“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4).

God is never far from our side when we Satan is tempting us, because Satan’s efforts to deceive us are really his way of trying to wage war on God. We are just being used by Satan. However, when we are going through testing and trials, it is quite easy to feel that God has abandoned us. We often ask “Why,” and fail to receive an acceptable answer. As we said a couple of weeks ago, it is because we are not asking the right question.

We have much to learn from reading about heroic men and women of faith in the Bible, who now serve as examples to us. Could this instruction be the answer to the “right question,” the right question being “God, what do you want me to learn from this?” Or “God, what do you want to accomplish through this test?”

Consider Abraham, who was commanded to sacrifice his only son Isaac, the son through whom God had promised to establish his covenant of the redemption of a sin-cursed world. When Isaac asked his father where the lamb was for the burnt offering, Abraham responded “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:7-8). God already knew the strength and character of Abraham’s faith; He tested Abraham to reveal and strengthen it. He tests our faith for the same reason: “the testing of your faith produces steadfastness…, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3-4).

Consider Job. Job seemed to be a casualty in the war between God and Satan. Job himself was a righteous man, and his extreme suffering came about through no consequence of his own misbehavior. Satan had wagered that Job would repudiate his faith, but Job did not. “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (Job 19:25). Job passed the test. And for his faith he was rewarded greatly.

Consider David. God tested David many times over. God chose David to succeed Saul as king but made him wait for more than ten years to take the crown. During this time Saul grew increasingly mentally unstable and jealous of David’s popularity, and Saul had David on the run. David had opportunities to kill or at least humiliate Saul, but he did not. In this, God was using David to give Saul every opportunity to repent of his own disobedience. God was also teaching David to wait on God’s perfect timing, pointing him and us to the ultimate fulfillment of his will in Jesus, our eternal King. “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16).

Consider Jonah. Jonah, already an established prophet, was called by God to go to Ninevah to preach the message of faith. Jonah did not want to go; in fact, he ran in the opposite direction. It is understandable because Ninevah was the capital of Assyria, a terrorist nation, the enemy of Israel, and practiced evil and cruelty. No one liked them. But God did not give up on Jonah and He did not give up on the Ninevites. Jonah ended up taking the message to them, and the Ninevites repented. God called Jonah to love his enemies, although sadly, Jonah failed this test (read Jonah 4). Jesus calls us to love our enemies; thankfully, He is not like Jonah, and hopefully neither are we. “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew 12:41).

Consider Daniel and his friends. They served under a succession of Babylonian and Persian kings. From time to time, the king would command his subjects to worship the king and/or his gods. For failure to obey the king, Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den, but was not harmed. His friends were thrown into a fiery furnace but were unharmed. “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18). And because of the unswerving faithfulness of these four men, both King Nebuchadnezzar and King Darius proclaimed the glory of God to the known world at that time. Daniel and his friends passed the test of faithfulness, and the greater good was served.

We may feel that God is far from us when we are undergoing these trials and testing. But just as with temptation, God never abandons us. In each of these examples, God was standing by, providing what was needed, whether it was the provision for the sacrifice, the fish to prevent Jonah from running from his responsibility, or the encouragement to persevere. And when we are going through the fire, our Lord and Savior will be with us in the flames. “Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, ‘Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, Your Majesty.’ He said, ‘Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’” (Daniel 3:24-25).

Judy