Tested Faith

James 1:2-4 ESV says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." From reading these verses we see that these trials test our faith and when our faith is tested we grow! 

In every aspect of life we want to grow! If we are athletic we want to grow in strength, speed, and in IQ of the game. If we are in to music we want our music theory and composition to grow along with our musical technique. If we are in to academics we want our brain to grow in knowledge and its problem solving skills.

Spiritually God desires us to grow! He wants us to know Him more each day. He does not want us to wake up each day knowing Him the same as we did the day before! In return, we should desire to know God more each and every day that we are on this earth! In reading James 1:2-4 we know that trials are what grow our faith, which means we grow in knowing God. In light of this, I would say, that knowing God more never comes without going through trials! 

I want to take some time to look at a specific character in the Bible. Even if you are not familiar with the Bible and the characters in it; chances are you have heard the name of this character and the story I am about to share with you. The characters names is Noah. He comes on the scene in Genesis chapter 6. Before we see the command that God gives Noah, God saw man and grieved in His heart. In Genesis 6:5-6 it says,

"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart."

It is said that Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation. So God told Noah that He was going to destroy the earth but He was going to save Noah and his family. God gave Noah the task of making an enormous ark which He would use to keep Noah, his family, and animals alive during the flood. In the beginning of Genesis chapter 7 God tells Noah to gather his family and the animals that he was instructed to get and to get into the ark. Noah immediately listens and acts on God's command!

In verse 10 we see an amazing test of Noah's faith. It says, "And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth." Do not miss this! Noah and his family, along with the animals, were inside the ark for seven days until the flood started. Noah was building a major ark amongst a wicked generation. He probably was not getting a lot of Instagram likes on his pictures of the ark, if you know what I mean. Then he had to get into this massive boat he built and for seven days there was no rain. I am sure people were yelling at him and his family for being ridiculous because the flood was not going to happen. Noah and his family may have been tempted to jump out of the ark because it seemed like God was not going to flood the earth, but Noah TRUSTED GOD! Those seven days I am sure were hard but it grew Noah's faith.

Noah's faith grew when he built the ark and when he had to be in there when there was no rain. Noah trusted that God would be faithful to him and keep His promise. The next time that we find ourselves in a circumstance that is a trial, we need to look and see how God is trying to grow us! We must trust God and know that He is testing us to grow our faith in Him. God is a faithful God and He will never let us down!