You are being tested!
By John David Hicks
There is a difference between being tested and being tempted. The bible calls them both trials. Temptation is a strong appeal to do something wrong or unwise. You want to do it or to have it, even though you know you shouldn’t. Temptation seduces you or has the quality to seduce.
But when you are tested it will bring out the quality of your character. Testing is an appeal to do or stand for what is right. If a situation or problem tests you, it will establish the strength of your character. Every hardship of life holds the possibility of being a temptation or a test.
In Judges the 3rd chapter God outlines this: “These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan… 4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.”
But they didn’t pass the test. “7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.”
Martin Luther said there are three things necessary to create a successful minister of God: prayer, meditation, and temptation. The strength and reality of your faith is revealed only as you experience difficulties in life. This is how you know for sure that God can be trusted.
It was the apostle Peter who said, “Thou all men forsake you, I won’t.” Peter’s faith had to mature by testing and failure. As you know, he denied Jesus three times. In the testing Peter discovered love and grace. He became the great apostle we read about.
God allows situations into your life to develop you and to give your faith opportunity to be established. Only in battle can you become a skilled warrior. So God will allow trials to come your way in your family, where you work or in the church that will build your faith and relationships with God and others.
If you fail the test; remember: “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more… (so that) grace might reign through righteousness” (Romans 5:20–21). Learn from Peter that you can experience afresh God’s love, grace and righteousness in all your trials.