Abundance

1 Samuel 1-2; Psalms 66; 2 Corinthians 7 

“For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.”

Psalm 66:10-12

God’s testing and refining work in our lives is for our transformation and the abundance of his presence within us. Hannah endured ridicule and mocking from the other wife of Elkanah. This withering criticism drove her to cry out to the Lord and offer her son Samuel to the Lord. This desperation of a barren woman has been experienced many times around the world. It’s the same cry coming from spiritually barren lives and Churches in decline. The refining work of God in the fire of testing is not an end in itself. It’s meant to develop faith, new levels of surrender and sacrifice, and a living hope within us. The word for abundance is the same word David used in Psalm 23:5 when he wrote that his ‘cup overflows’.

Are we aware of our emptiness and why that is? 

Pruning brings about greater capacity for fruit and God’s testing is for abundance.

” Lord God, I trust you with the testing in my life and know you desire abundant fruit, for your glory.”