Throughout Scripture we see that God tests the hearts and faith of His children. We are all familiar with tests from our time in school. Testing in school is done to see if you have mastered the subject matter that is being taught. But in the Bible when God tests us He wants to see if we will be obedient to His commandments thus demonstrating our love towards Him. God also wants to test our faith to see if it is growing in our love for Jesus as well as give us opportunities to bring glory to His name.
As I shared in several previous devotions the moment we get saved we start our training course for eternity. And since our ultimate purpose in life is to glorify God we should expect trials and testing to come our way since they are the main tools that God uses to strengthen our faith and thus bring Him glory through trusting and obeying Him.
We know that testing is part of God’s plan for us and even though He knows what’s in our hearts before He even tests us the question is do we know what’s in our hearts. Testing helps us see where we stand with God for, we read in (Deuteronomy 8:2): “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” We also see this in (1 Chronicles 29:17): “I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness…”
Not only does God test us so we can see where our heart’s affections lie but He tests us to see our reverence level for God, for He knows the more we reverence Him the more we will not want to sin. We see this stated clearly in (Exodus 20:20): “And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.’”
My friends in God’s training course for eternity, He has equipped us with everything we need to be successful. We have the whole armor of God, the Bible, prayer, and our communion with Jesus to help us navigate our journey on planet earth. God has a wonderful plan for each of us and He is using our tests and trials for eternal purposes. We need not analyze everything God does but instead just trust Him in everything. And that’s where faith comes in because faith isn’t faith until it is all we are holding onto.
We read a wonderful verse in (1 Peter 1:7): “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Our faith in Jesus is precious to God and the more we demonstrate it by staying faithful to God through testing the more we glorify His name!
Tests and trials are part of the package of being a Christian. While we are often not happy while being tested, if we prevail, by allowing God to carry us through these tests, we will see our trust and faith in God grow. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned as a Christian is to always have an eternal perspective. (Colossians 3:2): tells us: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” When we begin to have an eternal perspective, I believe, we will be able to deal with our earthly trials and testing so much better.
As we read (Romans 8:28) the Bible tells us: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God…” And all things include our tests. This one verse should help us immensely since we can trust that God has a divine good plan for every test He sends our way. If we accept the fact that God has a good reason for allowing us to go through a particular test we will have passed our first lesson in God’s training course for eternity.
As we travel on our deeper walk with the Lord rest assured that God will send many tests our way. If we view these tests as positive tools to help our faith grow and draw closer to God we will be able to experience much joy in life. In addition, we will be able to echo what the psalmist shared in (Psalm 119:71): “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” In other words, testing helps us learn God’s holy word better – and what a joy to know the deeper things of God!