Let’s close out our week or learning about God’s testing with a brief reminder that all this means War! Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand’s biography of WWII hero Louis Zamperini, is an unforgettable book about an unforgettable man. The author is a marvelous writer, but ironically she gets the title of the book catastrophically wrong. The book’s title should have been Broken—because Zamperini’s incredible life story reveals the incredible measures God Himself will take to break one man.

I don’t know about you, but if I’m honest, I don’t really like God’s tests. Especially the ones that involve pain and self-sacrifice. Why does everything have to be a test? Why does God’s way have to be the hard way? Do we really have to drink from this cup? Do I sound like Jesus in Gethsemane?

Sorry, folks, there is no quick fix here, no instant gratification, and no pill you can take to make it all go away. God tests His children for two extremely important reason: Brokenness and Dependence.

How serious is God about the testing process required for every believer? I offer as proof the most common divine examinations you and I will undergo—a list that’s by no means complete. See if any of these tests sound familiar.

Speaking spiritually, your Acting-Out Cycle is your personalized, miniaturized Wilderness experience, and your addiction is your Goliath awaiting decapitation. That’s right, it’s back to the Israelites stumbling around Sinai and Jesus in Gethsemane, because this is not about masturbation or sex or drugs or alcohol—the idol right in front of your face. Instead it’s about the unseen Promised Land of your destiny awaiting fulfillment.

You have been put on this planet for Purity, Maturity, and Destiny. But here’s what’s crazy: Your Acting-Out Cycle is a critical part of God’s testing process that helps you fulfill your destiny and take your specific Promised Land. That’s right. THIS IS ALL A TEST! Indeed, the first test is that you get that this is all a test.

There are many different kinds of “drugs” you can choose during your particular cycle, but generally speaking, there are only two kinds of addicts in this world: Medicators seek to numb or medicate old trauma, childhood abuse, the absence of a father/mother, the wounds caused by divorce or growing up in an addict home, and so on. For Compensators, on the other hand, the key is the outward stress and pressures of life that drives them to compensate by seeking a temporary relief from what they feel are overwhelming, inescapable demands.

There is another alternative to the endless cycle. You can actually move from Point A to Point B, Upward and Onward into the Kingdom of God. Eugene Petersen calls this The Long Obedience in the Same Direction. There are still ups and downs but you’re covering new ground - moving forward. You’re learning from past mistakes. Making progress. Building a sure foundation.

“Your next objective is to completely destroy your personal Acting-Out Cycle(s). Simply put, you cannot transition from Private Pervert to Captain Clean without first identifying your personal Acting-Out Cycle and then ruthlessly killing off your former negative, unhealthy behaviors, even as you replace them with positive, healthy behaviors. “