Someone once said, "This world is not a playground; it is a schoolhouse." I am paraphrasing that from memory, so it may not be exactly every word, but the main thought is very evident. We are not put on this earth to "party" constantly, but instead we are put here to learn and to grow and to be taught many lessons and to help others. This is especially true of spiritual matters. This life is truly all a test.
"God has a purpose for trials and testings." - Warren Wiersbe
It is to our benefit to undergo the trials that God allows. I say "allows" because God is not always the originator of our tribulations and testings. We live in a fallen world, ever since Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed our heavenly Father; therefore, the earth is still under the Adamic curse: it is full of evil and is influenced by satan and his demons. There is crime of every sort all around us. And just reading the news tells us that this chaotic world and its leaders are in distress and filled with perplexity (Luke 21:25). So when something bad happens to someone, it is not because God is mean to us; but rather because this is a fallen world and bad things can happen to anyone, not because God is always behind it. The good Lord allows trials and testings so that we may grow strong and be refined and turn to Him for our deliverance......it grows our faith as we turn to Him in prayer and we put our full confidence in Him.
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter 1:7
Someone has said that a faith that that has never been tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. That is because when our faith is tested that it doesn't tell the good Lord anything new; He already knows how strong our faith is. Rather, when our faith is tested, it reveals to us how strong or weak we are in the area of our faith. "A tested faith is a trusted faith."
In the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, the word translated "test" means "to prove by trial." When God tests His children, His purpose is to prove that our faith is real and that we are really His children and that no test or trial will make us lose our faith and fall away.
In Mark 4, Jesus gives us the parable of the sower. Don't be like those in Mark 4:16-17 of which Jesus says:
"And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time; afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended."
They fall away, in other words. That is why we need to be continuously in prayer and in pouring over Scriptures daily, in order to build a strong, close, intimate and loving relationship with the Lord. If we are ever close to Him, we will not fall away. As I have said previously, you cannot have any strong relationship without communication.
Remember Job and his trials, which were brought on by satan but which God allowed for a time. Job lost his wealth and all of his children and his health as well. Read Job 1:8-22 and Job 2:3-6; but if you have the time, read both chapters in full. Job was righteous and kept his integrity, and in the end the good Lord blessed him with more than he had had previously (Job 42:12-17).
Also, do not forget David who said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts." (Psalm 139:23) David was inviting God to examine his heart and his mind in order to see that he was true to the Lord.
This brings us to the importance of us examining ourselves, to see if we are truly in the faith.
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" - 2 Corinthians 13:5
Following is an excellent sermon by Charles Spurgeon on the topic of examining yourself.
Remember that our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) which means that self-examination is critical in order to make sure you conform to God's wishes and His will. Examine all of your motives and see whether you are in the faith or not.
"God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. .......... He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way." - Oswald Chambers.
"Ye that love the LORD, hate evil; He preserveth the souls of His saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked." - Psalm 97:10
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13
"But the God of all grace, who hath called us into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." - 1 Peter 5:10
