Testing - Who Benefits?

When God wishes to teach us a lesson, He may test us. That seems backwards because typically (or hopefully) we've learned the lesson before the test. Humanity is a stiff-necked group, however, and sometimes the test is the means of the lesson.

But what about Job? He walked carefully so as to avoid that kind of testing, and he was tested like none other! It seems unavoidable, doesn't it. Walk carelessly, invite testing... walk carefully, invite testing.

But God is really into one thing - faith building. He wants to build our faith.

The Message says this:1Pe 1:7 Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

I've heard many use this passage to say that God tests us so He can find out if our faith is genuine. That's really a silly notion. God already knows if our faith is genuine. God tests us in order to prove to ourselves that our faith is genuine. After all, it's our own faith that moves the mountain. It's faith in who we are in God that permits the miraculous.