Growth Through Testing
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. Genesis 1:1-5
“In the beginning when God created…” (Genesis 1:1). God is sovereign. He has all authority and power in heaven and on earth. He created all things, He creates order from chaos, and all His creation is subject to His control. God is good. The statements are true, but they appear to be in tremendous contrast to the world that at times seems out of control, violent, fear-inspiring, chaotic and unholy.
In the news, I see an array of disturbing images – a mass of people hitting and throwing things at one another in a street with burning buildings in the background, a different city with people shooting at one another while seeking shelter behind tanks, wildfires destroying homes, devasted property following a hurricane, exhausted healthcare workers with faces bruised from masks, lines of people seeking food… the list goes on. On the global scale the world seems chaotic and filled with pain, suffering and devastation.
I consider our church’s prayer list showing the prayers of a small little sliver of the Body of Christ and I see great suffering. Friends suffer through a variety of physical, emotional and mental attacks. Friends grieve lives ripped apart by the loss of loved ones, the loss of careers, the destruction of marriages. We celebrate friends who are healed, the birth of healthy children, couples joining in marriage, and so much more. Under it all is a sense of uneasiness, this unsettled anxiety created by the microscopic enemy surrounding us, the fact that each of us could unknowingly carry it and expose others, and the physical distance and vigilant caution the situation requires. The uneasiness vibrates our foundation. We have been in tension, pulled by the need for physical interaction and the longing to merely be healthy. On a local scale the world also seems random and chaotic.
What is going on? Let’s consider the chaos swirling around us and the undercurrent of uneasiness we are experiencing through the context of God’s holy word.
In the Book of Job we see Satan respecting God’s authority. Satan wants to attack Job, but he seeks God’s permission before doing so and when he attacks, Satan respects the limits imposed by God (see Job 1-2). So God is definitely in control, yet He allowed chaotic events to radically transform Job’s world. As the story begins, God describes Job as righteous, then invading forces robbed Job of his possessions and livelihood, and his children were all killed in a single freak accident, and his body was covered with horrific sores. In rapid succession Job lost his wealth, livelihood, children, health and social standing.
Job was righteous. Why would God possibly allow this? Didn’t his righteousness earn Job some level of protection? First, let’s consider the questions from Job’s perspective. As reality shifted around him, Job grieved and suffered physically and emotionally, he wondered why and he questioned God, but he never lost his faith in God and he continued praising God and through it all his faith grew. Through suffering, he gained eyes to see God in a new way. He truly encountered God and gained relationship with God (see Job 42:1-6). Through it all God revealed His glory to Job.
From an eternal perspective, Job discovered what is truly important. He lost things that may seem important for the flash of time we are here on earth, but he gained God in a new way. And through Job we gain eyes to see suffering through an eternal perspective. God allowed the events to unfold and He caused them to be recorded and preserved in Scripture so that we might learn, gain understanding, grow closer to God and gain context for the chaos swirling around us and our suffering today.
I have heard the incidents described as tests. Viewed through this lens, God allowed Satan to test Job. On occasion, not very often anymore, but on occasion I still have this nightmare about missing a final exam and I wake up panicked until I remember it’s been a while since college. As I think back to the testing process, I learned the questions that I missed much better than the ones I got right, because I went back and worked on them with greater intention. Tests are not merely tools to assess our status at a particular time, they are tools to help us grow, and Job’s faith and relationship with God grew through it all.
God’s holy word includes other examples of God allowing Satan to test, tempt and torment people to help them grow and to prepare them for ministry. God allowed Satan to test Jesus, preparing Him for ministry. God allowed Satan to sift Peter, preparing him for ministry. God allowed Satan’s messenger to continue attacking Paul during his ministry to keep him humble and focused. Let’s briefly consider each example.
Jesus. Each synoptic gospel describes Jesus being baptized in the Jordan, followed immediately by the Holy Spirit leading Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted or tested by Satan, followed immediately by Jesus beginning His ministry in Galilee (see Matthew 3:13 – 4; Mark 1:9-45; Luke 3:21 - 4). During His baptism God the Father affirmed Jesus saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). The next sentence says, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). The account of His testing concludes saying, “Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him” (Matthew 4:11). The next sentence says, “Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee” (Matthew 4:12) where He begins His ministry.
The Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness for the express purpose of allowing Satan to tempt or test Him. Jesus is God the Father’s Son, why would God allow that? Like Job, when viewed from Jesus’ personal perspective, His time in the wilderness and everything that entailed was another step in the process of preparing Him for ministry. Viewed from an eternal perspective, God led Jesus to the wilderness, allowed the events to unfold and caused them to be recorded and preserved in Scripture so that we might learn, gain understanding, grow closer to God and gain context for the chaos swirling around us and our suffering today. God allowed His Son to endure the testing for His growth and ours.
Peter. Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah. Jesus praised Peter because that knowledge could only come from heaven, and Jesus told Peter he was the rock upon whom Jesus would build His church (see Matthew 16:13-19); however, a few sentences after Jesus made that amazing declaration, Jesus compared Peter to Satan for focusing on human things rather than divine things (see Matthew 16:23). We live in this in-between state, influenced by both divine and evil influences, and we have physical needs and human appetites. Where is our focus? What is our priority?
On the evening of the Last Supper, Jesus implies an exchange between Satan and God similar to the one described in the Book of Job – Satan talks with God demanding to be allowed to test Peter’s faith. Once again, the implication is that Satan respects God’s authority and before “sifting” Peter, he requests permission to do so. Further, when we see Peter sifted, we assume God granted Satan’s request. Here is the exchange:
“Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.” Luke 22:31-34
God could have denied Satan’s request, but He allowed it. Why would He do so? As we read through the gospels and the Book of Acts we see that Peter’s faith was indeed tested. Peter saw Jesus arrested and his faith faltered to the point of denying knowing Jesus, exactly as Jesus foretold (see Matthew 26:69-75). He returned to Galilee and went back to his old life as a fisherman in Capernaum, but post-Easter Jesus visited him and urged him to return to the ministry (see John 21:15-19). Shortly after that visit, Peter returned to Jerusalem where he preached his first sermon, and 3,000 listeners came to believe in Christ Jesus (see Acts 2:14-42).
Viewed from Peter’s perspective, his time of sifting prepared him for ministry. Viewed from an eternal perspective, God allowed Satan to sift Peter as wheat and caused the events to be recorded and preserved in Scripture so that we might learn, gain understanding, grow closer to God and gain context for the chaos swirling around us and our suffering today. God allowed the rock upon whom He would build the Body of Christ to endure the testing for His growth and ours.
Paul. Paul was possibly the greatest evangelist of all times. He wrote 13 of the 27 books comprising the New Testament and he helped form and grow churches across the Roman empire. Success often breeds corruption. For Paul, God provided a “messenger of Satan” to keep him humble and focused on his ministry. Paul describes it as follows:
Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Satan’s attacks, whatever form they may have taken, kept Paul humble, focused on his weakness, and focused on his ministry, “for power is made perfect in weakness.”
God is sovereign. He has all authority and power in heaven and on earth. He created all things, He creates order from chaos, and all His creation is subject to His control. As you survey the chaos and live through your pain and suffering, please know that God – Father, Christ Jesus and Holy Spirit – is sovereign, is love, is good and is in control.
What torment are you suffering? What service is God preparing you to accomplish? How is He molding, transforming, strengthening, growing you. Use your situation to find God with new eyes, seek Him completely, and ask Him to enlighten your spirit allowing you to see the path forward in Him, through Him, serving Him in ways you may not have ever imagined. How might God reveal His glory through you?