In this episode, Rick Hughes tackles the tests and trials that challenge our faith and the journey through life’s pitfalls. He dissects the essence of God’s trustworthiness, illustrating how every obstacle we encounter provides an opportunity to grow stronger and deepen our relationship with the divine. With a focus on practical spirituality, Rick emphasizes the importance of divine solutions over human resolutions, encouraging listeners to take charge of their spiritual resilience by learning to deploy God-given problem-solving devices.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to The Flotline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. For the next few minutes, you have a cordial invitation to stick it out. Stay with me. Listen up. It’s going to be a few minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education. We do that without any type of manipulation. We’re not trying to play games. We’re not trying to hustle you. We’re not going to solicit any money from you. We just want to give you some facts. Facts that may help you in some way verify and identify the plan of God for your life. And if you’re able to do that, then obviously you have the opportunity to orient and adjust to the plan. No one can live your life for you. You are responsible for your own life, for your own decisions. You make your own course. And so it is my prayer that if you’re listening this morning, wherever you may be, from California to New York, if you’re listening, that you’ll listen, pay attention, learn, apply, and glorify God as a result of what you learn and apply in your life. We have been talking to you the last two weeks about the Fantastic Four. This is a message that I’m putting together about to present in Houston, Texas, in the local church. I always love to give these messages over the radio before we give them face-to-face in a local church. But the Fantastic Four, to me, comes out of Proverbs 2, verses 10 and 11. And reading from the standard King James Version, it says, When wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul, then discretion shall preserve you and understanding shall keep you. The fantastic four in that passage in the Hebrew parallel poetry here, parallelism, is wisdom and knowledge, discretion and understanding. And these four things are critical in the life of any person who hopes to succeed, who hopes to have any sort of future. Without wisdom and knowledge and discretion and understanding, you don’t have a chance. The word for wisdom is kokmah in the Hebrew. It’s a critical word for us to understand and learn. It’s the word Sophia in the Greek New Testament. And wisdom comes from a combination of two things. When you have the information that you learn, the gnosis, G-N-O-S-I-S, the gnosis knowledge, the information that you learn from God, and then you have the application or the sunesis, the understanding of that knowledge, those two things come together, flow together to produce wisdom. It’s like a river coming together, two rivers. Where I live, there is the Coosa River that flows into the Tallapoosa River. So the Coosa and the Tallapoosa form the Alabama River. Well, here we have a Greek word gnosis and sunesis. These two come together to give you wisdom. Wisdom is critical if you want to live the Christian life. Without wisdom, you will never be able to advance in the plan of God, and the only way to acquire wisdom is to learn it. It says it will become pleasant to your soul when wisdom becomes pleasant to your soul. You don’t inherit it. You have to learn it, and then wisdom is called divine insight. When you have divine insight, you’re in good shape. Ephesians 117, Paul prayed that God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Wisdom, Sophia. And it comes from two sources, to tell you the truth. It comes from God, the Holy Spirit. who uses the ministry of a well-qualified pastor teaching the Bible, the Word of God. And you’re not gonna get wisdom by taking the Bible and going out and sitting under the plum tree and reading it. You may think you’re gonna get wisdom and you’ll pick up some divine insight, but to understand the mechanics of the Christian life requires a man with a gift, who God endorses and uses to teach you his word. We are sheep, we need a shepherd. It’s always been that way. And when you get a person who doesn’t think they need a shepherd, then you get a person that’s liable to come up with their own understanding of a lot of things. And not necessarily correct, I might say, either. It is sometimes the epitome of arrogance to say, I don’t need anyone to teach me. I can just let the Holy Spirit teach me. Well, the Holy Spirit will teach you, but he is going to use someone who’s qualified with a gift, the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher, just like he uses people who have gifts in the local church. Somebody must have the gift of giving, or a local church can’t survive. Someone must have the gift of administration, or a local church can’t survive. And there must be someone with a gift of pastor-teacher. And that’s why we get critically when we talk about learning wisdom. It’s not some emotional decision you act upon. It’s wisdom from God through his word that gives you discretion and understanding. And we wound up our study last week. I want to recall some of that where we saw discretion will preserve you and understanding will keep you. And we saw some reasons that you should always keep your mouth shut. Do you remember me going over that? You probably got a little offended by some of that. I gave you points on when to keep your mouth shut. And I said that discretion can deliver you and we can apply that scripture to every goal we have in life. And we have to be alert, I said, to adopt new strategies and alter the course of our life when we see danger or pitfalls ahead. And so if we exercise caution in this way, then we practice discretion and prudence. So discretion and prudence means having good judgment or, really in some cases, knowing when to keep your mouth shut. And I said, it’s no revelation, you’ve heard it before, it’s better to keep your mouth shut and look like a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. And I gave a lot of points on when to keep your mouth shut. And we said you should keep your mouth shut when you’re angry, I gave you the verses. You should keep your mouth shut when you’re tempted to lie, I gave you the verses. You should keep your mouth shut when you’re tempted to straighten out an idiot, I gave you the verses. You should keep your mouth shut when you’re tempted to speak without having all the facts, I gave you the verses. You should keep your mouth shut when you’re tempted to pervert the truth, and I gave you the verses. And I said you really need to keep your mouth shut when you’re tempted to malign your neighbor, Proverbs 11, 9. And definitely keep your mouth shut if you have a quick temper, Proverbs 14, 17. And you’re to keep your mouth shut if you’re tempted to say harmful things about a person, Proverbs 15, 4. A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue breaks the spirit. And you should always keep your mouth shut, and we’re talking about having discretion here, when you’re tempted to be rude, Proverbs 16, 24. And be sure, be sure to keep your mouth shut if you’re tempted to gossip. Gossip is you discussing maybe what’s true. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Slander is you discussing a lie. And when you attribute a lie to a person, you’re slandering that person. You’re not allowed to gossip about anybody. The Proverbs 7 says, keep your nose out of other people’s business. Proverbs 16, 28, that was Romans 7. Keep your nose out of other people’s business. Proverbs 16, 28, a perverse man spreads strife and one who slanders separates intimate friends. And you can’t afford to do that. You must not ever gossip about anyone. You must not ever put your nose into someone else’s business because the Bible says with what measure you measure… it will be measured back to you again. Matthew 7, 1 through 7 is the key verses that I’m trying to tell you about here, about not sticking your nose in someone else’s business. And then Luke 11, 27, 28, a woman got a rude response from her Lord when she shouted out in the middle of his message when he was talking, And she came to the front like a political person might do and start shouting, trying to get attention. And she kept shouting, blessed is the womb that bore you and blessed are the breast at which you nursed. And the Lord Jesus Christ said, you are wrong, ma’am, you are wrong. Blessed are those who hear my father’s word and keep it. So, you know, you could see the crowd or everybody else saying, sit down, lady, you’re crazy. She was trying to make an issue out of motherhood. And the issue was not the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, which is mother Mary. The issue was Jesus Christ himself. She wanted to make the issue out of Mary. And you should definitely keep your mouth shut when you’re talking to a fool because you’re wasting your time. You’re not going to straighten them out. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool for he will despise your wisdom of words, Proverbs 23, 9. So how exactly do you get this discretion? Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, discretion. How do you get discretion? It is the shield for your soul. It’s the shield of faith and it must be acquired and you must learn how to deploy it. Just like any recruit goes into the military and is given a new weapon, he’s got to learn the mechanics of how to operate the weapon. You must understand the mechanics to using discretion. And the mechanics are found in chapter 2, Proverbs verse 1. If you will receive my words. If. It’s a big word. If. Proverbs. This means that it requires positive volition. No one can be taught anything that’s arrogant. Arrogance is unteachable, but humility is teachability. If you will receive my words, if you will listen, if you will pay attention, the writer says. That’s a big if, and it’s true in your life too. Positive volition, positive volition is necessary for continued instruction. Acquiring the information is only half the process. Applying the information is the other half. acquisition and application. If you can’t apply what you don’t know and you can’t know what you haven’t learned and you can’t learn if someone doesn’t teach it to you, the Bible tells you that faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Someone has to instruct you in that. So, if you will receive my words and if you will retain my commandments within you, Proverbs 2, verse 1. Where does the retention come from? It comes from repetition. What? Repetition, repetition, repetition. You know, someone says, I’ve heard that before. You said that before, preacher. Well, listen again. When someone goes into the military, do you think they hear about, face, forward, march, only one time? Only one time does the drill instructor say, tension. They hear it over and over and over and over again. So much repetition that they can do it in their sleep. And repetition in the Word of God is critical for you till it is ground into your soul so that you don’t have to stop and call someone and say, what should I do, preacher? So you know what to do from the teaching of the Word of God in your soul. Oh, I know you can say, my pastor taught about that on many occasions. Yes, retention is critical. And for that to take place, there must be repetition. And it doesn’t hurt to review your notes. Notes? What notes? Well, the notes you took last Sunday when you sat through the sermon and wrote down the highlights of the minister’s sermon. You didn’t take any notes? No. You just sat there like a bump on a log and stared at the preacher and your mind was off in left field somewhere. I suggest when you go to church, you take a Bible and you take a notebook and I suggest you take notes and then you go home and review the notes. Go back over what he said. You know, most people only get about half of what the preacher says, even with note taking. Most people that don’t take any note, they get about a third of what he says. And they forget it as soon as they get to the cafeteria. If you’re really interested in learning God’s word, take notes, review your notes, go back over your notes, incline your ear unto wisdom. If you will incline your ear unto wisdom. What does that mean? Well, Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing the ear, hearing and hearing by the word of God. Well, who did you hear? Did you go sit under a plum tree and you heard a voice? No, you went to church, you heard a pastor teach you God’s word. If you will incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. Application. The key here is to apply the mentality of the soul so that you can understand what’s being said. You can pay attention, you can take notes, and you can apply the information. Proverbs 2, 3. If you cry after knowledge. if you seek it as silver and look for it as you would a hidden treasure. Every day you go to church, you should be on a treasure hunt, hunting for the treasure of the Word of God. I’m going to give you a treasure right now from the Scripture, and I think you should pay attention to this. It’s critical you understand this. This is what the Bible is talking about. Here’s a treasure. 1 Corinthians 10.13 No testing has overtaken you which does not pertain to mankind. But God is trustworthy who absolutely will not permit you to be tested beyond what you are able to endure, but will together with the testing provide a way out. Testing. We all face testing. You may be going through testing right now. It could be physical. It could be financial. It could be a lot of different ways. The English word used is temptation. There is no temptation overtaking you. But God doesn’t tempt anybody. The Greek word is not temptation. It’s parasmos, the Greek word, and it means a trial or a test or a proving. Proving what? Well, when God puts you in a test, he’s looking to prove your fidelity. He’s looking to see your integrity and your virtue. So get a principle here. The greatest test ever faced in the history of the world was the undeserved suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross as he was judged for our sins, not his. That was not fair, but he endured it. In 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he, God, made him, Christ, who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God by means of him. The only way you can have fellowship with God is to have equal righteousness. And the only way you can have equal righteousness is to have the righteousness of Christ accredited to your account. Because the Bible says there are none that are righteous. No, not even once. All of our righteousnesses are like a filthy rag in God’s eyes. So the best you can manufacture is a nasty rag. But when you have the righteousness of Christ accredited, then you and God are on the same field. You can think alike. You can be in the family only through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And the only way you get that is when you believe in Christ, receive him as your Savior. His righteousness is given to you. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 19, talking about, again, the undeserved suffering of Christ. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. and has now given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their sins to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So he didn’t hold us responsible. He judged Christ in our place. There was judgment on that cross. That judgment was for the sin of the world. And thus he who knew no sin was made sin for us. The tests that we face are nothing compared to that. But we face momentum testing. Tests that we go through are tests that test our momentum. They provide us the opportunity to apply the word of God we’ve learned. Why do you think you learned it in church? Why do you think I encourage you to write notes? Why do you think I want you to review your notes? So that when the testing comes, you won’t flunk it. If you flunk it, what does that mean? You’re going to have to take it again. Wouldn’t you rather pass it than have to take it again? These tests that God allows us to come face-to-face with in 1 Corinthians 10-13 accelerate our growth spiritually. since we’re forced to look to God for the answers, for strength, for endurance. And I want you to remember, no one ever reaches any type of spiritual maturity without going through tests like this. Because all these tests that God allows us to face are designed for blessing, unless it’s some sort of divine discipline in your life. So if you’re going through a test right now, financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually, it’s for a reason. He’s not gonna over-test you. You may over-tax yourself and blame it all on God, but God’s not gonna over-test you. None of these tests that have overtaken you come face to face with you. Nothing like that has overtaken you which does not pertain to mankind. In other words, God has not singled you out like Satan did Job. Satan did not put a mark on you and deliberately try to ruin your life. I’ve heard this recently. Some cat said, you know, the devil know that I was a great person and he put a target on my back and he went after me. That’s bull. If he went after you, you must be some real big shot for God, for the devil to be after you. See, he’s not omnipresent. He can only be one place at one time. What got after my friend that I heard was his sin nature that he couldn’t control. The devil is probably not after you. You have three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Does he have a dossier on you? Yes. Does he know your weaknesses? Yes. Can you come under demon influence in the devil’s world? Yes, you can. But the biggest battle you face is the battle of your sin nature and the lure of the world. So God hadn’t singled you out like Satan did. He’s trustworthy, the Bible says. He’s trustworthy. And what does that mean? You can trust him. He knows what you need. He knows what you can endure. But the bigger question is, can God trust you? That’s the question. And that’s the whole reason for the test you’re enduring right now, to see if he can trust you. God is trustworthy. Who will not permit you, the Greek word, ook eao is the Greek word, the future active indicative of ook eao. Ook is a very strong negative. No, absolutely not. And eao means allow you. He will not allow you. He will not give up on you. He will not permit you with emphatic ook. He will not permit you to be tested more than you can stand. The Holy Spirit will step in. The Holy Spirit will stop it. Just like the Holy Spirit stepped into Paul’s life in Acts 16, 7, where the Holy Spirit stopped him from going to Asia or Bithynia. He stopped him because he knew there were things there that he wouldn’t be able to endure. So he took him in another direction. So the verse says God is trustworthy who absolutely will not permit you to be tested beyond what you can endure. Endure. Parazo, the Greek word. Endure. This means the outside pressure is greater than the inside pressure and it overwhelms you. That’s not going to happen. God knows your endurance level. He knows what’s in your soul. He knows what you can handle. And he’s not going to overwhelm you with a situation that you can’t handle. Paul found this in 2 Corinthians 12, when he kept asking for God to take away the thorn in his flesh, and God kept saying, no, I’m not, no, I’m not, no, I’m not. And the answer was, you have faith, use your faith. The faith rest drill was the way to pass that test. Some people never get tested. And the reason? Well, they don’t have any spiritual skills to pass them to start with. They never learned anything, so probably most of the suffering they’re under is self-induced misery. They probably, because they’ve never grown, they’ve never learned, they’re going to heaven. Yes, they have eternal life, yes. But they’re not good for much here. God can’t put them in the game. He can’t trust them. They don’t know anything. So they’re not going to be tested. So they haven’t learned anything. And some people are going to fail the test because they’ll go to human solutions. And listen carefully. Human solutions are no solutions whatsoever. Divine solutions are the only solutions. In Genesis 40, verses 14 and 15, in the story of Joseph, who was put in prison, he tried to use the influence of the chief cupbearer whom he befriended to get him out of the Egyptian prison. But the Bible says when the chief cupbearer came before the Pharaoh and was released, that he forgot Joseph and did not remember to mention him. If you’re depending on someone else to get you out of the jam, forget it. It’s not gonna happen. The only way you’re gonna get out of the jam is to wait on God’s grace provisions. but will provide the way out. That’s what the verse says. I’m going to read it again so you’re not lost in the translation. No testing has overtaken you which does not pertain to mankind, but God is trustworthy. He absolutely will not permit you to be tested beyond what you’re able to endure. but will together with the test provide a way out. The future active indicative of the Greek verb poio means he will bring forth or cause you to be brought forth. The way out. Each test has its own way out. Each test has its own meaning. And so the principle is we never question God. We just execute the plan. Now, that’s what those 10 problem-solving devices are for, for you to execute the plan. Do you know them? This whole radio show, The Flotline, F-L-O-T, is predicated on learning the 10 problem-solving devices, establishing a main line of resistance in your soul so that the outside source of adversity doesn’t become the inside source of stress. I tell you repeatedly that Christian life is the most unique life in the world. It’s the way to live with no anger, no bitterness, no fear, no worry, no guilt. It’s a fantastic life. How can you live like that? By having the mind of Christ, Philippians 2.5. Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. By doing what Paul said in Romans 12, 3, stop thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance beyond what you should think, but think in terms of humility as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from his word. Once you learn how to think, then you learn how to pass tests. Whether I should use the faithless drill or whether I should use grace orientation, whether I should use doctrinal orientation, whether I should use my personal sense of destiny. What is personal love for God, the greatest virtue I have? Is that going to help me pass a test? Absolutely. What about impersonal love for my neighbor? What if the test is your neighbor, the jerk you can’t stand that lives next door? Impersonal love is how you pass the test. Do you remember the study we’ve done on it? Do you even know what impersonal love is? That you have the capability to love someone based on who you are, not based on who they are? Are you unhappy? Are you facing the test of unhappiness? Or what about plus H, sharing the happiness of God? My joy, Jesus told the disciples, I give you. There’s how you pass that test. And occupation with Christ. You feel alone today like no one loves you, no one cares for you, no one wants anything to do with you. Occupation with Christ is how you pass the test. All these problem-solving devices are there for you to use if you take advantage of them. But if you don’t learn them and deploy them in your soul, you are not ever going to use them. So I sure hope you’re listening. I sure hope you’re paying attention. I spoke direct and I spoke tough. I hope you’re learning and I hope you will apply what you hear. And I pray you’ll come back next week. Same time, same place as always. And I’m your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you now for listening to The Flotline.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
