Hearing His Voice #351

You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.

Psalm 66:10

Psalm 66 is like a sandwich, and the substance between the slices isn’t very pleasant. It begins and ends with praise, recounting God’s great works in the past and trusting Him for answered prayer in the present. But in the meantime, He has allowed the people to be oppressed and taken captive. In other words, He has given them enormous contradictions to His goodness and His ultimate purpose for them.

Why would God do such a thing? Why would He save us and then allow disaster, promise us good things and then allow evil, promise to answer our prayers and then seem silent? What kind of God is this who puts contradictions right in front of our faces? He is a God who insists that we live by faith and not by sight, that we invest all of our affections and hopes in the unseen world and not the seen. Only when we do that are we ready for the manifestation of what was spoken.

This relational dynamic with God is like an obstacle course. It gives us every reason to question His goodness and faithfulness. But this is by design. Our capacity for faith grows only by stretching, and if God has called us to great things, He stretches our faith a lot. He wants us to believe despite the contradictions, to not be swayed by paradoxes. Those who trust His voice must learn to hear it above all other voices out there. And the only way to do that is to hear the other voices and still choose His.

When we can do that, we begin to hear God more often. He trusts us with His secrets and reveals His plans. He never removes the need for faith—we will always see and hear in part, not in full—but we see and hear more than before. Why? Because He has tested us, and we have passed.

Father, please help me understand Your ways and not mistrust You when circumstances seem to contradict You. You are always working out Your best purposes for me.