Trials and Tests

Trials and Tests

The discipline of the Lord is typically not pleasant.

“And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2

The generation that waited on the plains of Moab to begin the invasion of Canaan was not unmindful of the events of the wilderness. God commanded them to remember His doings with them, especially the ways He had tested and tried their trust in and love for Him. These trials and tests were of two sorts.

First are the pure tests. Israel would come upon a situation in which some obstacle or difficulty was in the way—lack of food and water, for example. Nothing in their conduct had provoked this test; God simply allowed them to come to this point so that He and they would be able to discern the true nature of their love for Him. Would they grumble, complain, and head back to Egypt? Or would they wait on the Lord to supply their needs? Israel’s responses to such “unprovoked” tests were usually mixed; however, as they looked to the Lord, through Moses, to meet their needs, He blessed them and moved them through this test to the next stage of their walk with Him.

Other tests and trials came because of something in the people’s conduct. Israel had begun to do something wrong—worship a calf, challenge the leadership of Moses, add to the Word of God—and God moved decisively to correct their errant ways. These trials were often accompanied by judgment of a temporal and physical sort—disease, infestation, death. In extreme situations God used these judgments to remove recalcitrant individuals so that they could no longer mislead the people. In most instances, however, His design was to bring the nation to repentance and renewal of their covenant relationship with the Lord.

Israel’s experience in the wilderness provided a template for how they could expect God to relate to them in the land of promise. He would continue to test them, in order to grow them through trials and difficulties into a closer and more powerful walk with Him. And He would continue to chasten them for wandering off the path of His Law, until, through repentance and renewal, the people turned back to Him once again.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.