HOW & WHY GOD TESTS US

By John Stallings

Nobody likes tests. I can remember that from school. I used to routinely experience anxiety attacks during tests. But tests are necessary in life & they will come.

A young college boy was handed a test paper one day before he was to leave for Christmas vacation. Since he wasn’t in the mood to take the test he wrote across the top of the paper, “God only knows, Merry Christmas.” When he came back to school after his vacation, the teacher handed out the test papers. When the young man got his, he saw what he’d written across the top, “God only knows, Merry Christmas.” The teacher had written across the bottom of his test paper, “God gets one hundred, you get zero, happy New Year!

God tested Abraham. God tests us too. When God tests us it’s to examine, reprove & refine us. It’s important to remember that man didn’t test Abraham, God did. And He passed the test.

God tested Job. In Job.23:10 we read- But He knoweth the way that I take & when He hath tried me I shall come forth as pure gold.

James 1:2-5 says-- My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this; that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

The reason James says we can count it joy is because we get something valuable from this testing. We will be strengthened by the trial & will come out of it “perfect & entire, lacking nothing.”

1 Peter 1:6-7says--That the trial of your faith being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise & honor & glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

We receive all the wonderful attributes of faith. We are healed by faith, saved by faith & see great miracles wrought by faith—but our faith will also be tested.


I have done a lot of flying in my time. During one decade of my life I think I flew more than commercials pilots fly. I’ve also logged many miles in private aircraft. I have often looked at aircraft, especially ones that I was shortly going to board, and wondered how airworthy they really were.

You’ll have to pardon me for a moment but I’ve looked at planes & wondered, “Just how do I know that plane is really airworthy.” Maybe they pulled this hunk of aluminum out of the trash-Ben. Maybe they just shined this plane up & made it look good. Maybe they went inside & spiffed it up so that passengers would think it completely trustworthy. I never really had a reason to believe anyone would actually do such a thing but it wouldn’t be impossible for an old shell of a burned out plane to be brought up to look good enough to fly across the ocean.

I always came back to one conclusion; the only way the plane could prove itself to be airworthy was to taxi to the end of the run-way & take-off. If it could take off with all passengers aboard & fly, it had to be considered airworthy. -- “The proof’s in the pudding.”

The same principle works with our faith. It has to be tried under certain conditions to see it will actually “fly.” Will your faith fly?

God doesn’t test a group; God tests us individually so that we may grow.

I heard the story of a man who fell over cliff & was hanging by a small limb. He cried out for help & God answered-“I am God, do you believe in me?” The man said yes! God said “If you’ll turn lose I’ll save you. Just put your trust in me & I’ll not let you fall. Turn loose of the limb & fall into my waiting arms.” The man answered, “Is there anyone else up there?”

You & I will write some test chapters in our lives.

In Deuteronomy eight, Moses was 120 years old and addressing Israel. He had been through the burning bush experience. He’d seen God open the Red Sea & drown Pharaoh’s army. He’d seen God feed several million people in the desert for 40 years. Now as he talks to the people he says, Remember- remember- remember.”

Deuteronomy is a very important book. It means 2nd Law. The Law was given in Exodus, & repeated in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is quoted over 100 times in the N.T. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy to the Devil in the wilderness; He said;

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Moses is reminding the people that God was testing them all those years in the wilderness.

He reminded them that---GOD USED TIME TO TEST THEM. In verse 2 Moses says that God kept Israel in the desert for forty years. They were in God’s TIME TEST.

Psalm 90:12 says---So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

Habakkuk says--1:2---Oh Lord how long will I cry & thou will not hear me?

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says…..he hath made everything beautiful in His time….

I’ve always had trouble getting God on my time schedule. God doesn’t mark time like we do. I can remember the years I spent as an evangelist. Many times I’d be away from home & my family for weeks, sometimes months. Believe me time would often drag by so slowly that I’d be tempted to go to the airport, get on a plane & go home. Of course that would have been the end of my traveling ministry.

If you’re in a situation where it seems that God has gone to Key West & forgotten your address, it’s very likely He’s testing you with TIME. Another way to say it would be you’re being tested with delay. In all probability, it’s not the Devil stopping your prayers, its God testing your faith. Be encouraged. When God sees that you can stand a little stretching when it seems like the answer will never come; when He sees you won’t give up though it seems He’s forgotten you, He’ll send your answer & you’ll have grown through the waiting experience. Don’t give up. You’re in one of God’s famous “TIME TESTS.”

You will no doubt remember when Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick. His family sent for Jesus & He waited two days. It seemed to His disciples that He was intentionally dragging His feet. He was! When Jesus finally got to Bethany Lazarus had already been dead four days. Jesus told them not to be upset because Lazarus wasn’t dead he was just sleeping. What they didn’t understand was that to Jesus, sleeping & death were about the same; no problem to Him.

GOD USES ADVERSITY TO TEST US.—v 3

Moses told the people, God humbled you & caused you to hunger. That doesn’t sound very nice does it? But God did it. God tested Israel--- “To know what’s in thy heart.”

Everything that happens to us certainly isn’t a test from God but He will use even those things He didn’t send to develop us. It’s good to remember that anything that hits a child of God must pass through a divine sifter so that when the blow comes, it can only ultimately help us.

I once ordered a cup of hot tea in a restaurant. I expected it to be black tea but something seemed to be wrong with it. I kept moving the bag in the hot water but the water didn’t seem to be turning the dark brown I was expecting. Finally I asked the waitress what was wrong with the tea bag. She said, “Oh I forgot, we’re out of regular black tea & I gave you a nice herbal tea. I said, “well, I wondered why I was about to fall asleep.” Like a tea bag, we have to be put in hot water to reveal what we really are.

Someone has said that even our enemies are of help to us because they tend to keep us sharp.

H.G Spafford had his faith tested long ago when his four beautiful daughters were on board a ship that went down en-route from America to England. His wife who was also aboard was spared a watery grave & telegraphed him the words “saved alone.” A few days later he boarded a ship to England & asked the ship’s Captain to please let him know when they passed over the spot where his four daughters were lost. As the ship he was on glided over the place where his beloved daughters were lost at sea, he stood on the ship’s deck & wrote the famous hymn-“It is well with my soul.” That’s the kind of test of adversity God’s children are sometimes called to endure.

GOD ALSO TESTS WITH PROSPERITY—v.4

Moses reminds the people that God was good to them in the wilderness so that their clothes didn’t wear out. He even reminds them that, of all things, their feet didn’t even swell. Wasn’t that a blessing?

Prosperity has ruined more men than adversity ever has. For one man who is ruined by adversity, 100 have been ruined by prosperity. In verses 10-18 Moses warns the people--“Beware—don’t let wealth & prosperity ruin you.”
GOD GAVE AMERICA WEALTH –LOOK WHAT WE’VE DONE WITH IT.—People need to beware of the deceitfulness of riches. 1Timothy 6:6 says;

But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world & it’s certain we’ll carry nothing out. And having food & raiment therefore let us be content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation & a snare & into many foolish hurtful lusts which drowns men in destruction & perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, & pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Judas was tested with money and he helped himself. We can also be tested with favor, position & praise. Proverbs 27:21 says;

As the fining pot for silver & the furnace for gold, so is man to his praise.



WHY GOD TESTS US.

Moses told the people, “God humbled you to prove you, to know what was in thine heart.” God humbles us so that we can grow in grace.

Psalm 129:23 says-- “search me O God & know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.”

Jeremiah 17:9 says—the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?

God wants us to be humble because humility is the character of Christ. Spirituality isn’t a synonym for superficiality.

In verse 3 Moses said God tested them to teach them His WORD. So that they might remember that not only physical food was necessary but “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” The key word there is “every.”

Some people don’t like every word they like “their favorite word/favorite messages.” In Acts 20 Paul said I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God. Some people get upset at certain sermons.

John. 17:17 says--Sanctify them through truth, thy word is truth.

Psalm 119:89 says—Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven.

Some people are Selective listeners. A woman told her husband the car wouldn’t start because something was wrong with the carburetor. He said, you don’t know anything about cars.” She said I know the carburetor’s flooded.” He asked, “How do you know that?” She said because the cars in the swimming pool.” It pays to listen.

God also tests us to discipline us as His children. “Consider in thine heart.” Moses is saying-“listen carefully” God is a parent. Sometimes parents have to “apply the board of education to the seat of knowledge.” Discipline keeps us saved. God isn’t just a “feel good God.”

Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are his masterpiece” That means-- His art.

The ancients had a very interesting way of purifying gold. They would heat the gold & as it was heated the impurities would rise to the top & they’d skim them away. The way they would know that the gold was finally as pure as it could be was when the refiner could look into the gold & see his reflection.

My friend do not run from the test, welcome it. God is doing it all so that He might see the image of Himself in us.

What He lost in Eden.

John