When we study the Bible, we sometimes see God testing believers – often in hard ways. We see Abraham, asked to sacrifice Isaac. We see Joseph, withstanding injustice. We see Job, losing his possessions and loved ones. We see Paul, suffering mightily for Jesus. We see Esther, risking her life to help God’s people. And many others too. And while they all had their faults, trial after trial, day in and day out, these believers kept trusting the Lord.
God knew they would continue to trust Him. So why test believers?
So We Can Demonstrate Faithfulness
God knows all things, He is omniscient. God is not under the rules of space and time. His character is perfect. His understanding is perfect. His foreknowledge is completely encompassing.
We are limited to our current moment in space and time. We have no knowledge of the future (not to mention our often imperfect memory of our own past!).
God alone is capable of creating us and orchestrating our lives. He has blessed us with the gift of the image of God, the chance to choose how to respond to God. As believers, we have accepted God’s amazing salvation in His Son, Jesus, and now we are here to walk in faithful obedience.
We were made with free-will and this world is where we demonstrate that. God, in His foreknowledge, has predestined our salvation and our Christian ministries and good works. However, we still have to live our lives and make our choices. We still need to be tested because until we actually experience it, we haven’t chosen anything. God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac knowing that Abraham would obey. Abraham still had the choice – and he chose to obey God. Yet how could he have chosen if he had never been born? How could he have chosen if God had never asked him? Or if God had not planned it and decreed it?
When God tests us, we are allowed to demonstrate our faithfulness to God. Abraham trusted God so entirely that he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, the child through whom God had promised to make Abraham’s descendants “as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore” (see Genesis 22:17).
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. – Hebrews 11:17-19
We need to trust what God tells us, even when it goes against all that this corrupt world and human wisdom says. And our trust and obedience will be faithfully reward by our Lord, in this life and also in eternity.
When we demonstrate our trust in God, when we act in faith, we show that we care more about what God wants than anything else. The world will mock us and oppose us, but we want to receive these words from our Lord:
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ – Matthew 25:21
We’re Only Tested at Our Spiritual Level
We’re not all at the same place in our spiritual walk. We all have hangups from our past and struggles in our present. God is working with us, molding us in love. And He knows exactly how to shape us.
In our example of Abraham, we see this man exercising strong faith in the Lord throughout his life. Abraham had grown spiritually to a point where God could test him in such a hard way and Abraham (as we see in Genesis) had sufficient faith to pass the test. God would not ask a new believer to pass a test like sacrificing Isaac – and God had a larger picture in mind, as the event foreshadows the promised coming of our Messiah, Jesus Christ.
When God tests us, He lovingly never gives us more than we can handle.
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
You have not suffered any testing beyond normal human [experience]. And God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your capacity, but, along with the test, He will grant you the way out, so that you can bear up under it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13*
*This translation is done by Dr. Robert Luginbill, a pastor and Bible teacher whose ministry can be found at Ichthys.com.
Although testing will get more difficult as we grow, that should not alarm us. God is completely faithful and acts only out of love, so whatever testing we are called to walk through will always benefit us – provided we are responding to God in trust as opposed to allowing negative human emotions to swamp our faith in the Lord.
God provides the “way out” and so He will graciously give us strength. And we are rewarded for walking well through the tests God has given us, so let us rejoice as we keep our eyes on Jesus and march on!
God Can Use Our Example
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” – Job 1:8
Job was a godly man, and the Lord had blessed him with large herds of livestock, many servants and ten children. The enemy accused Job (to God’s face) of only following God since the Lord had blessed him with so much.
And the Lord allowed Job to be tested.
One after another, servants came to Job and told him disastrous news – how his livestock had been stolen or burned with fire and all the servants tending them were killed. How, in the same house, his children had all died. Job was distraught – how could he be otherwise? Yet even after Job receives all this news, the Bible says:
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. – Job 1:22
Job still loved and worshipped God, despite all the ruin that had come upon him. Later, the enemy afflicts Job with painful physical boils all over. Although the enemy wants him to curse God (and Job’s own wife tells him to), Job remains strong in his faith in the Lord. He acknowledges that he will accept both good and trouble from God.
Job did not know why these things were happening to him. Yet his example proved to the enemy that trusting God, come what may, is still a choice we can make. While Satan chose to turn against God – and decisively so – God is demonstrating to the fallen angels that there are still creatures that WILL choose for God, even in the midst of pain and huge loss. And through this account written in the Bible, God is encouraging believers to trust Him when we go through trials and tests, knowing that God has it all in control. There were limits to what God allowed the enemy to do, and God only lets things come our way for our good (see Romans 8:28).
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:1-2
We have an audience. Our Lord, of course, and the angels. And our family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc. We can encourage our fellow believers as they watch us enduring testing. Unbelievers might ask questions and give us witnessing opportunities. So we should try to always live our Christian lives as well as we can (and God knows that we are human) in the sight of God and men.
Our Goal in Testing
Whenever we are tested, we can give a good witness to our faith in the Lord. We can stand strong in the belief that God loves us more than we can comprehend. That He is testing us to refine our faith – and continued faith in Jesus is our only hope of eternal life. We are (hopefully) walking with our Lord Jesus and striving for maturity, so when trials come, we can truly “count it all joy”.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:2-4
Our suffering and pain are not arbitrary nor purposeless. God does not delight in our pain nor is He disinterested or distant. Jesus loves us and will not let us walk through the trial alone and helpless.
We are assured that trials come to strengthen our faith in Jesus and help us to draw closer to the Lord. We have God’s presence and guidance throughout. We have God’s peace as we rest in Him. All the storms of this evil world cannot shake the promise of our salvation and eternity with God, and “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (see Hebrews 6:19 and 12:28).
When we are tested, we will know that this trial has come to us for a good purpose, and we will rejoice in that, even if our eyes have tears and our bodies are tired and there is nowhere to go and no way to solve our problems. Let us tighten our grip on the Lord’s Hand and keep our feet close to Him on the path, and we will see that our Lord is faithful in our hour of need.
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the Name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. – 1 Peter 4:12-14
19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. – 1 Peter 4:19