You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver. You captured us in your net and laid the burden of slavery on our backs. Then you put a leader over us. We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance. [Psalm 66.10-12]
We all hate to talk about God testing us. Yuk.
But did you know God's tests can be avoided? Yes, it is true.
God did not 'capture Israel and lay the burden of slavery on their backs' because they were faithful! No, God's test was God's curse upon them for their disobedience!
When silver is "purified" it is not a 'test' as we think of it. The purification of silver has one purpose and one purpose alone: get the impurities out of it! Silver that is "pure" has no impurities in it - there is no reason to refine it - it is already refined!
God does not test us to 'see what is in us.' God knows all. He knows whether we are pure or not. It is us who do not know what is in us! God's "test" (ie. punishment, curse, hardship, trial, trouble, sickness, lack, suffering, bondage, etc...) is to bring us to... wait for it... repentance.
God is "testing" us all the time! We've just become so worldly that we think that weather patterns, viruses, hardships, diseases, trials and troubles are somehow under their own random control. We have almost completely forgotten that God controls everything. And, we entirely ignore the Proverb in the Bible that says the "curse" will not come without "cause!" (Proverbs 26.2)
"Test" is a real convenient word to say "punish." Just look at the context of the passage above.
Yes, let's include Job's story in there too - because, in the end, Job had to repent. So obviously, Job was ultimately wrong! It's not rocket science! By the way, remember that God's claim of Job's innocence was not addressed to any man, it was addressed to Satan, who was so stupid, God used his warped character to prove once and for all that there is none righteous, no not one! Satan must been thrilled when God gave the go-ahead to attack Job. But then he must have hated Job's sinful, bitter and proud outcry against God because Satan surely must have been thinking he had tricked God! But it was quite the other way around!
God is not random. To say so is to unwittingly give credence to the "Big Bang" that supposedly occurred resulting in the earth as we know it today. God is a God of order and precision - not only does all of creation reveal it, but so does God's Law and Justice. Jesus was not random - He was certainly no random act of God! God is either random or He is not. I say He is NOT. I say God's tests are not random, but are instead His way of revealing that we need to repent because we are wrong.
Father, I am only further convinced today that I need to repent and repent more. I receive the trials I am experiencing in humility and gratitude so that I might repent and draw nearer to You.
