The Testing of Your Faith and Freedom: The Link
“How awful that day will be! No other will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
but he will be saved out of it. “‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them Jeremiah” 30: 7,8.
Jeremiah was God’s “weeping prophet” to His wayward and rebellious people in the 6th and 7th centuries before the birth of Christ.
These verses are talking about the literal day when God would deliver His people Israel from Babylonian captivity. To read the passage for context, click here.
But I think there’s a figurative meaning here as well. In this sense, I think it can describe bondage and slavery to sin. Words like “bondage” and “slavery” are sometimes used in the New Testament to describe sin.
According to the passage above, on what day will the Lord break the yoke, tear off their bonds and deliver them from slavery? “It will be a time of trouble for Jacob” (Jeremiah 30:7).
The Testing of Your Faith Can Deliver You
It’s in a time of trouble or trials that test our faith that we get set free from our yokes and bondages. The way we get delivered from our sin is by being tempted to do it.
As we resist the temptation, we gain strength or endurance. And this ultimately makes us mature in that area (see James 1:2-4). But temptation is a trial that tests our faith. In other words, it’s trouble.
And it’s what we do in that “time of trouble” that determines whether the yoke gets broken off or becomes an iron yoke rather than a wooden one (see Jeremiah 28: 12-14).
Here’s what happens when we are confronted with temptation but continue to resist it: The yoke, the bondage, the enslavement to sin gets broken. So “foreigners” can no longer enslave us.
Trouble is a Catalyst for Change
Trouble in the form of temptation is a catalyst for change. If we yield to it, our bondage will become worse. But if we resist it, we will eventually be delivered of it.
Actually, trouble in any form always changes us in one way or another, depending on how we respond. For the Christian, it is meant to be our friend. To be the means by which we eventually become mature. And are thereby qualified to have the abundant life Jesus promised.
Ironically, the secret to blessing, to abundance, to promise land living is trouble.
But trouble is also the path to moral decay, further bondage and misery if we continue to make the wrong choice. I don’t think it’s too much to say that how we respond to trouble really determines our destiny.
Yielding to it will bring destruction. But so will running from it, avoiding it, medicating it. We must face it head on and not succumb to it if we want to be blessed.
There is no easy way. The path of yielding and avoidance is actually even harder because it leads to further bondage, moral decay and misery.
You Have a Choice
We will first be given the “trouble” of temptation as an opportunity to deal with our yoke or sin. But if we harden our heart and refuse to deal with it, and instead rationalize, justify and excuse it, we will be given “trouble” that touches our circumstances.
This kind of trouble is also a temptation. That’s because we’ll be tempted to believe the God doesn’t love us or that He isn’t good. Or maybe even that He’s not even watching.
And if we yield to these lies, it’s the first step on the path to destruction.
Maturity is essentially walking in love. And “we love because He first loved us” 1 John 4:19. But if we allow our trouble to destroy our faith that He loves us, we won’t love Him either. Or other Christians in whom He dwells by His Spirit.
All trouble, whether in the form of temptation or circumstantial is a testing of our faith, of what we believe. You may be thinking, that’s nice to know that I need to overcome temptation in order to be set free. But how do I that?
My post Beauty For Ashes: A Divine Exchange might be helpful on this point. It’s my testimony of how the Lord set me free of bulimia. Or you may be interested in From Trials to Usefulness in The Bible.
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