God’s Words Test You as You Prove Them

My grandfather was born in 1912 in the little ranching community of Dundee, Texas. When he was a teenager, his mom died in 1929 and his dad died the next year. He was essentially left on his own. He had been raised in a home that loved the Lord and taught him the Word of God. His dad had often told him things like, “Bill, do what is right and the day will come when you will be glad that you did.” So, here he was as a teenager with no money, no dad or mom, and no real prospects. He had a real struggle to get to college. There was a time when he thought, “When I get to college, I’m just going to do what I want. I’m not going to worry about God’s opinion because my dad told me, ‘Do what’s right and you’ll be glad you did,’ and it hasn’t panned out.” God worked in his life and his wonderful story really influenced my family in this generation.

An even better story, the story of Joseph, is found in Genesis 40. Joseph was given a dream by God about a time when he would come to prominence and his brothers and family would recognize that. Being the youngest at the time, his brothers resented this. This sentiment was heightened by the fact that his dad unwisely played favorites with Joseph. So, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, purchased by an Egyptian, and because he did not yield to the temptation of his master’s wife, was lied about and thrown into prison. We think, “Do what is right and everything will turn out just right.” Well, what if it does not? What if in the short game things do not turn out right because you have done right?

In Joseph’s case, he was in prison precisely for doing the right thing. What do you do with that? While he was in prison, it got worse. He met two men who had been in the court of Pharoah and they both had dreams. God gave Joseph the interpretation of these dreams. One man regained favor and went back to the court of Pharoah. Joseph had said to him before he left the prison, “But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharoah, and bring me out of this house.” But verse 23 depressingly saying, “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.”

The butler may have forgotten Joseph, but God never did. There were times when Joseph would have felt that God had forgotten him, but God had not. A great commentary on this story is found in Psalm 105. It says about Joseph the slave, “Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron.” He went from slave to convict slave in a prison. Then it says, “Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.” Before God’s Word came to pass, it was a test of Joseph. In other words, God’s words test you as you prove them. Joseph did not have the Scriptures, but he had something that came from God and those words tested Joseph.

You have the Word of God. God’s words will test you and refine you as you prove them. The test comes in pushback. Think about Joseph’s responses to a couple of different attitudes he got to the word that God had given him.

It tailored his response to hostility. In Genesis 37 we are told that Joseph’s brothers envied him. They were not favorably inclined toward the dreams Joseph told them. Joseph didn’t make them up, but simply told what God had given to him. But there was hostility and that tested Joseph as he proved God’s words.

It tailored his response to skepticism. The Bible says that his brothers envied him, but his father observed these things. He said to Joseph, “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down…to thee?” There was skepticism from his dad and certainly from his brothers.

It tailored his response to indifference. After he gave the interpretation for the butler’s dream, the butler forgot him even though Joseph had asked him to remember him.

It tailored his response to people who said they would wait and see. His brothers said, “We shall see what will become of his dreams.” These are all responses that people had to Joseph and how was he going to respond to them. The governing principle for Joseph’s responses is found in Genesis 40:8 where Joseph says, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” The answer is yes. There was also patience. Others forgot, but God does not.

I don’t know what it may be in your life today, where you have thought, “I have taken God’s words to the bank and they don’t seem to be paying off.” God’s Word and His truth are eternal. We are here like little ants in time and space and can only see three inches ahead of us. Sometimes we despair because of what we can see, as if we can see everything. We cannot.

Unlike Joseph, you have God’s entire Word. Joseph was given revelation in fits and starts and bits and pieces, and he had to decide if he was going to trust God or rely upon what he saw which was hostility, skepticism, indifference, and the wait and see attitude. His attitude and ethic were that all interpretations belong to God. Patience is a form of faith. You notice that impatient and arrogant people are not people of faith. People of faith find patience because they realize that when others forget, God does not.

How about you? God’s words test you as you prove them. Let me encourage you to prove God true, to live your life in a way that God will reveal Himself not just in His Word, but in your life.