From Rick Warren and is book ‘The Purpose Driven Life’:
This Life is a Test. This life metaphor is seen in stories throughout the Bible. God continually tests character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty. Words like trials, temptations, refining, and testing occur more than 200 times in the Bible. God tested Abraham by asking him to offer his son Isaac. God tested Jacob when he had to work extra years to earn Rachel as his wife. . . . But the Bible also gives us many examples of people who passed a great test, such as Joseph, Ruth, Ester, and Daniel.
Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. You’re are always being tested. God constantly watches your response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment and even the weather! He watches the simplest of actions such as when you open the door for others, when you pick up a piece of trash, or when you’re polite toward a clerk or waitress.
We don’t know all the tests God will give you, but we can predict some of them, based on the Bible. You will be tested by major changes, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies. In my own life I have noticed that God tests my faith through problems, tests my hope by how I handle possessions, and tests my love through people.
A very important test is how you act when you can’t feel God’s presence in your life. Sometimes God intentionally draws back, and we don’t sense His closeness. A king named Hezekiah experienced this test. The Bible says, “God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and see what was really in his heart. Hezekiah had enjoyed a close fellowship with God, but at a crucial point in his life God left him alone to test his character, to reveal a weakness, and to prepare him for more responsibility.
When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life. Even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God. Some tests seem overwhelming, while others you don’t even notice. But all of them have eternal implications.
The good news is that God wants you to pass the tests of life, so he never allows the tests you face to be greater than the grace he gives you to handle them. The Bible says, God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.”3
Every time you pass a test, God notices and makes plans to reward you in eternity. James says, “Blessed are those who endure when they are tested. When they pass the test they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. ~Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 USA), 42-44 (continued)
