The Testing Place

AW Tozer's Pursuit of God is available free as an online edition through Amazon. Even if you don't have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle cloud reader and access your books whether or not you have an internet connection. In short, it's awesome.

Tozer says a lot of prayer-provoking things but I've picked one favorite from the first two chapters. The book is so deep and leads me to prayer so that I can hardly read a chapter in one sitting. Finally, a book that's slowed me down!

He was talking about when Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, and the difference between having things and possessing them. Abraham was a pretty well off man, and after Isaac's birth, Isaac became for him a sort of idol. He possessed him; Isaac was the promise, and Abraham loved him. So much so, that God no longer held the same place in his heart as before. So God had to see what Abraham would do. And even though it didn't make sense to Abraham so sacrifice his seed, he was willing to do so. The Lord took His proper place.

This is what Tozer said on the matter:

"So we will be brought one by one to the testing place, and we may never know when we are there. At that testing place there will be no dozen possible choices for us; just one and an alternative, but our whole future will be conditioned by the choice we make"

There are a few things I liked about this.

First off, the guarantee. It says we will be tested. Not that we might be tested, that it's a possibility, but we will.

Secondly, one by one. We cannot go in groups, we cannot rely on friends and family to make the choice for us. We must examine our own hearts and make our decision.

Thirdly, the ambiguity. It seems strange to imagine a test that we're not aware we're taking, but in God's economy, I think it makes sense. Sometimes, you see, we don't recognize the things that have taken God's place in our hearts, so we won't even see exactly what the Lord is doing until after the fact.

Next, just one and an alternative. The choice is whether to follow Christ or to forsake Him. You may listen or you may drown Him out. I believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will know which is which. Somewhere deep inside us, in His Spirit, we will know what we're supposed to do.

And finally, our whole future. By making a choice to follow Jesus at one point in time, you are defining the relationship you want to have with Him. And every time you die to self after, you are saying you are still in love with Him; you affirm your commitment. And you will grow. You will learn more about the Lord this way, and it will change your life. Every time you ignore Him, it will also change your life - you will learn what it feels like not to know Him.

I hope to share more from this book soon. In the meantime, you could all read it yourselves...Beloit people maybe you should wait until after finals.