“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” (Ps. 119:71)
When I first started school as a child, I couldn’t wait; it was going to be so much fun. And it was fun, until one day something very strange happened. The teacher said, “Today, we are going to have a test over all the material you have been taught. Wait…what? A test? You mean I was supposed to be remembering everything you’ve been teaching me? I think I am ready to go home now!
But, as I soon found out, tests were a normal part of school life. You can only go so long in school without having to take a test. And something else I found out was the higher up in school you get the tougher the tests are! It is one thing to have a test on your colors or on your ABC’s, but when you throw Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus into the mix…that launches you into a whole new universe!
As long as there are lessons to be learned, there will be tests. And tests are not just for school, they are also for life…especially the Christian life. Even the psalmist said he was thankful for the afflictions he had gone through because they taught him something. His afflictions had taught him to learn God’s statutes.
Lessons and tests are no fun, but they do accomplish something. Just like troubles and trials in our lives, they teach us to depend more on God than on ourselves. We learn more about God through a storm than we sometimes do in a Sunday School Class.
So, if you are going through a trial, ask God to teach you the lesson He wants you to learn, so that you can pass the test with flying colors!