Day 7/20 – A Time of Testing

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
A Time of Testing
Day Two Hundred One

“And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her.” Genesis 39:10

Joseph was not perfect, but he could not have anticipated the response of his brothers when he visited them in the field wearing his colored coat. They threw him into a pit and sold him to a caravan passing by. His own family had sold him into slavery with no hope of deliverance. In Egypt he was sold to the household of Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh. When Potiphar was out on business, his wife daily coaxed Joseph to sin with her. And why not? God had forsaken him, allowing him to fall into this terrible situation. He was away from home and the moral restraint of his family. Why not take the woman and with her plot the death of her husband in hopes of taking his place?

Deep in the sinew of Joseph’s moral fiber he refused to yield. Sometime before his testing he must have purposed in his heart to follow the Lord irrespective of the circumstances. These kinds of decisions you must make before the hour of temptation. When you are in the midst of the test you probably won’t have the perspective or resolve to make the decision. You will almost always end up doing what you mentally accept as possible. Lot ended in Sodom because Sodom was in Lot. Where is your line across which you refuse to go? You do well to draw it before your time of testing.

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Psalm 26-28 Acts 22 (New King James Version)

Psalm 26-28
A Prayer for Divine Scrutiny and Redemption
A Psalm of David.
26
Vindicate me, O Lord,
For I have walked in my integrity.
I have also trusted in the Lord;
I shall not slip.
2
Examine me, O Lord, and [a]prove me;
Try my mind and my heart.
3
For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
And I have walked in Your truth.
4
I have not sat with idolatrous mortals,
Nor will I go in with hypocrites.
5
I have hated the assembly of evildoers,
And will not sit with the wicked.
6
I will wash my hands in innocence;
So I will go about Your altar, O Lord,
7
That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
And tell of all Your wondrous works.
8
Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house,
And the place [b]where Your glory dwells.
9
Do[c] not gather my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10
In whose hands is a sinister scheme,
And whose right hand is full of bribes.
11
But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be merciful to me.
12
My foot stands in an even place;
In the congregations I will bless the Lord.
An Exuberant Declaration of Faith
A Psalm of David.
27
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
2
When the wicked came against me
To eat[d] up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
3
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
4
One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the [e]beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
5
For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.
6
And now my head shall be [f]lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of [g]joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
7
Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8
When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
9
Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
10
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.
11
Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
12
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
13
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14
Wait[h] on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!
Rejoicing in Answered Prayer
A Psalm of David.
28
To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock:
Do not be silent to me,
Lest, if You are silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
2
Hear the voice of my supplications
When I cry to You,
When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
3
Do not [i]take me away with the wicked
And with the workers of iniquity,
Who speak peace to their neighbors,
But evil is in their hearts.
4
Give them according to their deeds,
And according to the wickedness of their endeavors;
Give them according to the work of their hands;
Render to them what they deserve.
5
Because they do not regard the works of the Lord,
Nor the operation of His hands,
He shall destroy them
And not build them up.
6
Blessed be the Lord,
Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!
7
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him.
8
The Lord is [j]their strength,
And He is the saving refuge of His [k]anointed.
9
Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.
Footnotes:
• Psalm 26:2 test me
• Psalm 26:8 Lit. of the tabernacle of Your glory
• Psalm 26:9 Do not take away
• Psalm 27:2 devour
• Psalm 27:4 delightfulness
• Psalm 27:6 Lifted up in honor
• Psalm 27:6 joyous shouts
• Psalm 27:14 Wait in faith
• Psalm 28:3 drag
• Psalm 28:8 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Syr., Vg. the strength of His people
• Psalm 28:8 Commissioned one, Heb. messiah

Acts 22
Paul’s Defense at Jerusalem
22 “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.” 2 And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent.
Then he said: 3 “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, 5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 “Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 8 So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
9 “And those who were with me indeed saw the light [a]and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. 10 So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’ 11 And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.
12 “Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, 13 came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him. 14 Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. 15 For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
17 “Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ 19 So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. 20 And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting [b]to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ 21 Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”
Paul’s Roman Citizenship
22 And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” 23 Then, as they cried out and [c]tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?”
26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.”
27 Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?”
He said, “Yes.”
28 The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.”
And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”
29 Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
The Sanhedrin Divided
30 The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them.
Footnotes:
• Acts 22:9 NU omits and were afraid
• Acts 22:20 NU omits to his death
• Acts 22:23 Lit. threw