The Lord examines the righteous. (Psalm 11:5)
The Lord examines us — not because He wants to hurt us, but because He loves us. We are precious in His sight, and He will refine us in His fires of affliction so that we come out more pure than when we went in. This is true for all God’s children. None of us escape His examination.
Our God tries and tests us out of a heart of eternal love. There is simply no better way to remove the dross of self than through the examinations of our Savior. If Jesus did not love you, He would not examine you; if we really understood just how much He loves us, we would cry out for His continual examinations, as David did —
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
Never forget that the examinations we are taken through by our Lord are not conducted so that He can gain a deeper knowledge of our commitment to Him; rather, they are conducted so that we will grow in our understanding of what our heart beats for and how deep our own love is for Him. God knows all things (1 John 3:20). God knew Abraham’s heart when He asked him to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-15), but Abraham did not fully know his own heart of love for God until he was examined. God proved to Abraham that he should indeed be known for all eternity as the father of the faithful (Romans 4:16).
The examinations we go through are the proving grounds of our faith. Only when we have passed through the furnace of affliction and come out the other side of suffering do we know how genuine our faith truly is. Do you need more proof? We need look no further than the story of Job; God allowed Satan to subject Job to unimaginable trials. And what was the result? Job never rejected God’s right to examine him. He trusted God throughout every trial, even when he could not trace Him in them. “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him,” Job declared (Job 13:15).
Know this: Whatever depth of faith you have today is a result of the examinations you have been given by God in the past. If you have been seeking worldly ease, examinations will surely come. Growth does not happen when we are secure within our comfort zones. But when God forces us into places where we are uncomfortable, He is conforming us more and more to the image of His beloved Son. And that is the purpose for every examination we encounter.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 