Testing
I
believe at times the Lord allows things to happen to teach us. When we get sick
maybe He wants us to appreciate life more, and the times we are healthy.
God
never tempts but He does test us!
It's important we ask Him what is teaching us.
In the Bible it states; testing our faith produces perseverance.
James
1
Testing Your Faith
1 James, a bond-servant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To
the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad; Greetings.
2 Consider it all joy, my
brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the
testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance
have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks
wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without
reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith
without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea,
driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect
that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 But the brother of humble
circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10 and the rich man
is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will
pass away. 11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and
withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is
destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.
12 Blessed is a man who
perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the
crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let
no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot
be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But
each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then
when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is
accomplished, it brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my
beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift
is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He
brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first
fruits among His creatures.
19 This you know, my beloved
brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to
anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness
of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which
is able to save your souls. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the
word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if
anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at
his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked
at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person
he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law
of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [z]an effectual
doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone thinks himself to
be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own
heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled
religion in the sight of our God and Father is this; to visit orphans
and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the
world.
Deuteronomy
4;34
Has
any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings,
by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by
great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in
Egypt before your very eyes?
Deuteronomy
13;3
you
must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing
you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your
soul.
Ezekiel
21:13
“‘Testing
will surely come. And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does
not continue? declares the Sovereign Lord.’
Mark
1;9
[ The
Baptism and Testing of Jesus ] At that time Jesus came from Nazareth
in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
Luke
8;13
Those
on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear
it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing
they fall away.
Acts
20;19
I
served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing
by the plots of my Jewish opponents.
Hebrews
3;8
do
not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing
in the wilderness.