Hebrews 4:14-5:4 Tested As We Are

Observation: The Book of Hebrews, as its name suggests, is written to Jewish Christians. It spends a good deal of time and effort explaining how Jesus fits into the existing religious practice of first-century Jews. In this passage, Jesus is explained as a high priest in the heavenly temple. Jesus is an ideal person to represent the people before God, because he has gone through the same trials, tribulations and tests that any other human being has. He's not some Olympian God, or an alien from another dimension. He's one of us.

Application: I get uncomfortable with the idea of "testing" language sometimes. The Lord's Prayer says "lead us not into temptation", or "save us from the time of trial", depending on the version you pray. Both of these ideas are easily misunderstood. God doesn't tempt us, if you define temptation as intentionally trying to derail someone from a path you know is good for them. God doesn't do that.

But does God "test" us? That one I'm not sure about. I definitely don't think that every awful thing that happens to us is directly caused by God. Evil is loose in the world, and sometimes tragedies happen to us that God absolutely would never wish on us. If we find ourselves broken and unable to cope due to a turn our life has taken, if we have a hard time seeing the "lesson" God is trying to "teach" us, that doesn't mean we've failed some test. In those situations, God weeps with us.

But as life goes on, and we see friends, neighbors, or family members in pain, that can indeed be a test: will we have compassion? Will we be the presence of the Lord in their lives, or will God have to send someone else? I don't see the "test" so much in how much pain we can endure, but rather how much compassion we can show for others.

In the midst of all that, we can turn to Jesus, who has been through every human trial. Even when we feel we are being tested, we're not being tested alone. Jesus is in the next desk over. His example and his guidance are always there for us. And luckily, this test is "open book". 

Prayer: God, save us from the time of trial. deliver us from evil. Help us avoid needless pain and suffering when we can, and when we can't, walk with us. And when we've been through to the other side, help us to see and have compassion for those who are walking a similar road.