Posted on 02/16/2022 10:17:20 PM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren. The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:2-3).
Here is a servant that is wise and very submissive. He does what the master wants, and as a result he gets a very exalted position. This was the case with Abraham and Eliezer. Eliezer was a good and obedient servant, and in some ways he was more looked to then even Isaac was. When it came time to pick out a bride for Isaac, it wasn’t Isaac that did it, but Eliezer was sent. “A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame,” now I realize that Isaac did not cause Abraham any shame. “. . . and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.”
“Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour” (Matthew 8:10-13).
On this occasion, Christ speaks to a Centurion that had a sick servant, and wanted Jesus to heal him. Jesus agreed to come, but then the soldier said it was not necessary, for he knew that Jesus only had to speak the word from wherever He was, and the servant would be healed. Jesus marveled and said that he had not seen so great faith in Israel. In actuality, the Gentile was to be servile to and serve the Jew, and yet, here we are getting in on the inheritance and we are going to rule over them in a way. That is because Israel brought shame on the Lord.
Joseph served faithfully as a servant and he became the second ruler over Egypt? Where was Pharaoh’s sons? Well, according to the biblical record, they are under Joseph.
“The fining pot is for silver,” we would say ‘refining,’ which is where the dross is taken out.
“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:7). God will try our faith in order to purify it.
“And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3). The Christian is tried the same way and to much the same purpose—to serve the living and true God. God puts us through trials.
We can go back and see how God tried the faith of Abraham. The Bible says that God tempted Abraham. Now I know that our King James Bible says in James 1 that God tempts no man. Let’s see what it says: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13). God tempts no man with evil. God will tempt us with good, with a purpose, to strengthen our faith. Biblical context will always correct unsound theology. Abraham would never have become the man that he ultimately became without God testing him, allow him to fail, and then test him again, until he got it right.
God will tempt us as a test to do right. In that sense God will tempt us. In this respect, God does tempt us to see if our faith is strong and be in the Lord. That is the trial of faith that is “much more precious than of gold.”
Gold and silver cannot buy good character in God, and gold and silver cannot buy faith in God, and they cannot buy the rewards that a person gets for faithful service to God. Another thing that gold and silver cannot buy, they cannot buy wisdom for making the right decisions in life—this is where God’s refining process of tests and trials make the man what God wants him to be.
Faith in God and trust in God in being tried and being purged of the weaker elements and the bad parts of our character make us to where we can get to the point where we can make good decisions and cleave to the right and avoid the wrong.
“. . . but the LORD trieth the hearts,” as we read in Jeremiah: “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:10). The reins on a horse are there for the rider to stop him or to guide Him.
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