Testing
Testing[1]
Human life on earth is entirely a test of his will, and a test of his freedom: does he choose the way of God or not…
The angels, as rational and free creatures, passed this test, and man is still undergoing it as well.
Man is not tested in one moment or during a certain period of his life; rather, his entire life—even until the day of his death—is a period of testing.
Therefore, the Scripture says about the righteous, “Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” For there are those who “began in the Spirit and ended in the flesh.” Their good beginning did not constitute a true test for them; rather, the test became known by the end of their way of life, when they completed it in faith.
Moments in a person’s life cannot express his entire life. The Apostle Peter, at one moment, was at the height of enthusiasm and adherence to the Lord even unto death, and said, “Even if everyone denies You, I will not deny You.” And hours later he cursed and swore, saying, “I do not know this man!”
God may test a person with something simple, but it reveals his nature:
He did not test Adam and Eve with a large number of commandments, but with only one commandment, which seemed simple: He prohibited them from eating the fruit of one of the trees. But this one commandment revealed the weakness of the human soul, the ease with which it can be led, and the pride, greed, lack of faith, disobedience, desire, and many other sins into which it fell…
Perhaps God tests a person by withholding something from him…
And He sees whether he can endure the prohibition, or whether the prohibition leads him to grumbling, or to disobedience, or to doubting God, His love, and His care…
If you pray, and your prayer is not answered, or you imagine that God has not answered it and has not given you what you want… do you nevertheless remain steadfast in the love of God, or do you become troubled and doubt? It is a test…
God may also test you by taking something from you, such as the tithes, for example.
God does not need anything from your tithes. He is too rich to be in need; rather, He is the source of all riches. But by asking for the tithes, He tests the extent of your love for money, or your love of giving. And are you faithful concerning God’s rights or not? Will you seek excuses to get rid of the tithes, and continue deducting from them things that may not fall within their scope, such as some of your obligations toward your family, the price of religious books, and some gratuities… etc.?
Will you scrutinize God and hold Him accountable for every penny, or will you give generously and joyfully, without knowing the amount you give?
And likewise with the firstfruits and vows… Do you make a vow, then come back and discuss the vow, or try to replace it, postpone it, or forget it?
It is not a matter of money, but rather a test of the soul from within.
Likewise, in fasting, for example: Do you fast and then continue discussing: Is processed cheese considered fasting? What about vegetable shortening? What about jelly… is it fasting? The mere presence of such questions indicates adherence to the outward forms of fasting and failure to enter into its spirituality and depth. It indicates a desire to escape, together with a love of food… All of this is a test of your inner disposition…
God also tests you by keeping the Lord’s Day.
He does not need a day from you. The Sabbath was given for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Your entire life belongs to the Lord, not merely this one day. Rather, it is a test of your love for the Lord…
God tests the faithfulness of man through these commandments…
Are you faithful in paying the tithes, firstfruits, and vows? Are you faithful in keeping the Lord’s Day? Or do you seek excuses in order to escape the commandment, justifying your breaking of it with excuses whose falseness you know better than anyone!
Among the people whom the Lord tested most by taking things from them were Job the Righteous and Abraham, the father of the patriarchs..
Job: The Lord stripped him of everything: all his possessions, his children, his prestige, and the respect of people for him. Then He also stripped him of his health… He took everything from him. And Job succeeded in the test to the utmost extent, saying his immortal words: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever”…
And Abraham, the father of the patriarchs, was tested by the Lord when He said to him, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and offer him to Me as a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you.” A difficult test… His son, whom he had received in his old age, the son of promise, his beloved… How could he offer him as a burnt offering? But Abraham succeeded in the test with the greatest success. He rose very early, and took the wood, the knife, and his son Isaac with him… His love for God was above all natural feelings…
God tests the nature of man. The matter is not merely commands and prohibitions, but the purity of the heart from within, and the extent of his love for God…
The extent of his obedience to God, and the extent to which he prefers the Lord above everything…
Those who are concerned with the outward form or literalness of the commandment have not yet entered into its depth. God tests them and reveals the extent of their formalism and literalism…
God sometimes tests a person through a particular point of weakness in him…
As He did with the rich young man, who had kept the commandments from his youth. But there was a particular point of weakness in him, namely, the love of money. So the Lord placed His hand precisely on this point and revealed it to him, and he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions…
He placed His hand on the wound, on the abscess, and on the painful place. And so God deals with every person: He tests him precisely through his point of weakness, and He does not compromise concerning it… You may say to the Lord, “I fast every day until sunset,” and He says to you, “What matters is this particular desire.” You say to Him, “I will give all my money to the poor… I will fill the world with activity.” But the Lord answers you: I will test you only through this particular desire…
God also tests a person by sometimes delaying something for him..
When He delayed a little with the disciples, they cried out, saying, “Do You not care that we are perishing?” And when He delayed with David, he cried out in the Psalm, “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?” Yet there are those who err when the Lord delays with them. An example of this is Rebekah, when God delayed in blessing Jacob. She resorted to wrong human wisdom and gave Jacob a scheme by which he could deceive his father! And Sarah, when God delayed in granting her offspring, resorted to human schemes by giving Hagar to Abraham…
And what will your feeling be if the Lord delays with you?
Do you become weary? Do you despair? Do you resort to sin or to human ways? Or do you reproach the Lord like Mary and Martha: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died”?… The Lord gave man a promise of salvation, and salvation did not take place until thousands of years later. This was not a delay on the part of the Lord, but rather a providence for the fullness of time.
The word “delay” is a human expression, and its true meaning is the wisdom of the “fullness of time”..
God will surely come, even if in the fourth watch of the night. And God arranges everything in wisdom, at its proper time. The important thing is that we trust His wisdom and His appointed times. So if the Lord tests us through delay, we say, “My soul waits for the Lord from the morning watch until night.”
The Prophet Elijah succeeded in the test of delay. He prayed six times, and the rain did not come. Elijah did not become troubled. He prayed the seventh prayer, and the rain came…
If God delays with you, perhaps He is testing your patience and long-suffering, and the extent of your trust in His love, His coming, and His wisdom in testing the appointed times…
At other times, the Lord tests a person by withdrawing His help from him a little, or leaving him for a while to trials and tribulations, and seeing his steadfastness in His love..
The Church was tested through martyrdom, which continued for hundreds of years, with sufferings of the utmost severity, and the Church succeeded in the test and remained steadfast in the faith. It did not doubt God’s promises or His love. The Church was also tested through heretical thought with all its doubts and ideas, and she succeeded as well… Neither the sword could overcome her, nor thought, nor doubt…
She passed the test, and her trust in God was not shaken for a single moment, just as she did not abandon the faith despite the flood of blood and sufferings.
In every tribulation you pass through, do you love the Lord for His own sake, or do you love Him as the source of goodness and the source of comfort, so that if He takes them away from you, you doubt?
Tribulation is a test. There are those who cannot endure it, and those who endure it while complaining, crying out, and weeping. There are those who endure in quietness and contentment. And there are those who rejoice in tribulation, and they are the best of them…
In his life, man passes through a series of tests and various kinds…
The temptations presented to man, the battles of the demons—all are tests. He may test you with something simple. Do you resist sleep, for example, at the time of prayer or not? If the conductor forgets to give you a ticket, will you be satisfied with that or will you pay?
These tests that you pass through reveal the quality of the strength of your character: do you remain steadfast in the tests or not?
Are you the easy type, who responds to a simple signal made by Satan, even from afar?! Or does Satan plead with you while kneeling, and you remain steadfast like a rock…
Are you built on sand, or built on rock?
We are passing through a period of testing on earth, in which we are tested regarding the extent of our love for God and the extent of our obedience to Him… God tests the purity of our nature; He tests our thoughts, hearts, and intentions, our seriousness in life, our steadfastness in walking with Him, our faithfulness, and our promises..
We are tested every day, every moment… The fire of testing will be kindled within us, distinguishing straw from wood, iron from gold..
How beautiful is the Lord’s testimony concerning Job the Righteous, when the Lord tested the purity of his heart and said that he was “a blameless and upright man, one who does good and turns away from evil.” And how beautiful is the Lord’s own testimony concerning another heart that He had tested, when He said to him: “You were faithful in little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master…”
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