There Will Be a Test!

 

1 Chronicles 5:20-25
And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all who were with them, for they cried out to God in the battle. He heeded their prayer, because they put their trust in Him. 21 Then they took away their livestock—fifty thousand of their camels, two hundred and fifty thousand of their sheep, and two thousand of their donkeys—also one hundred thousand of their men; 22 for many fell dead, because the war was God’s. And they dwelt in their place until the captivity.
The Family of Manasseh (East)

  23 So the children of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land. Their numbers increased from Bashan to Baal Hermon, that is, to Senir, or Mount Hermon. 24 These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were mighty men of valor, famous men, and heads of their fathers’ houses.
25 And they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

 It has been said that the problem with the school of hard knocks is that the tests are given first. That's a hard way to learn-test first, lesson later. Paul, speaking particularly of the Old Testament, said that these things were "written to teach us" (Rom. 15:4). If only we would learn first, we might do better passing the tests.

In 1 Chronicles 5 we can learn from people who passed and then failed. It looked like they knew what to do but then forgot. The people were of the tribes of Israel, Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh.

First they show us that trust in God can bring victory. "They were helped in fighting" by God "because they cried out to him . . . . He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him" (v. 20).

Then "they were unfaithful . . . and prostituted themselves" to other gods (v. 25). Just as trust in God can bring victory, so unfaithfulness can bring defeat. They paid a high price for their forgetfulness. God raised up an enemy who took them captive and carried them away into exile.

If you saw three people in front of you lose their money in a vending machine, would you put in your quarters? Hopefully not! Instead, you would learn from their example.

Learn from the examples of those who lived in Bible times. Trust can bring victory; unfaithfulness, defeat. Tests will come. All that remains is for you to show that you have learned-and pass the test.