a problem to teach him a lesson. I’11 just zap him with a tornado. Or I‘11 send some virus bugs at him to make him sick. Or I could just deliberately create job situations that will frustrate him. HE REALLY NEEDS A TEST!”

No, God does not CAUSE our problems. There are plenty of ways around us in the world that our problems can come about. But, for a Christian, one who has chosen to be God’s child in His Family, one who has Jesus Christ living within them, God takes the world created problem situation and turns it for His purposes. He doesn’t zap us with it but, once the problem is in existence, GOD USES IT AS A TEST OF OUR RESPONSE.

We can try to use our own weak strength to fight against it, to struggle, to fret and to fume over it. Or we can respond God’s way - relax in the knowledge of who we are. We fall back from the illusion of danger into the awareness of the power of Christ within to solve the situation. What appears to be danger is only an illusion of danger. As a member of the Family of God eternally, there can be no real danger for a Christian.

My two favorite verses about apparent trouble are:
“We know that all things work together for GOOD to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
“God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted [tested] beyond what you are able; but will with the temptation, show you a way to escape, in order that you may be able to bear it” (I Corinthians 10:13).

Just as with the TV or radio tone and the siren, our bodies sense danger in the situation for a moment. We live in a material world with material dangers. But a Christian lives also with a more powerful Life - the nature of God. So any apparent material dangers are only illusions of danger. There is no danger for us in the spirit realm.

God takes the adverse situation which confronts us materially and uses it for good. He turns it into a test! A test of what? God uses it as a test of how we RESPOND. Do we act with an independent attitude toward the situation? Satan, the god of independence, would certainly have us act this way. But God wants to see us act His way - in trust and dependence on the guidance and power of Christ within.

After our initial natural fear of danger, we, as Christians, must get back to the “real world”, the realm of the spirit in which we have been reborn. Apparent physical danger? “This is only a test! God protects His children.” Apparent sickness? “This is only a test! By the stripes on Jesus’ back, we ARE healed.” Apparent material needs? “This is only a test! God has an infinite supply for our needs before we even ask.” This is how we are urged by the Holy Spirit to respond.

God knows, we do not always respond God’s way. As His children, we slip up, we miss the mark sometimes. But all children slip up and miss the mark sometimes! This is not the end of the world! We Christians, like human children, learn by how we get hurt. Christ does not leave our spirit when we miss the mark - when we SIN. The Holy Spirit Teacher does not leave our soul when we sin. The situation causes chastisement or correction. God directs His children back to the spirit realm where they belong.

Remember - God does not CAUSE adversity in our lives. But He USES adversity as a TEST of our response.

Don’t miss the mark!

Adversity is ONLY A TEST!

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