The Way of Testing

by Bishop W. Reynold Storr

November 3, 2004

1Peter:4:12-13: Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial

Which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto

you: But rejoice, Inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings;

that, when his glory Shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with

exceeding joy.

Christian sincerity becomes Christian reality only through divine testing. Thus, to make us real, God must test us. Spiritual potential becomes actual fruitfulness only through divine testing. Hence, if we are to bear fruit, God must test us. Saving faith is distinguished from mental assent only through divine testing. So, to discover who really trusts Him, God must test us. Bible knowledge is transformed into personal knowledge of God only through divine testing. Therefore, if we are to truly know Him, God must test us. For these and other reasons, the Spirit of God exhorts us to “think it not strange” when our time comes to enter into the demanding-yet-rewarding way of testing.

To endure our time of testing, we need a special spiritual strength that comes only from the strong meat of the Word. For that, let us feed upon, and thoroughly digest, the lessons from Job…

LESSONS FROM JOB

(Job 1:1) “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job…”

The book of Job reveals God’s permissive will in His testing of the righteous. It discloses such vital information as: the kind of Christian God tests, the types of difficulties He permits to test them, why He permits these tests, the end of His testing process and His own actions before, during, and after our tests. Surprisingly, this seemingly negative book contains some very positive truths.

The first two chapters are the most revealing. They are a spiritual telescope by which we may look through the natural barriers and view the supernatural realm beyond us. These passages describe the heavenly preludes to Job’s earthly trials—and those of every obedient Christian. They show that before each of Job’s test, Satan challenged God to prove that Job would not continue trusting and serving Him in the midst of great and inexplicable or strange adversity. Satan hoped, and plainly stated, that Job’s trials would cause him to break relations with the Lord: (Job 1:11) “Touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face…” (2:5) “Touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face”. This is a revelation every zealous Christian should take to heart because it explains the reason for many of the trials we face in our own lives. Job’s trials, therefore, are model tests. They are divinely designed troubles similar to those we face, carefully recorded to comfort, educate and inspire us in our day of adversity.

Before each of our trials visit us, a reenactment (repeat action of an earlier event) to Job’s tests occurs. God and Satan have a chat concerning us in heaven. Satan challenges our heavenly Father to try us, claiming that we will “curse God and die”—turn away from the Lord and self-destruct—if he is allowed to have at us. God then accepts Satan’s challenge, granting permission for him to trouble us without cause.

But, conversely (to change, or reverse), He hopes that we will continue to trust, cling to and serve Him despite the difficulties and pains He permits. In these respects our examinations are parallel to those of Job.

But let no reader misunderstand: The kinds of ordeals Job endured in the book that bears his name are not those Christians face every day. They are major tests, master trials—final exams in the school of the Spirit. They are therefore distinctly more severe and lengthy than the trials we face in the early and intermediate stages of our Christian development. Not until we reach the end of our spiritual testing process does God expose us to distresses that approach in severity those that suddenly engulfed Job. Nevertheless, the same characteristics we see in his trials are also present in every test we face, regardless of its difficulty or duration, from the first to the last day of our Christian walk. Most importantly, God’s actions will also be exactly the same. Everything He did for Job before, during and after his trials, He will do for you and me when He thrusts us into the furnace of testing.

Let us now examine in detail God’s actions in Job’s trials.

The Qualifier

Christians must qualify for the kind of testing represented in the Book of Job. God doesn’t put driftwood through his refining process. It burns up too quickly in fiery trials, and, if it does survive, what value would it hold? Fired driftwood is still driftwood and still worthless, like hay and stubble. Only gold and silver—valuable and useful souls—qualify for trials like those Job faced. As the Qualifier, God reserves His hardest trials for His most promising servants.

And so we read that Job was tested severely because he was the best man God had. On heaven’s witness stand, God raised His right hand and testified of Job’s character, “My servant, Job…there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man…” (Job 1:8). The words “none like him in the earth” are most significant. They set Job apart from his peers worldwide. The evidence we find in the opening chapters alone corroborates God’s testimony and establishes that Job indeed had a soul of the highest caliber. In its first two chapters, heaven’s court record states the following:

Job feared God (1:1), Job avoided sin (1:1), Job loved his children (1:5).

Job rose early to commune with God (1:5), Job was “perfect,” or spiritually mature (1:8)

Job interceded regularly (1:5),Job understood fallen mankind’s inclination to sin (1:5)

Job had formed the habit of worship (1:20-21).

And the verdict is: perfect and upright, fearing God and eschewing evil, Job represents maturing Christian disciples, not novices. He typifies vessels aspiring unto honor, not vessels living dishonorably. He is the embodiment of the words, “approved unto God” (2Timothy 2:15) and “sanctified, and [fit] for the master’s use” (2:21). Case closed.

Like Job, only upright, seeking Christians qualify for strong testing. These are born again, Spirit-baptized, instructed in the Word and ways of God, and obedient; and they have already proven themselves in ordinary Christian trials. The Qualifier passes over all other kinds of Christians—the newly converted, the unspiritual and the disobedient. He is not interested in firing babies or carnal ones, and certainly not driftwood, hay or stubble.

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