Do we trust God enough to leave the outcome in His hand, or do we grow anxious and try to seize control of the situation? Is God our first source of provision or our last-ditch effort at finding an answer?

God tests our faith to produce patience and character; to cause our faith to grow even stronger in Him.

Once while my friend were pastoring a small congregation, he had hired an individual to oversee his child care center.

This person came with very high recommendations but it soon became apparent that there were some serious issues with integrity.

How to Respond When God Tests Your Faith

To make a long story short this person embezzled thousands of dollars, some of which were state and federal funds.  My became aware of the situation when the manager of his bank pulled him aside one day as he was making a personal deposit to ask why he was not returning his calls.

He was ycompletely unaware of his repeated attempts to contact the church office since all calls were channeled through the office of this person we had hired.

While skimming funds off the top, this individual also failed to pay the bills and his mortgage had remained unpaid for two months which placed him close to foreclosure.

They were still both young, in their early thirties, and facing complete ruin.

They were dealing with a person who had drained their church and business funds, extending to even the federal level. If he lost his building, he would most likely also lose his reputation as pastors as well.

In times of utter darkness we had learned to call upon God who is our help. “Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.” Psalm 121.

At that time our church owned a rental property, which we had wanted to sell but for which we could not find a buyer.

The day before foreclosure we received a call from the renter saying that he was prepared to purchase the rental property and had cash in hand. It was a genuine miracle.

We met at the bank that day to sign the papers and pay the mortgage. (This was before the days when property purchase agreements were not as thick as novels.)

At the midnight hour, so to speak, our resource came in.

God is never late but there are times when He will test your faith. All tests and trials of life are all about God revealing to us His character and our need.

We tend to turn to God when we have nowhere else to turn, but God wants us to dwell in Him. He wants us to turn to Him first.

Times of stress and turmoil squeeze out of us the parts we have not yet yielded to God so we can come face to face with our need.

He then reveals Himself as our source.

He does not always answer our need as we would expect, but in His all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-wise character He will answer with what is best for us.

The question is can we trust His answer for us?