Why God Tests You
John Owen (1616-1683) was an English scholar, theologian, chaplain, tutor, pastor, vicar, dean of Christ Church College, and author.
god’s instruments of trial dig right into the depths and innermost parts of the soul.
The reasons for which God tests us:
He does it to show man what is in his heart. He would have us see either the grace or corruption that dwells there. (I am not now speaking of the place that testing may have in judicial hardening.) Grace and corruption lie deep in the heart, and man is often deceived in his evaluations of it. God comes to us with a gauge that can go right to the bottom. His instruments of trial dig right into the depths and innermost parts of the soul. This allows man to see clearly what is truly in him, and what type of metal is in his constitution. God tested Abraham to show him his faith. Abraham did not know what power and vigour was in his faith until God drew it out by that great trial and testing. God tried Hezekiah to discover his pride; he left him that he might see what was in his heart. Hezekiah did not know that he had such a proud heart, or one so prone to be lifted up into boasting, until he was tested. The testing revealed all the filth and poured it out before him. Trials can also reveal our thankfulness, our humility, etc. which we will not now consider.
We will not know the power of grace until we feel the power of testing. We must be tried, to realize the glory of being preserved.
2. God allows man to be tested to show himself to man. Until we are tested, we think that we are living on our own strength. It is however, God alone who keeps us from falling by his preventing grace. We might say, “All men may do this or that, but we will not!” When the trial comes, however, we quickly see that only God’s preservation upholds us. So it was with Abimelech, God withheld him from sinning.
God also reveals his renewing grace through our testings. Paul, in his prayer for deliverance from the thorn in his flesh, found God’s sufficiency and renewing grace. We do not realize the power and strength that God puts forth on our behalf, and the sufficiency of his grace, until we compare our trials with our weakness. God’s power and grace are then clearly seen in our lives. The effectiveness of an antidote is not realized until one has been exposed to the poison. The preciousness of medicine is revealed by the presence of the disease. We will not know the power of grace until we feel the power of testing. We must be tried, to realize the glory of being preserved. There are many other gracious ends that God has to accomplish in his saints by their trials which we will not consider now.
The duties that God has for us along our ordinary path of life are not in proportion to the strength we have in ourselves, but in proportion to the help and relief that is laid up for us in Christ.
Some of the ways that God accomplishes this:
God sets men to great tasks that are beyond their strength to accomplish. So he tested Abraham in the duty of sacrificing his son. It was a thing absurd to reason, bitter to nature, and grievous to him on all accounts whatsoever. Many men do not know what is in them, or rather what is available to them, until they are asked to do something utterly beyond their strength. The duties that God has for us along our ordinary path of life are not in proportion to the strength we have in ourselves, but in proportion to the help and relief that is laid up for us in Christ. By God’s strength we are able to perform the most difficult tasks even though we only have the ability for the small ones. This is the law of grace. Few realize this important truth. Difficult and extraordinary duties appear before us as trials in our union with Christ, but his strength is able to overcome all.
A second way that God accomplishes this is by putting his people through great sufferings. How many have found strength to die at a stake, or to endure tortures for Christ! Victory comes by his grace, though at first it seems like a great trial. Peter reveals how we are tested. Our testing arrives as we pass through ‘fiery trials’, which are for the testing of our faith.