How is suffering a test of faith?
Asked by: Cortney Hayes | Last update: August 13, 2025Score: 4.9/5 (16 votes)
How does suffering put our faith to the test?
In other words, endurance produces proven character. Our patient perseverance through suffering, with joy, says we are real — that we are not the sin-enslaved soul we once were, but a new creation by God, one he promises to complete (Philippians 1:6).
How does suffering increase faith?
Our faith grows through suffering because it encourages us to identify with Christ and his suffering, leads us to see the hand of God in our lives, and it gives us the language we need to come alongside others in their journey.
What is the test of faith?
God wanted to know, “Abraham, do you love Me more than you love Isaac?” The test of faith is primarily between two loves: what we love dearly, and what we must love supremely. Do you have any love that is greater than your love for Jesus Christ? If so, God's message to you is, “Put it on the altar and sacrifice it.”
Is suffering a test from God?
Suffering is a test of faith Suffering is used by God to test a person's faith e.g. Abraham and Sarah suffered from infertility. God promised them a son and when Isaac was born he was very precious to them. However, God asked Abraham to kill his son to test that his faith in Him was genuine.
Why God Tests Your Faith
What God says about suffering?
1 Peter 2:19-21
19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
Why does God test us with hardships?
Just as God used Gideon's testing, so too God uses our trials to show that he alone deserves the credit. Trials make it clear to the world that I am not in control. Everyone can see that I do not have the ability or strength to overcome the problem. Therefore, when God works he gets all the glory, not me.
Which biblical figure suffered as a test of his faith?
The Bible tells the story of a man called Job who is described as a good man who loves God. Satan. challenges God, saying that Job is only good because he has a happy life. God allows Satan to put Job's faith to the test by causing him to suffer.
What Scripture says test of faith?
2 Corinthians 13:5 English Standard Version 2016 (ESV)
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
What is the true test of genuine faith?
Every trouble that comes into your life, whether large or small, becomes a test of your faith. You either pass or fail. Passing the test keeps it a trial. Failing the test turns it into a temptation.
Why is suffering important to God?
Suffering: Reminds Us Of Our Dependence Upon God
God allows Christians to experience suffering and it gives us a chance to trust Him (Job 2; 2nd Corinthians 12:8-10; 1 Peter 4:12-13). Suffering is part of life, and everyone experiences pain and sorrow at some point in their life.
How to be faithful in suffering?
“Those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good” (1 Peter 4:19 NIV).
Is suffering a blessing from God?
I personally can testify to this truth in my life. That's why I define “suffering” as “blessing in disguise”. Regardless of its cause – and despite its discomfort – suffering remains a gracious gift from the hand of God, who loves and disciplines us in order to purge us from our sin and sanctify our hearts.
How does suffering refine our faith?
Suffering is part and parcel of the Christian life. Because we also know from Scripture about God's holy character and His sovereignty over all that happens, however, we understand that suffering strengthens our faith in order to produce steadfastness and hope (Rom. 5:3–5).
Why does God want to test our faith?
God puts us in situations that tear our faith, so that it can grow back stronger. I've seen this happen so often that I'm inclined to say it's God's standard practice. You come to Jesus, and pretty soon you'll go through an experience that tests your faith.
What does suffering teach us?
As Pastor Fritz Williams notes, “Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. In those transparent moments we know other people's joys and sorrows, and we care about their concerns as if they were our own.”
What did God ask Abraham to do as a test of his faith?
The word first occurs when God tested Abraham with a command to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:1). That test is difficult to read: Abraham, the father of our faith, silently travelled to Mount Moriah, bound Isaac and laid him on the altar, taking the knife in hand.
What does psalm 11 verse 5 mean?
At times, God may bring tests and trials to good people to test them: to prove the genuineness of their faith. This does not come in the form of temptation to sin (James 1:13; 1 Corinthians 10:13).
What does 2 Corinthians 13/5 mean?
Along with that, it calls Christians to examine the details and results of their faith, to see if it's according to the truth. It would involve scrutinizing one's own conduct to see how—or if—they follow through on the will of God for their lives. In short, Paul is asking them to see if Christ is truly in them.
Who did God punish to test faith?
Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is suddenly beset with horrendous disasters that take away all he holds dear—a scenario intended to test Job's faith in God.
Who in the Bible struggled with faith?
Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Elijah, John the Baptist, and the list goes on. They all were doubters. Even Jesus' family thought He was crazy. All the disciples ran away in doubt, not just Thomas.
Who had a mental illness in the Bible?
Throughout the pages of Scripture, we encounter the stories of faithful, godly men and women who struggled with depression: King David, Jeremiah, Elijah, Job, Hannah, and Naomi (to name just a few).
How does suffering test our faith?
Peter clearly says that suffering is a trial that proves our faith is genuine. Just as gold is proven genuine when it passes through fire, so a Christian who keeps his faith as he passes through pain shows he really is a Christian.
How do you know when God is testing your faith?
It's a test that happens when a major change comes into your life and you don't know where God is taking you. God tells us to go—and changes everything in our lives in the process—but he doesn't tell us where. God told Abraham to go from Ur to somewhere new without telling him where.
Why does God put people through hardships?
God is lovingly using a hardship in the life of a believer to enhance their relationship with God, to deepen it, and make it stronger.