trials Archives • Knowing God and His Ways

Is God testing people?

On day one of a college class, teachers hand out a syllabus and explain point-by-point what students must do to learn and succeed. The syllabus lists reading assignments, papers, projects, and tests. Good students pay close attention to everything, and in particular they note how many tests and papers to expect. Students who do not prepare for testing will not perform as well as those who do.

Christians who deliberately use their faith to see God’s promises fulfilled in their lives also understand that testing is a normal part of how God works with believers. Our faith will be tested to see if it is genuine. It is on the syllabus. We should not be surprised by it.

The testing of your faith

James 1:2–4 says, “² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Verse 3 speaks of “the testing of your faith.”

Abraham’s life is a pattern for the faith life, and he experienced the testing of his faith. His faith had to endure 25 years of waiting for the Lord to fulfill his Word.

And even after he received his promised child Isaac, he had to pass another hard trial. Genesis 22:1 says, “After these things God tested Abraham.” God told him to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. Later God provided a ram to sacrifice in Isaac’s place, but Abraham did not know how this all would work out until his knife was raised. Only by faith could Abraham do that.

Being prepared

So God tests our faith (see also 1 Thessalonians 2:4). As we exercise our faith, and it takes longer than we hoped for the answer to come, and we wonder how long it will take for the answer, or how much pain we must endure—or whether God will ever answer—we need to remember that our faith is being tested. The period of waiting is not a surprise, nor are the circumstances that deny what we believe. If the symptoms of disease continue when we are believing for healing, it is a test of faith. If bills keep coming that we cannot pay even as we believe for full provision, it is a test of faith.

Perfect and complete

James 1:3–4 revealed one of God’s good reasons for this testing: “…the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

The purpose of testing faith is that in the end we be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” That is now and eternally valuable. And what brings about this precious result is a test that requires steadfastness in faith.

So testing is on the syllabus of faith. Do not be surprised by it. We should enter a faith situation with the awareness that it might resemble the process a medical student goes through to become a licensed physician. If God does not answer in the short term, prepare yourself for the test of whether you believe enough to endure for however long it takes. True faith is steadfast and patient.

The tested genuineness of your faith

First Peter 1:6–7 provides further motivation for those in a spiritual examination. “…now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The motivation is found at the end of the verse. Peter says that the result of faith that is tested and found genuine is “praise and glory and honor” when Jesus comes again. We might initially assume that the one receiving the praise and glory and honor is Jesus. Well, he certainly will receive that in great supply, but this verse is not speaking about his praise. It is talking about the praise and glory and honor that will come to those who have genuine faith.

The New Testament teaches this repeatedly. Jesus said, “If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:26). Romans 2:10 says there will be “glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.” Romans 2:29 speaks of those “whose praise is not from men but from God” (NKJV).

Although 1 Peter 1:6–7 is speaking specifically about the faith in Jesus that brings salvation, I expect that the same principle extends to the faith that believes any of God’s promises. God loves our faith. He rewards and praises faith, as he did with the centurion, who caused Jesus to marvel and proclaim, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”

Proven faith pleases God

And this pleasure of God in faith is one reason we choose to be people of faith in all that God says. God is honored by faith and dishonored by unbelief. We exercise our faith not merely because we want something from God, but also because we want something for God. We want him to be pleased by our faith. And we want him to be exalted through it, praised through it, given thanks for what it accomplishes through his mighty power.

For God has always gotten his glory through his daughters and sons who believed him. From Enoch to Noah, from Abraham to Sarah, from Job to Daniel, from David to Mary. When our faith is tested and we endure, no matter how long it takes or how much we suffer, God is pleased and in the end will get much glory. All because our faith is genuine, worthy of a God as great as ours, and to God worth infinitely more than gold.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

To pray for wisdom in a persistent trial is to pursue the ultimate cause of the problem.

At some point, many Christians go through a deep and long trial that no human effort solves, not even the effort of prayer. Naturally we wonder why. The story we explore today might be relevant for you. It shows you might need to pray differently. Instead of continuing to pray that the trial would end, you might need to pray for wisdom about the reason for the trial.

Persistent famine

The story is another from the life of King David.

2 Samuel 21:1 says: “Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, ‘[It is] because of Saul and [his] bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.’” (NKJV)

So David’s need, in fact the need of the entire nation of Israel, was food and water. They had been in a drought and famine for three years. That will get people’s attention. They had just enough supply each day to survive for years, but rainfall and food were minimal.

No doubt, David and the people had cried out to God for provision day after day, week after week, month after month, even year after year—for three years! That is over 1,000 days.

The reason famines came to the covenant people of Israel

Actually they understood the meaning of an extended famine. They had a clear theology for it: God gave rain when his people walked in covenant faithfulness, and God withheld rain when his people broke covenant with him by doing evil. It was as simple as that.

Centuries earlier, through Moses, God had told Israel:

“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.” (Leviticus 26:3–5)

On the other hand, if they did not listen to the Lord, he said:

“I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.” (Leviticus 26:19–20)

Pray for wisdom in a persistent trial

No doubt, David and many of the people had confessed sins already in general. But the rain had not resumed. So again, with his nation in the terrible grip of famine, “David inquired of the LORD.”

Rather than answering David’s prayer with rain, the Lord answered with wisdom. He told him specifically what sin had brought the famine and why it had persisted despite many prayers. David’s predecessor King Saul had broken a covenant that Joshua and the Israelites had made with a foreign people called the Gibeonites many generations before (see Joshua 9).

God watches over the covenants people make with one another, even ill-advised covenants, as this one had been (again see Joshua 9). He rewards covenant-keeping and punishes covenant-breaking.

So David, now knowing specifically what had caused the famine, gave the Gibeonites justice, “and after that God heeded the prayer for the land” (2 Samuel 21:14).

Persistent trials happen to holy people

However, applying this to our lives, it would be a serious mistake to conclude that every persistent trial we suffer results from some particular sin.

James 1:2–4 says, “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.” (ESV)

So trials come to all Christians, even the most holy of the saints. God allows trials to perfect us.

Therefore the only way to know if God is disciplining us for some particular sin (see Hebrews 12:5–11), for which we need to repent, that our own prayerful soul-searching has not recognized, is to inquire of the Lord, to pray for wisdom. And that is exactly what the very next verse tells us to do. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

Takeaway

When we go through a deep and long trial that prayer does not solve, we need to pray for wisdom from God about the reason for the trial. Until we address the reason for some trials, they might persist.

If we inquire of the Lord, and he does not reveal sin in our lives, then we should go on trusting and enduring as James 1:2–4 instructs and not keep suspecting that we must have some hidden sin that is the root of the problem. Such uncertainty is debilitating. It weakens us. It kills faith and leaves us feeling chronically guilty and condemned.

Once again we see how important it is that we develop the ability to pray for wisdom. We need it to be able to know God and his ways, to work through problems and challenges with him, and to see his promises fulfilled in our lives.