My reading today in Deuteronomy chapters 13 and 14 has left me asking a question: Does God test us? In Deuteronomy 13:3 it states that, “you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord you God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” The scripture says that God is testing the Israelites when there is a false prophet luring them away. This was something that I guess thought didn’t happen. I don’t know why I thought that because I honestly don’t have any reason to assume anything about God.
To get a greater grasp on what this word test means I looked it up in my concordance and it appears throughout the Old Testament in Hebrew and also in the New Testament in the Greek. Now I want to limit myself to looking at the use of the word within the Pentateuch. Limiting my search to the first five books of the Bible helps because Moses authored all the books and I can have consistency in the use of the word.
This word ‘testing’ found in Deuteronomy 13:3 in Hebrew is ‘nasah’ which means: to test, try. The word appears as test six times, tested five times, and testing twice within the Pentateuch in Genesis 22:1; 42:15,16; Exodus 15:25; 16:4; 17:2,7; 20:20; Numbers 14:22; and Deuteronomy 6:16; 8:2,16; 13:3. You have the story of God testing Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, of Joseph testing his brothers to see if they were spies, when the Israelites grumbled about water and food it says that God tests the people to see if they will walk in His instructions, of the Israelites complaining and testing God asking for water again, of God testing the Israelites so they may fear Him and not sin, where the people tested God ten times and didn’t listen and they were sent to wander in the wilderness, when God tells the people to not test Him as at Massah, of God testing the people for 40 years in the wilderness to know their hearts and see if they will obey, that God tested the people for their overall good, and lastly of God testing the people with false prophets. All of these verses show that God indeed will test the Israelites and in turn the Israelites put God to the test. How does this relate to me? I honestly do not know. Does God test people today? Do we test God? From all of my reading through the Bible the story of the Israelites parallels my journey as a christian. I think that God test people today and I imagine we put GOd to the test just as the people of Israel did. I think it is important to know that God is not causing us to fall when we are tested. He allows me to choose which is a mystery and when I choose and sin that is wholly my fault.
In light of my study on the word ‘test’ I have a greater appreciation of Deuteronomy. The rules laid down in chapter 13 to stay away from idolatry and in chapter 14 to only eat clean animals was for the greater good of the Israelites. God desired loving obedience from the people and that formed as He laid tests before them where they sometimes failed and other times succeeded to follow God’s command. How does this reflect to my faith? I don’t know exactly. I just believe that I should not live in fear of every circumstance that is in my path wondering if I am being tested. I will trust that God has my best in all His plans and I will seek to honor Him in the choices I make. I will fail but when I fail I will get up and keep following God.
Yes God does test us. He proves us to see if we are ready to go to the next level. If my kid turns 17 I cant just give him a car and say go drive. He has to pass a written exam go through a trial period and then when he believes he is ready get in the car and pass a driving test. God will test our will (his over ours) or obedience just as he did Abraham. Our faith as Job was tested. Afert all he did give Satan permission to do what he did. Our hearts are also tested as was Moses. The test is not for God, he knows all things. The test is for us to see were we fall short (let every man examine him-self) and self correct.
Hello Aaron, Everyone fails and gets up and tries again. But GOD said His yoke is easy and usually are the test. As Jesus also tested his apostle Phillip in John 6:5-6. But it more than a test; it was a lesson for in verse 10 He ask that all the men sit down and then Jesus prayed over what they had and did His work or as others would say miracle. But it is His work and Gods will. The test was how are you going to do it? Well of course in this ordeal there is no way what they had would feed all these people, even if they could of found a way to even buy what was needed. Always GOD ask us to stop what we are doing and realize He is GOD and by stopping to do this GOD does the work. It is hard to figure at times when we need to stop what we are doing and follow this simple way of what GOD ask of us. Just so He can do His work and we can see He is GOD. We always think we know what GOD wants us to do. But we forget about the part that He is GOD and we need to stop and let Him do things. In part we do not fail ever if we stop and pray to GOD to do His will and not do as we want instead.
Any way wanted to throw a comment to your blog here. Nice to see someone see’s the testings of GOD in a proper manner.