TRIALS-TESTING
Every
temptation is a kind of test, but not every test is a temptation. Tests and
temptations have different purposes, and they come from different places. Tests
are designed to show what someone can do. Their purpose is positive, which
explains why God Himself tests people, as He tested Abraham (Heb. 11:17). A
test is a trial posed by God to prove the strength of our faith. Temptations,
on the other hand, are more negative. Their explicit purpose is to entice
people to sin, which is why they come from the Evil One. A temptation is a
trial posed by Satan, with the wicked hope that we will fail.
Philip Graham Ryken
When You Pray, Crossway Books, 2000,
p. 151.
Losses and
disappointments are the trials of our faith, our patience, and our obedience.
When we are in the midst of prosperity, it is difficult to know whether we have
a love for the Benefactor or only for His benefits. It is in the midst of
adversity that our piety is put to the trial.
John Fawcett
Christ Precious.
Every person
in the world, including yourself, will encounter
various trials throughout life. Satan seeks to defeat you by tempting you to
trust your own wisdom, to live according to your self-centered feelings, and to
gratify the desires of your flesh. In contrast, God’s will is for you to be an
overwhelming conqueror in all of these tests for His honor and glory.
Biblical Counseling Foundation
Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 8, Page 3,
Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.
Fire tries
Iron, and temptation tries a just man.
Thomas a Kempis
Adversities
do not make a man frail. They show what sort of man he is.
Thomas a Kempis
You
know why men test gold, why they put it in the fire. They know that if it is
gold, fire will not hurt it. Men do not seek to destroy gold with fire. They do
not seek to harm it in any way. Instead, they try to prove beyond all doubt
that it is gold. And that is what God is doing when He applies the yardstick of
His Word to His people. He seeks to show them, and the world, that they are
true Christians.
Tom Wells
Christian: Take Heart! By Permission of the
Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA. 1987, p. 150-151.
You will have
no test of faith that will not fit you to be a blessing if you are obedient to
the Lord. I never had a trial but when I got out of the deep river I found some
poor pilgrim on the bank that I was able to help by that very experience.
A.B. Simpson
Do I learn
through dark providences, or simply seem relieved when they are over?
Sinclair B. Ferguson
Healthy
Christian Growth, The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle,
PA. 1991, p. 25.
When God
gives a promise, He always tries our faith. Just as the roots of trees take
firmer hold when they are contending with the wind, so faith takes a firmer
hold when it struggles with adverse appearances.
Robert Murray McCheyne
Comfort in Sorrow, Christian Focus, 2002, p.
40, Used by Permission.
The devil
tempts, that he may deceive; but God suffers us to be tempted, to try us.
Temptation is a trial of our sincerity.
Thomas Watson
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 295.
Trials come
to prove and improve us.
Augustine
Whomever the
Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of His fellowship ought to prepare
themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and
various kinds of evil. It is the Heavenly Father’s will thus to exercise them
so as to put His own children to a definite test. Beginning with Christ, His
first-born, He follows this plan with all His children.
John Calvin
God nearly
always tests us through other people.
Roy Hession
The Calvary Road, Christian Literature Crusade, 1950,
p. 49. P.O. Box 1449, Fort Washington, PA 19034-8449. Used by Permission.
Whereas God tests our faith, he never tempts
it (James 1:13). The purpose of divine testing is to sanctify and strengthen.
The purpose of satanic tempting is to deceive and destroy. Evil neither exists
in the heart of God nor is He its author. It most assuredly exists in our
hearts and we are its author.
Sam Storms
Tactics of Temptation, November 8, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
Of course one
must take “sent to try us” the right way. God has not been trying an experiment
on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It
was I who didn’t.
C.S. Lewis
That
is God’s plan and purpose – to use Satan’s temptations as a means of testing
and strengthening our faith in Him and of our growing stronger in
righteousness. God allows testings in our lives in order that our spiritual “muscles”
may be exercised and strengthened.
Whether the testing is by God’s initiative or is sent by Satan, God will
always use it to produce good in us when we meet the
test in His power.
John MacArthur
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary
Matthew 1-7, Moody, 1985, p. 87-88.
A test is an
act of worship; faith untested cannot be trusted.
Author
Unknown