Why God Tests Us

Go is the One Who Tests, and he will test you. Don't think of final exams and test anxiety. Think of this test as a way to expose traitors during wartime. We are the potential traitors and don't even know it. God tests us because we are so oblivious to the mixed allegiances in our hearts. The purpose of the test is to help us see our hearts and if they are found traitorous, we can turn back to God. God is not playing mind games with us; he is forging a relationship.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain obread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. - Ex. 16:4

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 yto know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. - Deut. 8:2

Control freaks and worriers are being told that the challenges of life are ordained by the Father and King. They are neither random nor accidental. The outcome of these daily tests doesn't give God any new information about us. He is the Searcher and Knower of hearts. At least one of their purposes is to reveal us to ourselves. In that, they have the potential to reorient us and send us back to the true God.

- Ed Welch, Running Scared: Fear, Worry & the God of Rest, p.  75, 76

This book is really good.