You can’t have a testimony without a test

If you’re being tested today, you’re in good company! Job, a very righteous man, was tested beyond what most of us will ever have to endure. And when he emerged from the time of testing, he told God, ‘I heard about you from others; now I have seen you’ (Job 42:5 CEV). In the heat of the furnace, you experience God up close and personal. Sheila Schuller Coleman says, ‘Some tests are intended to assess what we’ve learned; others are intended to teach. We learn our most profound lessons when we’re tested…Like what we’re capable of…where we need to grow…and that there’s still more to learn! When your faith is being tested, the last thing you’re thinking about is learning a lesson…you just want to survive. But the lesson we learn from Job is that when we keep our faith in the most testing of times, we’ll “come out as gold” (Job 23:10 NASB). Think about it: did you ever hear a testimony that wasn’t about someone surviving a test? James says, “Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials” (James 1:2 NIV). When we suffer, when people say hateful things, when we lose our homes, when we encounter rifts in our family, when the doctor calls with a dire diagnosis – the last thing we feel is joy…If anyone could speak with authority on praising God in trials, it was Paul. He was beaten, thrown into jail, and run out of town. How does your week compare to his?’ When you get through this test, you will have a testimony to God’s strength and faithfulness, and be able to say, ‘The Lord is my God.’