Back in the '90s, you may remember a PSA that encouraged seatbelt wearing where it always concluded, "you could learn a lot from a dummy."
The goal of this PSA was to crash test dummies in a car and what they were doing was illustrating the difference it makes when you wear a seatbelt. Recently, I was thinking about that commercial the other day as I was thinking about the times that we are in right now. A lot of people feel like they're in a time of testing and I am one of those people I really feel like my faith is being tested every time I catch my breath. There's something else literally every time I breathe I am not exaggerating every time I catch my breath. There is always something else going on and the way we know something is sure, strong, steadfast is by testing it. Those crash test dummy commercials are real because that's how they actually do test cars for safety.
They actually do put a car through a very rigorous test to make sure that the airbags work and the seatbelts work to make sure that the person inside is safe. In the same way, a believer can expect a life of testing. In fact, I don't even know how many of the letters in the New Testament open this way, but most of them open with an encouragement to endure through testing. This is what it says in 1 Peter 1:6:
"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." - 1 Peter 1:6
The next verse doesn't say these are unusual. It says:
"These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." - 1 Peter 1:7
You are in a season of testing. You are always in a season of testing. But here's the thing, God is not testing you so He can know that your faith is good. God tests us so that we can know He is faithful. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. These tests are opportunities for us to rest in the certainty that God is good, God is sovereign, and that there is purpose in what we're going through.