Difficult Times Don't Mean God Is Not Blessing You

Deuteronomy 8:2-4, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.”

The Hebrews had been enslaved in Egypt for 430 years. Exodus 12:40, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.” But wait, the Bible says 400 years in Acts 7:6, “And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.” Did God make a mistake? Is the Bible untrue? Is this a blatant contradiction? Oh my, lions and tigers and bears, Oh my!!! Ah ha, don't drool you atheist scoundrel, I have an answer to put down your infidel skepticism! Carefully notice that Exodus 12:40 says the children of Israel “DWELT” in Egypt for 430 years; but in Acts 7:6 the Bible says suffered “EVIL” for 400 years! The Jews enjoyed 30 years of prosperity while Joseph was still alive, but when he died and went to Heaven, the Egyptians afflicted the Hebrews with evil for the next 400 years! 

Four hundred years came and went. In the Old Testament, we find the phrase: “IT CAME TO PASS” mentioned 387 times! We find the phrase: “IT SHALL COME TO PASS” mentioned 116 times in the Old Testament. My Christian friend—whatever problems, burdens, health woes, losses, worries and struggles you have in your life today—IT SHALL COME TO PASS!!! God can use all things to bring glory to Himself!!! The Lord could not heal a blind man in John 9:5, unless God had made a blind man! Did you know that God makes deaf, dumb and blind people? It is true! Exodus 4:11, “And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?” Humanity tends to look down on disabled people as if there is something WRONG with them, but God makes some people disabled, so that God can be GLORIFIED!!! 

From The Frypan Into The Fire

The children of Israel were so happy! It had been 400 long years of cruel bondage in slavery to the Egyptians. Finally, God had raised up a deliverer, Moses! They got to the Red Sea and were overcome with FEAR. Oh no, the Coronavirus is going to overtake us! What shall we do? OUR GREAT OMNIPOTENT GOD DELIVERED THEM!!! Here they went, across the Red Sea on dry ground, being rescued by a divine supernatural miracle of God. Can you imagine? The Hebrews were so happy, rejoicing over the new found liberty and freedom. But things didn't go as they planned. Life is what happens to you when you're making big plans!!! 

So we learn that just because things aren't going the way we want, doesn't mean God is not blessing us. Whether or not things are going well in your life is absolutely no indication if God is pleased with you or not. Even our beloved Savior suffered while here on earth. Isaiah 53:3-4, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” I sometimes wonder if the Lord Himself was the man who was beaten and left for dead, and a Good Samaritan came along and helped Him. A lot of people hated the Lord. The Bible says Jesus was tempted in all ways (Hebrews 4:15), so He must know what it feels like to be robbed, mugged and left for dead. I am not saying this is what happened, but I simply consider the possibility. Perhaps Jesus was the Good Samaritan Himself. We simply don't know. 

But I do know that—A FAITH MUST BE TESTED! God tests all His children, to see if we will keep His commandments in hard times of adversity. There are not some believers who get a free pass, and others have to struggle or suffer. God is not an absent parent (Hebrews 12:6-8). Granted, some believers are called into a ministry of suffering, as I believe I have been, suffering more than our share of hardships, burdens and afflictions in life; but that simply means God has chosen me to use in more mighty way, which requires that He humble and break me more. God is always good!!! 

God Wants You To Have Problems

Our text passage of Scripture says in Deuteronomy 8:2-4 that God caused them hardships! The Lord sent them from bondage in Egypt to bondage is the desert! There were scorpions and snakes, a lack of food and water, intense heat from the burning sun, and no more leaks (onions), cucumbers, melons, fish and goodies that they had previously enjoyed in Egypt. Numbers 11:5-6, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.” You could say they had leaped from the frying pan into the fire!

GOD DID THAT TO THEM! That's the lesson I want you to learn my friend...

Deuteronomy 8:2-4, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.”

God provided for them for the next 40 YEARS, but He never gave them a satisfied life, to teach them that man shall not live BY PHYSICAL FOOD ALONE, but by EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD! Boy I love that truth! God let's problems, difficulties and adversities happen in our life; to HUMBLE US; to teach us that we need more than eating at Taco Bell to survive, we also need the inspired Word of God!!! By the way, I always get 5 Taco's Supreme and one ground beef Taco Salad (and I eat it all)! That's like 15,000 calories...lol! There is a God! Listen friend, God didn't put us here to stuff our face and enjoy life (although He wants us to enjoy life), God put us here to OBEY HIM! Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

We Must Have An “EVERY WORD” Bible Today To Live

And may I say, God plainly emphasized that He tests us so that we will learn to live by “EVERY WORD” that comes from His mouth. Notice that it doesn't say by every “THOUGHT,” nor does it say by every “REVISION” of the Bible; but rather, it says by “EVERY WORD”! Oh dear friend, THAT'S INSPIRATION!!! When some horrible Bible professor or preacher says that the King James Bible is NOT inspired, he is denying that we have an “EVERY WORD” Bible today!!! Denying the verbal inspiration of the Word of God is wickedness! 

Ironically, Bob Jones University (BJU) today strongly denies the inspiration of the King James Bible. Instead, they claim that only the original Hebrew, Chaldean and Greek autographs of the Bible were inspired, which no longer exist. Yet, their very own founder, Bob Jones Sr. (1883-1968), who started BJU in 1927, proclaimed the inspiration of the King James Bible...

“We believe in the inspiration of the Bible.” —Dr. Bob Jones Sr., “Comments On Here And hereafter,” page 103; Bob Jones University Press Inc., 1942

Apostasy has overtaken BJU and they are doing major damage to the cause of Jesus Christ today, by shaking the faith of young people in the verbally inspired Word of God! I love the folks at Bob Jones University in the Lord, but God will deal with them for dishonoring the Savior with corrupt Bible revisions that attack His deity. If we are TO LIVE for God today, then we absolutely need an EVERY WORD Bible!!! I believe we have that inspired Holy Book in the King James Bible!!! 

“Remember, you don't know the Bible, until the Bible controls your life. You can memorize every verse in the Bible and not know the Bible, until the Bible controls you, and permeates your thinking. You can know a lot of things about God, but until you walk with God and live with God, and abide in the Lord, then you don't know THE LORD intimately like you should.” —Pastor Ralph “Yankee” Arnold, “They Loved The Praise Of Men More Than The Praise Of God”