Taking tests in school can be an agonizing experience. You’re sitting at your desk trying, with all your might, to answer the questions correctly while the instructor sits quietly. There are a limited number of questions you can ask the teacher and generally they respond using a monosyllable. The teacher has prepared you in advance for this test and you’re unsure whether your memory bank consumed all the needed information. This is how life is when God test us but He provides us with a cheat sheet – the bible. Every problem you go through in life can be easily understood and dealt with through the word of God. And as we go through these trials, God is quiet. He is earnestly watching how we’ll respond to the vicissitudes of life under pressure. For this is what displays the heart of a person.
The purpose of trials is for us to grow spiritually, to gain awareness on adjustments we must make, to reveal to the Lord what is truly in our hearts, and to draw us closer to God. If you are being tested right now, take a multidimensional look at yourself and ask these questions: Am I walking through this trial without complaining? Am I drawing closer to the Father? Am I learning more about myself and God during this time? If you answered ‘no’ to any of these, then you need to make some adjustments. When you don’t make the appropriate changes, you may find yourself in an overextended trial or you’ll keep going through the same trial over and over. What might have taken one year to learn can take many years if we’re not careful. We assume we’re waiting on God to deliver us but in actuality He’s waiting on us.
The children of Israel were a disobedient and stiff-neck group of people. Because of this, God led them through the wilderness for forty years before they were able to partake of the land of promise. God did this to humble and test them, to know what was in their hearts. Unfortunately, it took the Israelites forty years to get it right. Once they made the decision to believe God no matter the cost, God fulfilled His end of the bargain. Let’s not model after them in murmuring and complaining against the Lord. Let us walk through our trials gracefully and learn what God is teaching us during these dark times. Allow God to further develop you into the person He would have you to be.
Reference Scripture (NKJV):
Deuteronomy 8:2
And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart , whether you would keep His commandments or not.