The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. | Deuteronomy 8:1-2
I read the above passage as our Reading of the Law this Sunday. I was reminded that when many people hear the idea of God testing them, the hairs on the back of their neck go up. This happens for a few reasons:
- We don’t like tests. It doesn’t really matter who is doing the tests, being put on the spot and valued based on our performance reeks of meritocracy (which has become an especially hated idea as of late).
- We know that we are guilty. Part of what makes God’s judgement so terrifying is that there is no way to spin sin. We do what he has commanded us not to. Based on the system that He has presented, there is no way to be good enough.
- We don’t like a God who would find us unworthy. We want to be accepted based on our excellence. As much as we bristle at the idea of meritocracy, we also want to be loved and honored for who we are and what we do. The idea that God’s testing proves our inability fuels our insecurities.
The idea of God testing becomes this uncomfortable relationship dynamic between us and the Divine in which we have to keep performing, but where no matter what we do it isn’t enough. So many people live their Christian lives this way: in this constant state of fear and insecurity before God. This isn’t the loving relationship that God created for us. The way out of this unhealthy cycle is to better understand what is happening when God is testing us.
When teachers (or parents or police) test us, it is to draw out the truth; to discover something that they do not know. God does not test us to learn something. He already knows our innermost thoughts and our makeup down to the number of hairs on our head. His sovereignty assures that He not only knows about us, but that He knows what we will do. This means that when He tests us, it is not to see if we will succeed or fail. Our worthiness was never in question.
Instead, God’s testing of us is to reveal something to us. When God sets a standard and calls us to live up to it, He is giving us the opportunity to see what he already knows. In the verse above, it tells us that God’s leading in the wilderness and testing was, so that he might humble you. The goal of testing is to help us recognize our failure and our need for salvation.
God making our need known to us is an act of grace. He is not giving us a subjective test; He is measuring us up to the truth of eternity designed into creation. This means that this is not a test that we can simply ignore or pretend does not matter. His test is absolute. If we are on the wrong side of it, the kindest thing that God can do is reveal this to us so that we can find help.
God does not just alert us to the problem, but also offers the solution. Jesus comes to take on the punishment of our failure AND to pass the test on our behalf. This is how the Bible explains is:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. | 2 Corinthians 5:21
While we don’t like the idea of being tested or proven unworthy, it is a necessary step toward accepting the righteousness that Jesus offers. It is also the means that God strengthens His people and builds up their trust in Him. God’s testing has great purpose, but the purpose is not to exalt or condemn you. It is to confirm that Jesus is the only hope anyone has of passing the test. This should change how we read verses about testing, like James 1:12, which says:
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
This verse is not about the cream of the crop rising to the top, but about those who have been adequately humbled finding absolute hope in what God has promised and Jesus has secured. This is the relationship that God offers to all those who are His. Do not use testing to be one more way to focus on yourself, instead:
look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. | Hebrews 12:2