The often quoted statement "Nice guys finish last" seems all too true to the fullback of a high school football team. After they lost a game to a team that seemed intent on breaking all the rules, he asked, "Why didn't God honor us by giving us the win?"

Moses could have asked a similar question. Although brought up in the home of Egypt's king, he had chosen to identify himself with his own people, the oppressed Israelites. When he saw an Egyptian mercilessly beating an Israelite, Moses killed the man. But instead of being rewarded by God, he fled from Egypt and spent 40 years as a sheepherder in Midian.

Eighty years after Moses left Egypt, he finally knew why God had allowed him to be humiliated. He understood why the Lord had permitted the Israelites to go through 40 more years of oppression and then 40 years of wilderness wandering. Just before the Jews crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Moses told them that God's goal was to humble them and strengthen them through the long years of testing (Dt. 8:2) so they would know God in a new way and rely fully on Him.

The Lord places a higher value on our long-term moral and spiritual development than on our short-term happiness. What have we learned in our days of testing?  — Herbert Vander Lugt