Why God tests His people

Sometimes we wonder why God causes hardships on His people. This is from a message I heard several weeks ago in a lesson on doubting. As a child of God, we should never doubt that His plan IS perfect and He knew everything about us before we were born (Jer 1:5). So I wanted to share this today with you and pray that it speaks to you as it did me.

Here are 6 scriptures that tell why God tests His people

• To see if we will obey Him -- Exodus 15:25-26 25 "Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."
• So that we might fear Him and not sin -- Exodus 20:20 "Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."
• To know our heart -- 2 Chronicles 32:31 "Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart."
• To humble us and do us good in the end -- Deuteronomy 8:16 "In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end."
• To produce patience and endurance and make us perfect and complete lacking nothing -- James 1:2-4 "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
• To show His power in us -- Romans 9:17 ""I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."