Throughout life, human beings experience many unpleasant events. In fact, when honestly reflected upon, experiences that fall short of expectations often outnumber those that bring happiness. Many things happen outside the carefully arranged targets and plans. A natural question then arises: why must all these things happen, especially when people have become children of the heavenly Father and have sought to live rightly before Him?
To understand this, at least two spiritual realities need to be considered. First, in life, there must be factual proof, and this is an expression of God’s justice. God is indeed omniscient; He knows who will be faithful and who truly chooses Him. However, that divine knowledge must still be manifested in concrete reality. Faithfulness is not enough to be known—it must be proven. Therefore, testing becomes an inevitability in the lives of believers.
This principle is evident from the very beginning of human history. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God could not compromise. They had to be expelled from the Garden of Eden as an expression of God’s justice. The same principle appears in the story of Job. God declared to Satan that Job was a faithful and upright servant. Yet that faithfulness was not sufficient as a verbal declaration alone. Satan challenged it, claiming that Job’s faithfulness existed only because of God’s protective hedge. Then the hedge was removed. His children died, his possessions vanished, and his body was afflicted with disease. All of this did not happen because God was cruel, but because God’s justice required real proof.
Second, suffering and trials are permitted because human beings must be perfected. In the process of faith, God does not merely test human choices but also shapes character and personality. Abraham’s experience provides a powerful illustration. When he was confronted with the option of surrendering Isaac or holding on to him, God was actually at work in Abraham’s inner life. This process was necessary so that when human beings enter eternity, they truly stand in a state that is worthy and complete before God.
Therefore, faith must not be reduced to a mere verbal confession that Jesus is Lord and Savior. Belief without a transformation of behavior has never been saving faith. Salvation demands fundamental transformation in life—a change in attitudes, habits, and life orientation. This is where the complexity of human beings as soulful creatures is tested. Letting go of sin and old habits is not easy, because these things are deeply embedded within us. Yet it is precisely in this struggle that commitment to God is tested and purified.
When someone truly chooses God and says, “I choose You, Lord,” that choice must be expressed in concrete change. This process requires deep commitment, because what must often be released are the very things that have provided a sense of security and false happiness. At this point, a person learns to say honestly that whatever happens, God alone is the sole source of life’s joy.
God allows painful events to occur not without purpose; in them, the truth is revealed that those who are processed through suffering are souls specially favoured by God. When efforts fail, loved ones are taken away, or life’s hopes collapse one by one, God is not acting wrongly. On the contrary, God is separating and sanctifying His people as His special possession.
Therefore, every form of pleasure that begins to take first place in life must be treated with caution. This does not mean that people may not love their families or enjoy relationships, but none of these things should ever become idols. Loving without idolizing is a sign of spiritual maturity. We must protect our children and descendants through holy living and by drawing near as God’s beloved. In this way, we protect those whom we love.
Every person has a different life history, filled with failures and limitations. Yet if someone continues to hold firmly to the commitment to make God the only source of happiness and the ultimate support of life, that person will continue to grow in spiritual maturity. The more mature a person becomes, the fewer opportunities for joy in the world seem to exist. For as long as human beings seek, create, or expect happiness from the world, they are in fact still under the influence of the power of darkness, as recorded in Luke 4:5–8. Desiring the world means displacing God from the centre of worship.
For this reason, God allows painful events to occur, shattering human pride and self-exaltation. God is preparing His people so they may be worthy to serve as His spokespersons and examples to others. Pride and excessive self-importance are things God hates. He desires to bring human beings to the point where they themselves are no longer the center of enjoyment, but are fully submitted and dissolved in His presence.