The Scriptural Basis For Tests and Trials
That God sends or allows tests and trials is quite plain from scripture. The most noteworthy test is given in Genesis 22, where the first verse explicitly says that "God tested Abraham". In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, Paul talks about the persecutions they endured as God testing their faithfulness in preaching the full word of God, rather than moderating it to please men so as to lighten or escape persecution. The wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness was a 40 year "test", as the following passage states in Deuteronomy 8:1-6:
1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. 2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. 4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell , these forty years. 5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. 6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
This passage is worth examining, since it was actualy cited by Jesus as an answer to the first temptation of the Devil. In addition, though I mentioned that the wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness was a 40 year test, it was initially intented to be a 2 to 3 year test, but the consequences of them failing the first exam at Kadesh (Numbers 13 and 14) we quite fatal, and thus should lend some urgency to our examination, lest we share their fate as well (Hebrews 3 and 4).
This passage gives three of the four reasons why tests and trials occur.
Reason #1: Validating Obedience
The first reason is to validate that the person under test or trial will obey God (v. 2). This may seem a very strange thing for an all-knowing God to do. However, we must realize that God knows and acts based on actualities rather than hypotheticals. That is, God's perception of what we do in the future is a perception of what we actually do, not what we might do, but it is still a perception when looked at from within our universe. While we would prefer that God would credit us for passing a test or trial that He forsees that we would pass, without actually giving us that test or trial, do we really want God to condemn us for failing a test or trial that He forsees that we would fail, without actually giving us the chance to really fail that test? Imagine God condemning someone for failing a test that they never took or underwent! How would you expect that person to justify God's justice if he is condemned for nothing that he did, nor acknowledge God's mercy for sparing him from the consequences of failing a test never taken? Clearly, God would never do such an unjust thing, being the Judge of all the Earth and holding justice as a primary principle and value. The warnings of coming tests and trials is echoed by Jesus, Paul, Peter, and James (Revelation 3:10, Acts 14:21-22, 1 Peter 1:6-7, James 1:2-4), so it isn't as if we haven't been warned!
The flip side to this aspect (there always is one) is that He cannot justly bless a man for passing a test that was never actually presented, and for the very same reasons that He cannot justly condemn a man for failing a test that was never actually presented. In a sense, there are two ways that God knows, only one of which is by His "foreknowledge" (or more properly, "forerememberance"). The second way is the knowledge that He can point to that has already taken place in objective reality (I.e. knowledge "whose time has come"). Obviously, the knowledge obtained from both ways is precisely and exactly the same, but in the first way, God knows because of His Omnitemporality, while the other way is based on His Omnipresence. What is essential to realize is that, judicially, when it comes to punishments, curses, blessings, and rewards, only knowledge derived from the second way is admissible because the people being judged are bound within the frame of this Universe, which is subject to time. This is why the Last Judgment must necessarily be held at the END of time and human history, for it is only at that time when all the knowledge that God "foresaw" would be required to render a proper Judgment would have come to pass and thus be legally presented as evidence for or against anyone.
However, it would be equally wrong for us to believe that God necessarily waits until "the End of Time and Human History" to act upon knowledge "whose time has come" before that "End of Time": When Abraham successfully passed his test regarding the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22), God was able to justly say "now I know", because "the time of the test" that God "foresaw" Abraham passing "had come". Mind you, God did not reward Abraham because he passed the test, but because he proved obedient when the test came and he passed it. Successfully passing God-sent tests and trials essentially satisfies the Justice aspect of God's character, opening Him, and us, to receiving the blessing from the Mercy and Love aspect of God's character (Ex. 34:5-10). In essence, God wants to bless those obedient to Him, but only when it is right to do so.
Has God ever acted based on knowledge gained by His "foresight" whose time had not yet come? In other words, are the Calvinists right that God acts on that "secret will" that they insist exists? For starters, it does exist because such a will represents God's inflexible intention of how He would act in response to that "secret knowledge" acquired by his Omintemporality. However, they are very wrong when they insist that God rewards and punishes men based on that knowledge before that knowledge's "time has come". For the proof of this, I cite Job as the prime example. One of the most bewildering aspects of the story of Job has been God's strange willingness to be swayed by the devil when the latter insinuated that Job was righteous because God had blessed him. However, in light of this distinction between knowledge whose "time has come" compared to knowledge whose "time had not yet come," God's seeming compliance makes sense, for God's blessings on Job were totally out of proportion to the man's behavior. After all, with the aid and power of the Holy Spirit, any average Christian meets and exceeds what Job did, but who is often not as equally blessed. Why? Because God was rewarding Job based on Hs foresight that the man would endure the tests of satan and the insults and indignities heaped upon him by his three friends and Elihu. In a word, the devil was right: it was unjust for God to pre-reward Job for faithfulness that was unbacked by any evidence based on facts that had not happened yet! This injust behavior, even when bestowing blessings, was enough to allow the devil to even call into question God's ability to fairly administer the trial, which explains why God let satan impose the trial and test on Job rather than Himself since the latter could be counted on not to pull his punches! After his initial failure to break Job, the devil came back and blamed the restriction God placed on him not to touch Job's body, which permission God granted with the obvious stipulation that Job not die, since a dead man cannot curse God. That God bestowed twice as much goods on Job afterwards was the best God could do to show, to a patently materialist society, His approval of Job after being so severely tried, tested, slandered, and maligned.
An aside: Elihu is often made out to be a hero by many people and commentators, but in reality he was more vile than Job's "friends". He copycatted, rehashed, and rephrased the arguments of his "friends", vainly imaginging Job's problem was that he needed their rebukes heard in a different light or from a different angle, clearly scoring zero for originality. What was truly sinful was that he alternately demanded that Job answer him in one breath, then told him to shut up and listen to him "who has perfect knowledge" in the next! Heck, even God Himself paused long enough during His discussion with Job to let the man present his case. When God appeared out of the whirlwind to Job, asking "who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" He was referring to Elihu. To cap it off, it should be pointed out that Elihu was not included in the chance God gave Job's three friends to repent and be spared His wrath because they had not "spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath," even though he merely said the same things they did. In fact, we never hear of the man again, in the same way we don't hear of the devil again. Why not? If he was the "hero" as everyone wants to believe that he is, why doesn't God mention him as being one who had "spoken of me the thing that is right"? It seems to me the reason why we never hear of Elihu's fate or "reward" is that he was no longer worth mentioning or considering, just as the devil was no longer worth mentioning or considering. Not the sort of company one should keep if one wants to be considered the "hero" in the most difficult book of the entire Bible! Merely because your name means "He who speaks for God" doesn't mean you actually do when you open your mouth!
Reason #2: "Growing" Faith
The second reason for tests and trials is to educate the recipients in how to trust in the word and power of God (Deuteronomy 8:3). Since this is the major purpose of this essay, I will defer my discussion of it while I finish this train of discussion.
Reason #3: Correction
The third reason for tests and trials that we get from this passage is to correct the wayward. (Deuteronomy 8:5). Simply put, some tests and trials occur because we make bad choices, either to sin or in responding to previous tests and trials. That is, if you flunk the tests in a required college course, you either give up or take the course again, implying that "trials" are the consequences of failing a specific "test". Taken out of context, the testing of Abraham in Genesis 22 seems paradoxical, but when viewed in the light of the bad choices (and outright lies) he made over the course of the preceeding 10 chapters, it should have been forseen as inevitable. That God risked appearing greatly out of character presenting the test in the form given in Genesis 22 is evidence of how seriously God felt Abraham needed this correction. Saul of Tarsus' decision to persecute Christians resulted in a severe trial when Jesus struck him blind that he profited from (Acts 9). And we should not miss the analogy of God chastening us "as a man chaseneth his son". Here is Hebrews 12: 1-16:
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down , and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed . 14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled ; 16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
The last five verses of the above passage are worth considering as the possible outcomes of accepting, or rejecting, God's chastening. The first outcome is given in verse 12, which talks about "straightening up" and "shaping up": we sometimes fail because we have not made adequate preparation or underwent the "strength training" necessary to overcome the trial or test, so God's chastisement is intended either as the "shaping up" process, or encourages us to do what it takes, or get the mental attitude to accept what it takes, to "shape up"! The second outcome is given in verse 16, where God's chastisement is intended to prevent us from making bad choices in the future, as Esau's bad choice cost him his birthright. The third outcome is given in verse 15, and is an outcome of negatively taking God's chastisement: this chastisement is to be seen as a form of grace which, if we fail to benefit from it, would be the cause of bitterness within us that would defile us. (An aside: this passage is a definite proof that not all men are God's Children, since he obviously does not discipline every man, but only those who follow Jesus and believe in the merits of his death on the Cross. This discipline is as real as our Sonship/Daughtership in God's family via the joining of ourselves to the Godhead through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.)
Of course, our ability to accept chastening goes to a new level when we deliberately address it within the context of Homo/Deus symbiosis, which should render it impossible for us to credibly believe that the Godhead is unaware of the pain that we experience while They are administering it. Besides, the point of chastening a wayward child while they are a child, is to avoid having to chasten them in the future when they attain, and practice, maturity. We are constantly urged to move toward maturity throughout the New Testament Scriptures, so this goal should be seen as both desirable and attainable. Unfortunately, many translations of the Greek improperly translate the word "mature" as "perfect", which we are educated to believe is unattainable, or (at best) much harder to attain than the goal that the underlying Greek implies. "Perfection" means attaining the ability to never ever make a mistake. In contrast, being "mature" implies that one has two abilities. The first is that one does not make the common mistakes of childhood and youth, while the second is that one has learned to think maturely and not as a child or teenager (1 Corinthians 13:9-12). One explanation of the effect of drugs on an individual that I heard during a training session to get accredited for re-entering prison ministry is that it "freezes" the mental and social maturation process of the drug taker to the level that it was when the user first got into drugs while leaving the physical maturation process unhindered. This was said by a former drug user, and was confirmed by the prison chaplain who was training us, who pointed out that much of the trouble that prisoners who were drug users experience is the fact that they continue to mentally and emotionally think at the same level of maturity that they were as teenagers and children when they first started taking drugs, but have the chronological age of adults. The symmetric compliment of the problem is that the former addict must be legally treated like an adult due to their chronological age, not their intellectual/social/emotional age! Well-meaning Christians feel that they must treat such people like mature adults rather than like the youth in their church group. I don't know about how your church's youth ministry works, but in a real youth ministry, mature Christian members in the church have no problem saying "no" to another member's kids and reporting problems they see to the youth minister and that kid's parents! A church that successfully integrates addicts must treat them (and love them!) like their own youth until the pastor or a trusted member blessed with a proven gift of discernment (derived from experience, training, or the Spirit) determines that they have "matured" in the Greek "telios" sense.
Reason #4: Perfecting the Saints
The fourth reason for tests and trials coming on us is given in Hebrews 11:39-40. After recounting all the various works, tests, and trials of the faithful, the writer of Hebrews says:
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (NIV)
Correctly parsing verse 40 reveals a seeming paradox: there is no issue with us becoming "perfect" (greek teleioo, mature) by a process of taking to heart what the Ancients went through, but the text indicates that it is not us who are being made "perfect", but that "they" are made "perfect" with us. It is as if I tell my son in 2010 about how I overcame a trial in 1990, but I discover, when I get to heaven, that the reason for my overcoming in 1990 was that my grandson overcame a similar trial in 2039 by calling to mind what his father (my son) told him in 2020 of the trial his grandfather (me) had in 1990!
The answer, of course, is that the "something better" that God had planned for us was the impartation of the Holy Spirit that would join us forever with the Godhead. In that joining, we partake of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), which includes omnitemporality. That is, if we are in Christ, and Christ is in God, and God transcends time so as to be present in all moments of time as He is present in all points of space (omnipresence), then it is possible for the benefits that we get from learning of how the saints of old handled a problem "leaks back" through time to benefit those saints, just as the victories of the saints in the future, or elsewhere in our time, can "leak back" through time and space to benefit us who taught them how to obtain their victories by enduring and passing the trials and tests we are given. It is by the same mechanism that the beatings that Jesus endured during his Passion "leak through" time and space to benefit us (1 Peter 2:24), and how his death atones for our sins. This is a subject that is best discussed in an essay dealing with Unification, but in the meantime, it should be sufficient to realize that becoming joined to the Godhead, while bringing unestimable benefits, also entails the taking on of certain familial responsibilities, one of which involves undergoing seeming unnecessary tests or trials unique to our time and society that do not personally and directly benefit us, but would benefit other co-symbionts via Unification in the same way that the tests and trials of Jesus benefit all of us. (If, in response to this observation, you suddenly have second thoughts about this entire symbiosis business that run along the line of "Holy cr*p! This stuff is REALLY REAL!", then I solicit your advice on how I can communicate that fact in the earlier essays more plainly.)
As I promised, I will now explain the second reason for tests and trials in more depth.
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