James 1:3-4
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
Testing develops spiritual growth. Whenever the living word is planted in our hearts, it has the potential to bring forth abundant fruit in our lives….if we let it and if we cultivate it. Many times, it is only through testing that the seeds planted deep within us can begin producing fruit.
The easiest picture we can get of testing is in a classroom. Just think about a teacher giving a test to a student. When and what is tested? A test is performed when the material has been covered, and on the material that has been covered. Testing is used to locate and draw out what has already been learned.
It is somewhat the same spiritually. I remember at one point shrinking back at the thought of facing a spiritual test – mainly because I didn’t believe I was equipped to face it. But once I viewed tests more as a trying or purifying of something God had already shown me, it changed my perspective. That combined with the assurance of knowing that the Holy Spirit will help guide me allows me to have more confidence when faced with a challenging test.
We don’t have to face tests with fear. (2 Timothy 1:7) We can stand firm with a posture of strength grounded in the nature and person of God. Not only do we have the power of the Holy Spirit, we also have the peace of knowing that God would not allow us to be tested beyond what we’re able to endure. (I Corinthians 10:13)
I’m not caught off guard with testing as much as I used to be. I’ve learned to recognize the tests and not immediately switch to panic mode. Sometimes they’re quick quizzes just to keep me sharp, but at other times I’ve also had to face tests of a lifetime. It is through the greatest tests that I’ve come to know God most intimately. Instead of resisting the tests that life will bring, I hope I can always embrace them and let them develop and grow my faith.
LGR
Linda~Good word. The testing of life allows ME to see what I’ve learned and to know where I need to spend some additional time sitting with the Lord, working together. What a wonderful blessing that all the tests we face are open-Book. We can always cry out in the midst of the test for help and assurance…we may not always hear the ‘answers’ at that time, but we always receive His wondrous loving arms around us even as the test continues. I find myself learning so deeply that as I am held by Him in the midst of my testing, He is continually holding me close and whispering into my ear the reassurances I need. I am learning to be intent on listening during the testing so I may hear those reassurances in my soul…they are a lifeline. Many blessings~