Most of us think of Hezekiah as a good king, yet we also read that he had weaknesses. God gave him great wealth and success, and Hezekiah’s heart was apparently lifted up as a result. Eventually, when ambassadors from Babylon came to Hezekiah, “God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chronicles 32:31).
Indeed, the Bible shows that God is constantly testing His people, working with each of us in ways that we do not always understand. Can we see the big picture of what God is doing with and through us—enough to accept and embrace the tests that He sends our way?
We know that God does not tempt anyone (James 1:13), but He does give us choices (Deuteronomy 30:19). Sometimes tests come because of something sinful or foolish we have done. Other times, God simply knows that He must allow certain things to happen to us to build our character. In the case of Job, He allowed Satan to unwittingly help Him bring about a specific result. Job had a spiritual problem that needed to be dealt with, and God loved him enough to give him the tests he needed.
God tested the Israelites constantly in the wilderness to see if they were going to obey Him or not. “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord…. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you” (Deuteronomy 8:3–5).
Though God allowed these trials, He planned from the beginning to give Israel something wonderful at the end: “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land…. a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you” (vv. 7–10). We face certain tests when times are difficult, but when things are going smoothly—without any trials or difficulties—that’s sometimes the greatest test of all. We see this in the lives of many kings, such as Solomon and Hezekiah; when they had prosperity, their hearts were changed. It is always God who gives or allows wealth, and He tells us to be careful not to forget that.
Tests We All Face
We read of one test that God gave the Israelites: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not’” (Exodus 16:4). God’s law was already in effect—He just wanted to know if they would obey it.
The Sabbath command is still a test for us today. When we first come into the knowledge of the Sabbath, it means adjusting our habits. But for some, it’s more than just adjusting habits—it’s losing a job or at least putting a job on the line.
And it’s a test not only of keeping the Sabbath, but of understanding it. God has made that time holy, and we must keep it in a holy manner. Will we use God’s time the way He wants us to use it? That is a test for every one of us.
Another test is how we use our resources. God asked through Malachi, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:8). God gives us that test also. He says, I want 10 percent from you, because you’re living on My land. But people want to hang on to their resources. There are even those in God’s Church who don’t tithe properly—or at all. That is a problem. The promise that we made at baptism was to keep God’s commandments, and one of the Ten Commandments is “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Can there be any greater theft than stealing from God?
God also tests us on what we believe. Why does He allow Satan to be on the earth? To see which way we’re going to go. We read:
If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods”—which you have not known—“and let us serve them,” you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 13:1–3).
Many fell away during the apostasy of the Worldwide Church of God. Many had faced apostasy before and passed those tests—but when it came from the top, when the leader began to apostatize, that was a different kind of test. Are the laws of God and the ways of God truly in our hearts? Or do we obey them only because we are told to? God tests us on what we believe, how deeply we believe it, and whether or not we will put Him first.
Another test involves marriage and family: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate [put Christ first, far above] his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). Do we put family before God? God told Abraham to slay his son, and He is telling you and me not to literally slay our family members, but to put them in second place. He is to be first in everything.
Remember the Big Picture
How we handle these tests when they come is all-important. We read that David wanted God to test him: “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart” (Psalm 26:2). David also wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24). How many of us are willing to ask God to test whether there is evil in our hearts? Jeremiah, too, wanted God to help him to understand himself more: “O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing” (Jeremiah 10:24).
What is the big picture? Why does God test us? Because He wants us in His Kingdom, in His family. The trials that come upon us are all for the purpose of helping us inherit what God has in mind for us—a reward far greater than we imagine.
No matter how severe, those trials will come to an end, and there will be a day of rejoicing at the return of Jesus Christ. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love” (1 Peter 1:6–8).
Sometimes people think that if we pray about something, God will make us make the right decision. But if that were the case, how would He ever know what’s truly in our hearts? Though He showed Hezekiah great favor, God didn’t make every decision for him, and God is not going to make every decision for you and me. He may move us in a certain direction in response to our prayers, but He wants to know what is in our hearts, and we reveal that through our actions.
God has a great purpose for those who put Him first in their lives. Let us remember the big picture and, instead of running from them, embrace the tests that come our way.