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How good are you at taking tests? We’ve all taken tests in school settings, but I wonder if you’ve ever thought about God’s tests?
God tests us all, you know. If you’re his child through faith in Jesus Christ, you can be certain that he will put you through some tests. The Psalmist described God’s tests in Psalm 66:10-12:
“For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.”
Here are some characteristics of God’s tests:
- Sometimes it’s like you’re in a prison. It can be the prison of waiting—just waiting for something to happen, some decision to be made, some circumstance to change. When you’re in the waiting prison, you want to do something but there’s nothing you can do. You want to run away, but the prison bars are in your way.
- Another type of test that God allows are burdens on our backs. These burdens can be ill health, elderly parents to care for, an unfaithful mate, death of a loved one and many others. With burdens like these, you feel broken and weary, because they are heavy and you can stumble beneath the load.
- The Psalmist said that when God is testing us, he lets other people ride over our heads—take advantage of us, treat us unfairly. In the middle of this kind of test, it looks like the bad guys win and the good guys lose.
- And then the Psalmist tells us that God’s tests sometimes take us through fire and water. Those are extreme situations. Fire represents those high-emotional tests where fear and anger are prevalent. Going through water are those tests of disappointments, and we are discouraged and depressed.
Have you gone through any of these kind of tests lately? Remember, while God doesn’t always send those tests, he often allows them for good reasons in our lives but we have to learn how to pass the tests.