Encouragement

The Acid Test

by Maria Franco
11/11/16
Free to Share

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

"But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Job 23;10 

There are certain moments in life, moments of deep thinking where we have to be the deciding factor either for the better or worse.
We all go through difficult tests in life where our very vulnerability and practical sense is challenged. But even in the heat of the fire, we do not step back but pursue on knowing well enough that we are not alone but someone else is at our side during these traumatic moments.
Even if we have to give in to despair when there is no other way out, God keeps an alternate reward for us.

There was once a bus driver who was driving a bus full of tourists on his usual home route since his town was a famous tourist spot. As he neared towards a precarious valley, he realised to his horror that the breaks of the bus had failed. As he looked on ahead, he saw the hill plunging down into the valley which was all around and his bus was headed right on this path. As he looked on the other side, another horror awaited him. His only son was playing near a tree in this area and was shocked to find his son had ventured to this spot.
He was now in a dilemma. If he crashed the bus into the tree, it would come to a halt and save the passengers but he would lose his son. If he saved his son, he would be putting the lives of all the passengers at risk and so many more would be lost. In an instant he decided what had to be done.
The bus came to a grinding halt. The petrified passengers scrambled out of the bus towards the dying boy. They all demanded of the driver as to why he had not blown the horn to alert the child to move away. The driver looked at them through the heavy tears in his heart and eyes and replied that his son was both deaf and dumb. Unfortunately, his back was turned away from the proceeding bus and he had failed to see it approaching.
The driver sacrificed his only son to save the lives of others. It was indeed an acid test for him.

God did exactly the same. He sacrificed His only begotten Son to save the whole of mankind. He did it not with a grudge but lovingly. Jesus too accepted His cross willingly to save us all.
We read in the book of 2 Maccabees 7 on how a Mother sacrificed all her seven sons who were put through different horrors by King Antiochus since they refused to eat the forbidden meat as was against their custom. As the mother watched, the first son was thrown into a red hot huge pan after his tongue was cut and his hands and feet were chopped off. Before dying he bravely states that the Lord will have mercy on those who serve him.
The second brother was tortured in a similar manner. He too utters before dying that the King of the Universe would raise them from the dead and give them eternal life because they had obeyed his laws.
When the third brother was persecuted, he sticks out his hands and says that it was God who gave him the hands and his law meant more than these hands. God would give them back to him again.
When the fourth brother was tortured, he exclaims that he was glad to die, because he had the assurance that God would raise them from the dead. But there would be no resurrection for his oppressors.
The fifth brother looks the king squarely in his eyes and tells him that though he had used his power to kill them, he was still only a mortal. God had not abandoned them and would use his greatest power to torture the king and his descendants.
The sixth boy before dying tells the king not to think even for a moment that he would escape God's punishment for fighting against God.
The mother was the bravest because even after seeing all her sons die in one day, she still trusted in the Lord and kept encouraging her sons even in the face of death that though they were born from her womb, it was God who had put life and breath into them and he would give them back this life and breath again because they had obeyed his laws even in the face of death.
Antiochus then tries his best to persuade the youngest son that he would spare his life and give him riches putting him in a position of authority with the title of 'Friend of the king' if he ate the forbidden meat. He tries to get the mother to convince her son. After much persuasion she agrees to do so but fools the cruel tyrant by leaning over her son and exclaiming to him that she carried him in her womb for nine months and nursed him for three years taking care of all his needs in life until the present day. She urges him to consider how God created everything out of nothing and to willingly give up his life and prove worthy of his brothers so that The Lord will give him back to her along with them at the resurrection.
The young boy before dying warns Antiochus that he would fall under God's punishment and be punished. His brothers had suffered briefly but had now entered eternal life. After all the seven brothers were killed, the mother was also put to death.  
Truly a valiant story! The seven brothers and their mother went through the acid test bravely in order to enter victorously into heaven. They remained faithful to God and his laws until their last breath.

We read in Psalms 66:10;"As you put us to the test God; as silver is purified by fire, as you have tested us. You let us fall into a trap and placed heavy burdens on our backs.
You let our enemies trample over us; we went through fire and flood, but now you have brought us to a place of safety."
There are so many instances in the Bible on how the people passed through the acid test successfully because God was in front of their eyes always. Even those that lost out on earth, were raised in glory to the heights of heaven.

We come across numerous tests in life which we have to endure and decide on the outcome. All the Saints and Martyrs passed through some acid test in life to prove their love for God alone.
We see in the life of Job the extensive tests that he passed through. He raises his entreat to God in Job 7;17-18; "What is man that You magnify him, And that You are concerned about him, That You examine him every morning And try him every moment?
Yet in the end, God gave him back all that he had lost.

May God clear our vision to call on Him when in the midst of such tests and hold his hand firmly as we go through every painful step of it.
For at the end, when we are purified by these very same tests, trials or sufferings we will emerge a clear winner where God himself will hand over the trophy to us.
May we cover ourselves with His blessings as our mantle of protection as we sizzle past such acid tests to come out unscatched and shining brighter than before with the very glow of the Spirit that fortified us in the first place.

Maria Franco