Testing of our faith

Greetings:
I don't know about you, but sometimes when difficult things come into my life, I wonder why.
I try to question God.
How do you think that works out?
God has a way of humbling us and show us that we must be willing to trust and obey even if we don’t know why or aren’t given that answer for some time.
We do need to know that God does test and he knows how it will all work out.
Testing makes our faith stronger.
Testing reveals to us where we are in terms of our faith as God already knows whether or not we will pass a given test. It is as we go through the fire of testing and trial that we can be strengthened, sanctified, and purified.
James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
Let us discern between testing through various trials and the tempting of the devil.
Scripture denounces tempting in James 1:13 which says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone."
God does allow Satan to tempt us, but we can take hope that we will not be tempted beyond what we can handle and escape from by faith as it says 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Look at Genesis 22 and you'll see a big test for Abraham.
Remember God had promised Abraham descendants through Isaac that would be numerous. Yet, out of the blue, God commanded Abraham to do something that totally contradicted His promised blessing to him. He was to take his son Isaac and offer him up to God as a sacrifice.
Certainly Abraham must have been initially baffled at this stunning directive, wondering why. But Abraham had great faith, and so he obeyed God, even going as far as binding up his son and taking the knife up in readiness to slaughter his only son we read in Genesis 22:9-10.
Abraham’s faith was evident.
There was no denying it and God suddenly told Abraham to stop and provided instead a ram to sacrifice. This was merely a test of Abraham’s heart.
How many of us would have passed that test like Abraham?
We need not fear the tests that God brings to us. Rather, we need only trust Him to bring us through them. Why? Because God is always good, faithful, and true, knowing that we will end up better than we were before.
Be blessed.
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