Testing Will Come

Testing Will Come
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In Romans 5:1‐11 the Apostle asks and answers the question, “Why does God treat His friends like they are His enemies?” He answers by noting that life is filled with tribulation, which God brings into our lives to purify our hope.

All tribulation and opposition in life come from God. There are only two people in the universe that can hurt you, God and you. You hurt yourself when you sin. Otherwise, all pain, hurt, opposition, persecution, etc. originates with God. This, the Bible calls testing. James 1:12‐15 teaches that the difference between a temptation and a test is the believer’s response to it. God tests, and when we fail the test by sinning, it is a temptation. God never tests for the purpose of making people sin. People sin because they refuse to respond correctly to God’s tests.

It seems that there are three fundamental areas in which God tests: 1) ‐ By asking you to do what you do not want to do, illustrated by God asking Jonah to preach to Nineveh. 2) ‐ By not letting you do what you want to do, illustrated by circumstances preventing you from completing your plans. 3) ‐ By taking from you something that you consider precious, illustrated by God taking away your health, your spouse, your child, etc.

God tests His people, but is adamant in His insistence that we not test Him. Hebrews 3:8‐12 reminds the reader that at Kadesh‐Barnea God tested Israel by asking them to fight the giants. Israel tested God by refusing to fight. God had Israel’s best interest in mind when He asked Israel to fight the giants; Israel had Israel’s best interest in mind when they refused to fight the giants; both God and Israel had Israel’s best interest in mind; Israel disagreed with God regarding what their best interest looked like. Because of Israel’s unbelief, the people wandered in the wilderness forty years.

In all of life God perpetually tests His people. Life is filled with opposition and pain. God does this to prepare us for an eternity with Him. God never asks the believer to accomplish anything; He only asks that we be faithful in obeying Him as we respond to the tests He brings into our lives.

As we grow older, we experience diminished capacities ‐ emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Our problem is that the testings of God are unrelenting. They never become easier. Thus, as Paul notes in Romans 5, they purify our hope by making the temporal less and less attractive, while causing us to long for heaven. In Philippians 1:21 Paul says that he would rather be dead than alive.

Life is hard. God designed life to be hard. For some life is harder than for others. The quality of our eternity is directly proportional to how we respond to the tests of God. Jesus said in Luke 12:48 that those of us greatly endowed with temporal blessings merely accrue greater accountability in the Day of Judgment.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, be encouraged. God is in complete control, and He is good. We need patience and perseverance until that day when He calls us home.

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