The Instinct of Apathy: The Story of AbrahamSample

The Testing of Your Faith

We understand what James meant when he concluded that tests lead to endurance. We understand that perseverance through tests builds steadfastness. But I’m not sure that is always enough to see us through them.

Who wouldn’t want to be steadfast, able to endure things other men might not be capable of. But when real pain and suffering comes, I’m not sure steadfastness alone is a quality that will consistently motivate us. Thankfully, James recognized more. There is a form of steadfastness that helps us receive all other things. There is a kind of steadfastness that will allow us to be perfected, completed, lacking nothing.

That steadfastness assumes that we are learning and being given something. What was lacking is being provided. That’s not how we normally think about tests. We think of a test as a forced demonstration of our own ability, of what we already have and know. Tests make us prove ourselves. We get a grade in return.

That isn’t the way scripture describes tests. Plus, why would a God who already knows all things force us to take an exam? He already knows the status of our faith. God gives us tests so that he might give us other things as well.

There are things we are not prone to learning or receiving in apathy. There are things that can’t be learned from the comfort of a recliner. God’s tests force us to see things, experience things, and receive things that we might otherwise not be willing to. Tests reveal what is true, what is there. And by this revelation, we are invited into something more.

When we face tests and trials we should not think of them as things we pass, things by which we demonstrate our own abilities or progress. Every test is an opportunity to learn and receive from God.

It is for this reason that the mountain of Abraham's sacrifice became known as the mountain on which the Lord provided. The mountain Abraham ascended to make his sacrifice, to prove his faith, he also descended, having received, having been spared, having learned still more about the nature and provision of the god he had long served.

Your own tests work that way. They are not necessarily easy, but they are necessary. They may not feel that way now, but they are for our good. God is said to work all things for good. It is only by the threat of these tests that we come to see it, to believe it, to hope for it.

No one prays for a test. No one prays for suffering. But we know it will come. By faith, we realize God is doing something good amid it. James recommends we count it as joy. God is providing.

How might God be using tests in your life to help you receive better things?