Why Does God Test Us?

“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15).

If you’re married, you may have vowed before God that you’d stick with your spouse for “better or worse, in sickness and in health, ‘til death do us part.” If you’ve done that, you may have already experienced the “worse” or perhaps you’ve nursed your beloved through sickness over the years. I recently saw my husband through a nasty bout with a kidney stone. Fortunately, it was a short-term illness lasting only a couple of weeks but it gave me a glimpse into the world of a person who cares for a loved one with a chronic illness.

Our relationship with God is also like a marriage. Believers are called the “bride of Christ” and God desires for us to stay in union with him through sickness and the worst of times. Sometimes we wonder why he allows the trouble.

Are you questioning God right now?

In my case, why is he not drawing a buyer to our house when our intentions to sell are good?

But it’s scenarios like this that test our faith. God wants to see if we’ll worship him even when our world is falling apart. Do we still trust God when:

Our finances turn south?

When a loved one dies?

When relationships struggle?

Job who lost it all, family, friends and health, said, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”

Even if you lost it all would you still trust God?

I hate it but God really wants to know this about us. He wants to know that he is enough. And he wants us to praise him in the fire.

The Israelites understood. “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Wow. God tested them for forty years and if you read through the pages of Exodus and Deuteronomy, you’ll see they didn’t always pass the test.

Let’s face it, when we are going through a long, drawn out “worse” part of “for better or worse,” we might have a tendency to believe God has abandoned us and then we opt to turn our backs on him. But what the Lord desires is for us to hang tight and trust he will pull us through whatever calamity we are facing. He’s watching to see if we’ll cling to him or toss him aside. He wants us to endure, even if the situation seems like it will never end.

In an effort to encourage people who feel blue about what their difficulties, Peter said, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trial. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

It’s our tests that are part of our testimony. In 1 Thessalonians 3, the Apostle Paul  said we are destined for them. How we handle the tests show God what we are made of and our trials either cozy us up to God or send us on a distant hike.

Today will you make a vow to follow God for better or for worse? In sickness and in health? He’s waiting for you to take his hand and walk with you down the aisle.