Facing the Test

How do you feel about tests?

Most of us dread them.

To be honest, I didn’t get too worked up about tests in my elementary and high school years. I learn easily and love to study. I’m that student who started her final project the day the teacher handed out the syllabus. Yeah, I annoyed other students.

But, I was prepared for tests.

College tests were a bit more stressful until I got the hang of college-level work. Still, there are tests I have feared–until recently, that is. Tests from the Lord.

Whenever I read the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac, I get anxious that one day God will confront me with such an impossible test. Genesis 22 opens with these words “After these things God tested Abraham.” For most of my life, I found that the most ominous lead-in to any story ever told.

I worried about these tests from God. When would they occur? What material would they cover? What would be the impact on my life or others if I failed? I certainly don’t see myself capable of laying down my Isaac. What if I face that test?

Then, I read a book on Genesis called Be Obedient by Warren Wiersbe. I appreciate his perspective. He reminds me to remember who God is and trust that He isn’t frivolous or unkind in His testing. God doesn’t test us because He wants to see how we’ll do. He already knows. He generally tests us so we’ll see how we’ll do.

That made sense to me. No third grade teacher suddenly tests her students on calculus. She knows they don’t have a chance and she wants them to succeed. She tests them on material they can be reasonably expected to know. That’s how God is about tests. He is the Master Teacher, He knows exactly when and how to administer a test and He’s able to make us stand through it.

With God, we’re all on individualized learning plans so while Abraham faced a tough test of faith, God didn’t ask Lot to sacrifice a daughter. We can observe Lot and assume he wasn’t likely up to a test of faith of that magnitude.

In school, most teachers give pop quizzes to remind students they need to be studying as they go or to nudge the slackers back to work. I can see in my life times when God sent a pop quiz to wake me up from my nap in the poppies and return to walking the narrow road.

I suppose, in our natural minds, we could deduce that if we don’t want to face tests, we should remain immature in our faith. Boy, is that backward thinking. When I was working toward my black belt in karate, I had no desire to endure tests but neither did I want to remain a white belt all my life. I wanted to learn because I was eager to master the skills and be able to defend myself and others.

In fact, in karate, we had to qualify for tests. We had to prove we’d been working hard enough and practicing enough material that we could be allowed the privilege of being tested.

That’s because we saw the point of all that training. We expected to be students of martial arts for life but we also desired to be good students, always applying everything we learned and growing in mastery.

Do we desire to grow in mastery of our faith? Yes, Jesus freed us from our sins but He also freed us for a purpose, to know God, to enjoy Him, and to become like Him in every way.

The testing of our faith produces perseverance. Ask James. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4 ESV

With God, I have no need to fear. John wrote, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18 ESV

God’s got us and He won’t let us go. He sends just the right test at exactly the right time. The more we know Him and trust Him, the more at peace we will be as we endure the test.

The life of faith includes testing and discipline or training. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11. ESV

Abraham endured much testing but he also, by faith, enjoyed friendship with God. “and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’—and he was called a friend of God.” James 2:23 ESV

I can certainly trust God and if God is my friend, I trust Him even more. How about you? Have you ever feared the testing of your faith? How does it help to consider the One who administers tests?

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