Deuteronomy 13:1-3: “If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee saying: Let us go after other gods, which thou has not known, and let us serve them. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

 

I have been growing extremely frustrated laterly.  I have been reading and listening to testimonies of people who have visions, or angelic visitations and lately I heard one testimony where Jesus walked into someone’s room, sat down and had a friendly chat. Boy do I rise with jealousy over that one. “Why not me, Lord. Why do you sit down and chat with someone who hardly gives you the time of day, but me, I study your Word every day, I maintain a discipline of being in constant prayer.  Why in a couple weeks I will go into seclusion and spend a week in silence just communing with You but do You ever walk into my bed room for a chat, no, not at, nyet.”

 

Do I sound frustrated?  Well I told I was. Don’t get me wrong, oh, I love His presence and it is always there, just the time I need Him most I can feel His presence. Tomorrow I will have the opportunity to spend two hours alone with Jesus, no one to disturb me, phones off and I am looking forward to just feeling His embrace. I am already looking forward to it, I am like a, well, like a lover looking forward to that special alone time with his beloved.  Now you would think that deserves at least a short visit from Jesus, well let me tell you, it is too late for that.  I could not handle a short visit for Jesus, not after all I have been through.  If He does come to visit me tomorrow, have a little visit and walks out of the room, well they will just have to call the paramedics to strap me in gurney and give me shot of something because I would really be in a rage that he left me after a short visit.  No way is He walking out that room without me, He will either have to give me a heart attack or call for an early rapture because I know that once I see Him I will not want to let Him out of my sight.  I will become a basket case and so depressed that I will be of no earthly value to anyone.  Oops! I think I just answered my own question.  Jesus will not pay me a physical visit because He knows I could not handle His departure.

 

I tell you this, I will not harken to the voice of the prophet who say he went to heaven and got divine instructions from God or who saw Him riding a rainbow colored horse. I tell you this, when I meet Him he ain’t gonna be on no horse unless He lets me join Him in that saddle and he hugs me and holds me and does not let me go.

 

That is not to say these prophets who say they have trips to heaven and divine appearances are false prophets.  They may very well be true and they must be better people than I am because if I had such an experience and we are supposed to maintain our will every bit of my will is going to cry out: “You have to be out of your mind if you think I am returning to this earth with all the pain, heartbreak and misery, no way.”  Unless He gives me a time table like, “Ok, just seven years and then you can come home.”  I can handle anything for seven years knowing what awaits me.

 

Which brings me back to Deuteronomy 13. This passage commands us not to listen to these prophets and dreamers of dreams if they say to follow another god, even if they show signs and wonders.

 

I have a friend who admits that she may have been part of a cult, yet she saw the signs and wonder of her pastor, she felt the presence of God and knew it was real. She loved Jesus with all her heart. I do not question this for a moment. Yet, she is baffled how someone who could demonstrate signs and wonders be so off base as she has learned now. I cannot answer my friends question as to why her pastor could do signs and wonders and be so off the reservation. However, as I talk with this woman and she relates her experience in this church I sense there was a lot of questioning going on in her mind over some of the things her pastor told her. She even married a man in the church because her pastor would approve of it and said it was God’s will. The guy turned out to be abusive, a womanizer, a drug addict and alcoholic who made this poor woman’s life a hell on earth before she finally divorced him, something she had to do but feeling she was being sinful because her pastor taught her it was wrong.  Yet, her heart told it was the right thing to do.

 

I think there are multitudes of Christians in the same situation, they have a controlling pastor who dictates God’s will to them and because he seems to show the power of God they are afraid to disagree even though their hearts cry out that it is not right.  I think this is what Deuteronomy is talking about here.  There will be those who demonstrate the gifts of a prophet or is a dreamer of dreams but God is going to prove your love for him.

 

There it is wrapped up in that word  prove or test. Is God deliberately exposing you to a false prophet to test you or try you to see if you really love Him?  I don’t think that is what it is saying.  The word  prove is nasah which is in a Piel intensive form. The word itself means to test or prove but not in the modern sense. It is a merchant’s word that was used to closely examine a product to make sure that it was everything it was advertised to be. In a Piel form it means that the product is beyond question as to what it is supposed to be.  In other words this is not a test to see if your love God it is the unquestioning proof of the authenticity of your love for Him.

 

I have heard many Christians say that they just are not sure if they love God or not.  The proof is if you see someone demonstrate great signs and wonders and then tells you something that does not square up in your heart or Scripture. That very doubt, even after seeing the signs and wonders is the proof you really love God.  That is how I know my friend really loves God because in spite of the prophecies and signs and wonders of her pastor her heart could not accept a lot of her teaching.  In fact I use it to my advantage because if I get ready to write something or teach something that I am not confident in and I see her wrinkle her nose or brow and say: “I think you are reading too much into this passage.”  Odds are I am I listen to her for I know she is one who loves God with all her heart soul and mind and even I can leave the reservation so I must pay close attention to that one who has demonstrated her love for God.

 

 

Subscribe to our free Daily Hebrew Word Study for in-depth commentary using Biblical Hebrew!

* indicates required