God’s Test of Faith

Did you know that the sense of self-actualisation can contradict God’s purpose for us? We examine now how some figures in the history of salvation either upheld or violated God’s purpose for them, beginning with Adam and Eve.

Detail of a painting of Adam and Eve by Austrian artist Peter Wenzel (1745-1829) that is displayed in the Pinacoteca at the Vatican Museums. (Photo: Nancy Wiechec/CNS)

Created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were to rule over all creation. That meant human beings were to look after all that God had created on earth: They were to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gen 1:27).

Humanity was to multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. God gave humanity the responsibility of looking after Planet Earth and all that lives on the planet. What a responsibility, what a blessing and what a privilege!

But there was a condition to the blessing: Adam and Eve were not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. All was well until the devil, in the form of the serpent, advised them that if they ate of the tree of knowledge, they would be like God, knowing good and evil.

In their ambition to be equal to their Creator, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sinned against him and violated his purpose for them.

By commanding them not to eat of the tree of knowledge, God was testing Adam and Eve, and they failed the test. The next figure in the history of salvation who was given a major test was Abraham, whom God had chosen to build the Jewish nation through which nation humanity would be saved from the sin of Adam.

Abraham’s test was heavier than that of Adam and Eve. Our first parents were commanded not to eat of the tree of knowledge, but Abraham was commanded: Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about (Gen 22:2).

When Abraham obeyed God’s command, the Lord gave him this message: I swear by myself … that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore … and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me (Gen 2:15-18).

The next servant of God we shall consider is King David. The Lord had chosen David to be king of Israel; he had saved David against King Saul who wanted to kill him and had made him victorious over all his enemies; but David sinned against God by committing adultery with Bathsheba and arranging for her husband Uriah to be killed in war.

God was angry with David for these heinous acts so much so that he made sure that the child born of the adulterous act did not live (2 Sam 11-12).

To satisfy his own desire David had disobeyed one of God’s Ten Commandments: You shall not commit adultery! In an attempt to protect his own ego, David had gone on to violate yet another commandment: You shall not murder! But God forgave David because he genuinely repented, as is shown in Psalm 51.

After David we come to Jesus who was tested and subjected to temptation as Adam and Eve had been (Mt 4: 1-10).

What is more, the Father wanted Jesus to be a sacrificial lamb like Isaac; and while God saved Isaac, he did not save Jesus from death on the cross. When he was tempted, Jesus remained steadfastly loyal to God (Mt 4); and when God wanted him to die for humanity, he submitted himself to the will of the Father: Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will , but yours be done (Lk 22:42).

There is no space in this article to elaborate on how the figures we have referred to dealt with self-actualisation. What is clear, however, is that we fulfil God’s purpose for us when we submit ourselves to him, when our decisions and actions in the worst of circumstances do not violate God’s will for us, as is shown in the examples of Abraham and Jesus.

From the life of David we learn that there is no sin that God does not forgive. If we commit the worst of sins, but genuinely and humbly repent, the Lord will assist us in our effort to fulfil his purpose for us.