2. Trials Are to Prove that We Belong to God

World Scripture

And verily We shall try you until We know those of you who really strive and are steadfast, and until We test your record.
Qur’an 47.31

Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For thy steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to thee.
Psalm 26.2-3

We will test you with a bit of fear and hunger, and a shortage of wealth and souls and produce. Proclaim such to patient people who say, whenever disaster strikes them, “We are God’s, and are returning to Him!” Such will be granted their prayers by their Lord as well as mercy. Those are guided!
Qur’an 2.154-57

Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
James 1.12

Every soul must taste of death, and We try you with evil and with good, for ordeal. And unto Us you will be returned.
Qur’an 21.35

With ten trials Abraham our father was tried, and he bore them all, to make known how great was the love of Abraham our father.
Mishnah, Avot 5.4 (Judaism)

After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Genesis 22.1-2

And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” “Jacob.” “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Tell me, I pray, your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”
Genesis 32.24-30

After the death of Ravana, Rama sent for Sita… When Sita eagerly arrived, after her months of loneliness and suffering, her husband received her in full view of a vast public. But she could not understand why her lord seemed preoccupied and moody and cold. Rama suddenly said, “My task is done. I have now freed you. I have fulfilled my mission. All this effort has been not to attain personal satisfaction for you or me. It was to vindicate the honor of the Ikshvahu race and to honor our ancestors’ codes and values. After all this, I must tell you that it is not customary to admit back to the normal married fold a woman who has resided all alone in a stranger’s house. There can be no question of our living together again. I leave you free to go where you please and to choose any place to live in. I do not restrict you in any manner.”
On hearing this, Sita broke down. “My trials are not ended yet,” she cried. “I thought with your victory our troubles were at an end…! So be it.” She beckoned to Lakshmana and ordered, “Light a fire at once, on this very spot.”
Lakshmana hesitated and looked at his brother, wondering whether he would countermand the order. But Rama seemed passive and acquiescent. Lakshmana gathered faggots and got ready a roaring pyre within a short time. The entire crowd watched, stunned, while the flames rose higher and higher. Still Rama made no comment. He watched. Sita approached the fire, prostrated herself before it, and said, “O Agni, great god of fire, be my witness.” She jumped into the fire.
From the heart of the flame rose the god of fire, bearing Sita, and presented her to Rama with words of blessing. Rama, now satisfied that he had established his wife’s integrity in the presence of the world, welcomed Sita back to his arms.²¹
Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda 118-20 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Three years after a person learns the Will of God, he will face a big trial. This is to individually indemnify the position of Peter, who followed Jesus for three years and then denied him.
(Way of God’s Will 3.4)

As a year consists of four seasons, in your life there is a spring-like period in which you receive a blessing, a summer-like period in which the blessing grows, an autumn-like period in which you bear the fruit of the blessing, and then a winter-like period of trial. Be grateful for trials. They come from the love of God, to separate us from Satan. If you endure and overcome them, a spring-like period of new blessing will follow.
(Way of God’s Will 3.4)

When God is about to give grace, He puts the person through a test, either before or after the grace, to prevent Satan’s accusation. Moses’ course provides examples of this. God granted Moses the grace… to depart from Egypt only after he had completed the test of living in the wilderness of Midian for forty years. Only after giving the test in which God tried to kill Moses did He grant the three signs and ten plagues. Only after giving the test of the three-day course did God grant the pillars of cloud and fire. Only after giving the test of crossing the Red Sea did God give the grace of manna and quail. After giving the test of the battle with the Amalekites, God granted the grace of the tablets of stone, the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Moses and Jesus 2.3)

The first human beings should have been absolutely determined to keep God’s commandment not to eat of the fruit, yet they fell at the risk of their lives when the Archangel tempted them. Accordingly, for Jacob to… restore the foundation to receive the Messiah, he had to triumph in a fight at the risk of his life with an angel, representing Satan. Jacob was desperate to overcome this trial as he wrestled with the angel at the ford of Jabbok.

He triumphed and received the name “Israel.” In this trial, it was God who tested Jacob by putting the angel in the position of Satan. God’s purpose in doing this was not to make Jacob miserable, but to help him secure the position of Abel and complete the restoration of his family by winning the qualification to rule the angel.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Moses and Jesus 1.2)

It was nerve-wracking for God to watch Jacob in that battle. Since the angel was fighting on behalf of Satan, God did not want Jacob to give up, but He could not say anything to Jacob. Imagine how anxious God must have been to watch each moment ticking during the battle between the two?
Jacob did not give up even to the last moment. He would not let go of the angel no matter how desperately the angel tried to shake him off. At that point, God publicly acknowledged Jacob’s victory, and the angel, as Satan’s representative, had to acknowledge it as well. Hence he blessed Jacob with the name “Israel.” At that moment, all the hosts of heaven shouted for joy. They deeply exhaled, now that anxiety over the outcome was relieved.
(20:229-30, June 9, 1968)

Even God Himself kicked Reverend Moon to test him. He said, “Reverend Moon, you are a heretic. I don’t know you!” Yet no matter how strangely God treated me, I had already grabbed onto God’s coattails. I told Him, “Heavenly Father, no matter how Thou dost treat me, Thou canst not dissuade me from my path.”
This dispute dragged on for forty days. Since God opposed me, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and all the saints in spirit world also joined in, “Reverend Moon, you are a heretic! We will not accept you until you change your teachings.” Yet throughout those forty days, I did not change one iota. I was steadfast as a rock. They all saw that I would not change even if they persisted for 400 years.
After 40 days the atmosphere cleared; the showdown had to end. God had to resolve the dispute and issue a decree. He stepped forward and said, “I have been testing Reverend Moon during these 40 days… and I can now declare before heaven and earth that he is the greatest victor in all of history.”
(161:41-42, January 1, 1987)