Tested by God?

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:1–2) 

Abraham is not the only one who was tested. Job was tested. The Children of Israel were tested in the wilderness. Jesus was tested also. God is the one who tested them all. Why does God put us through such rigorous times and how does testing differ from tempting?  James says:

"Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one." (James 1:13)

Being tested is not the same as being tempted though the two often show up at the same events in our lives. The tests we endure give rise to sinful opportunities. But the two are very different because the two have very different targets. Testing is aimed at holiness and strengthening our resolve to obey the Lord through faith while temptation is aimed at doing the exact opposite. Testing draws out our impurities and reveals whats in our hearts. 

Job said: "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold." (Job 23:10) 

Moses also said: "And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not." (Deuteronomy 8:2)

God knows our hearts so this should not be taken as God checking us out to see what we will do under pressure. God tests us for our sakes to reveal to our own eyes how sinful we really are. All sorts of things come out when we are tested. In Israel's case the fact that they were stiff-necked and rebellious and prone to idolatry came out in their testing. When the pressure is on and we are confronted with a great difficulty we may be tempted by our fleshly desires to self-medicate with sin. Maybe that sin is found in a bottle, maybe a bucket of ice cream or maybe found on an internet web site. But the purpose of the test is for us to run to Jesus. Jesus demonstrates this in his testing and temptation. Jesus obeyed the Father by holding fast to the promises of God and came out as gold so that he might be the perfect substitute for all who trust in him.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1–4) 

This is what we see with Abraham. When he was told to offer Isaac as a sacrifice he did not cling to Isaac but to the promises for he believed God would make good on his ultimate promise to give him offspring as numerous as the stars of the night sky. The writer of Hebrews says Abraham reasoned God could raise the dead because he believed the promises of God. (Hebrews 11:17-19) If Abraham had refused to offer Isaac it would have revealed Isaac was an idol to him and that he really did not believe God would make good on his promises (which is what brought about the situation with Hagar and Ishmael). But this test proved that Abraham's previous unbelief was put to death. He held fast to the unswerving promises of God and faithfully endured the test and brought glory to God through his faith. Peter says that is the point of our tests and trials.

“...you have been grieved by various trials, 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." (1 Peter 1:6–8)

Whatever trial you are facing you must constantly tell yourself that the test has a good and glorious end. God is showing you things about you that you need to see. The purpose of it is to reveal to you what is in your heart in order to lead you into greater holiness and greater faith! This is where the temptation from our flesh and from the Enemy accompanies testing. Two voices are speaking to us when things get tough and it is not uncommon for us to follow the wrong one. Are we paying attention to what the Holy Spirit is teaching us through these trials? Are we examining our hearts? Trials expose our unbelief, our sin, our self-centeredness, our idols and our tendency to run to idols and sinful pleasures for comfort and relief. The right course of action is to run to the Father who has promised to supply all of our needs in Christ Jesus. Even if we fail the test, God's purposes have not been thwarted. Though God does not tempt us he is sovereign over our temptations and even uses our failings for our good and his glory. So be comforted dear saint! If you find yourself failing tests, even then he is accomplishing his good purpose in you. Remember Jesus passed every test God put him through and he emerged as the perfect substitute. We are called to take the same tests but because Jesus passed them all for us even in our failures we have the victory!