Faith

Many people have asked the proverbial question, “Why did God allow this to happen?” A response that these individuals are often presented with is that “God did this to test your faith.” This kind of reasoning has always bothered me. Even though I see the grounds for it in scripture, I have always thought the idea of pain and suffering as an expansion of one’s faith is somewhat sadistic. What benefit could God possibly receive in seeing my faith expanded through tragedy? However, my views were somewhat turned upside down when I read that, “God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t.”Through reading this quote, I was forced to consider the rationality for God allowing tests of humanity’s faith and love. I had never considered the notion that God may be using these tests to show us the extent of our love or faith. I had never considered that I even needed to be shown the extent of my love and faith for God.