“Some time later, God tested Abraham” (Gen. 22:1)

If God is All-knowing, and He is, why does He test us? Why has He made every situation in life a test for us? Our thoughts, decisions, actions, reactions, and even our desires are all tests of how obedient we are and will be to God. But like everything else, there are different kinds and degrees of testing.

For instance, Job was tested to the highest point of human endurance in Satan’s hands (Job 1, 2). In all of them, God was displaying the quality of Job’s faith before heaven and earth. God proved that Job’s faith was not fickle, for, it did not depend on wealth or family well-being as Satan claimed. Neither was it conditional upon his physical well-being. It was simply a real life lesson on how His faithful servants should love and walk with Him in absolute trust, no matter how terrible their situation may be, and how personal they may get. It was purposeful, and Job knew it, as shown in his declaration, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job. 23:10).

The three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego also went through their fiery testing in the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 3:1-30). Their faith was tested by the fiery furnace, heated seven times, for refusing to bow to the golden image the king had erected in the plain of Dura. The result was the declaration of what I call, their attitude of faith, and trust in God’s sovereignty (vv. 16-18).

Daniel was not spared of this testing by the Most High. In chapter six of the book that bears His name, the prophet was called to defend his faith in the face of being thrown into the den of several hungry lions that were ready for the kill. In spite of that danger, Daniel stood firm and survived the test (Dan. 6:10).

In all three cases, God delivered His servants from death to show that He is faithful to those who are faithful to Him (2 Sam. 22:26). But there are examples of equally challenging tests in which many saints of sterling faith and character were not delivered as these ones were. They stood in their faith till death swept them away into God’s eternal presence. Hebrews chapter eleven has a sweeping account of some; and the demise of the apostles and many other saints of old stand as testimony to this.

In His sovereign will, God decides what to do with every test He brings in the way of His servants. The Tester always knows the result from the beginning, yet He sets them up purposefully to display His glory and to teach posterity His dealings with His children and how to walk with Him by faith.

In Abraham, the father of faith, God showed the quality of faith He requires in every justified soul in Christ (Gen. 22). God’s “Now I know” statement (v.12) was not a statement of discovery, but that of affirmation. His provision of a substitute (v.14) moved His trusting servant to a higher level of faith and knowledge of Him in a new way – as Jehovah Jireh (v.14). It was also foreshadowed the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus Christ, to save us.

So, the tests God brings our ways are not for His discovery of some truth He does not know. He is All-Knowing and so He knows them all. They are simply for our sake to discover, to learn, and to grow in the knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to become like Him, thus bringing glory to His holy name. The question then is not whether the testing will come or not, but how you will see it and face it when it comes.

May He give you the grace to stand and not fall, amen!