Deuteronomy 8:1-5
Keep and live out the entire commandment that I'm commanding you today so that you'll live and prosper and enter and own the land that GOD promised to your ancestors. Remember every road that GOD led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don't live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from GOD's mouth. Your clothes didn't wear out and your feet didn't blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that GOD disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
We’re probably at or near mid-term for a lot of students… and that means one thing – tests. Why do we have tests anyway? What purpose do they serve? Tests are a means for the instructor to determine whether or not we have learned the lessons that were given. If your experience is anything like mine, there will be tests that push your limits… times you felt poorly prepared… and maybe some near failures. But hopefully you will muster the courage and determination to keep going… to forge ahead… to try again. And in the end… you will learn many things.
The age old question for many of us is, “Why must God test me?” We wonder… “Why we are allowed to suffer, to falter, and sometimes to fail?” We ask each other – and ourselves – why relationships don’t work out… why plans don’t materialize… why we don’t get this job or that scholarship…why people have to get sick and/or die…and we ask God, “Why did You let this happen?”
The answer is pretty clear. God tests us to strengthen us. He wants to see if we are really walking in faith… or if we are just playing along and giving Him lip service. He wants to ensure that we have what it takes to depend on Him alone… and not our own strength and abilities. If God never tested us, we would never grow in our relationship with Him. If everything ran along smoothly – as God could certainly accomplish – we would become so arrogant and sure of our own capabilities that we would not fully trust in God to give us what we need.
So the tests come… to all of us. Somehow, knowing WHY we are being tested helps me to stay confident and optimistic. Knowing that God is using my challenges to help me grow more in my relationship with Him gives me courage… and a desire to say, “Bring it on, LORD! I know You won’t give me more than I can handle!”
I’m like most people… I’ve never liked tests… and I am sure I won’t like all of the “exams” that God presents to me in my lifetime. If I stay faithful and persevere… if I call on God to help me through each challenge and truly believe in Him to do so… I have no doubt that someday He will reward me with a passing grade. God’s grace is sufficient for all of my needs… and He will meet all of yours as well.
©2011 Debbie Robus
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