Tests and Trials

I thought these passages in the book I have been reading will encourage many Baha'is.

(from Counsels of Perfection by Genevieve Coy)

Tests and Trials

The word 'test' is used frequently in the Bahá'í
Writings. Some of these tests, or trials, are the
consequences of a person's own actions. He makes a
mistake and has to suffer the consequences; he is
unkind, and makes a friend unhappy; he fails to pay
his debts, and becomes known as untrustworthy. It is
only when he analyses his behaviour, and realizes his
errors, that he will make an effort to change his conduct.
If he does not see his mistakes and try to improve, he has
failed to meet the 'test' he has given himself.

Other tests and trials are sent to us by God for our
development and perfecting. Some people have difficulty
in accepting this idea; they even feel that God
is unjust when he presents us with problems. But this
is just what a good teacher does in order to educate
his pupils. He gives them problems to solve, and tests
to take, which are within their ability if they work to
the top limit of their capacity. If he makes the tests
too easy the good student will feel that his teacher is
not interested in him, or underestimates his ability!

Since God is omniscient, He adjusts each individual's
tests to his capacity. We should realize that when a
trial or problem seems impossibly difficult, it is
because we are not working at it with all our might,
and with full dependence on God's help.

He will never deal unjustly with any one, neither
will He task a soul beyond its power.[6]

To the sincere ones, tests are as a gift from God,
the Exalted, for a heroic person hasteneth, with
the utmost joy and gladness, to the tests of a violent
battlefield, but the coward is afraid and trembles
and utters moaning and lamentation. Likewise, an
expert student prepareth and memorizeth his
lessons and exercises with the utmost effort, and in
the day of examination he appeareth with infinite
joy before the master.[7]

Remember not your own limitations; the help of
God will come to you. Forget yourself. God's help
will surely come![8]

Tests and trials are opportunities to learn, to become
more mature. Each of us should ask ourselves:
Am I willing to make the effort to learn, or do I
try to avoid the problem? I may try to escape the
problem by refusing to recognize it, by blaming others,
or by making a half-hearted, unintelligent approach
to it. If I succeed in avoiding the test it is likely to
recur again and again, until I face it and solve it.
The psychologist Alfred Adler wrote that the person
who tries to avoid all problems is acting as though he
wishes to 'live like a worm in an apple'!

How can we be happy in the face of problems
which are due to our own weaknesses and errors? If
you have lost your way in the woods, by taking the
wrong turn when the path forked, you return to the
fork, and are joyful to move forward on the path
which will take you to your destination. Similarly, we
can be happy in learning what we should not do in
the future.

We should not waste our energy by dwelling on our
failures. We should form the habit of looking for the
cause of the error. Then, if we can do something to
correct the mistake, let us do it at once. If we cannot
repair the harm we have done, let us plan how we can
do better to meet a similar situation next time it
arises. We should then move ahead into constructive
activity, rather than feel we are being 'noble' when
we use time and energy in regret and remorse.

Worry is another emotion with which some people
meet tests and problems. The dictionary defines 'to
worry' as 'to torment oneself with, or suffer from,
disturbing thoughts; to dwell uncomfortably on
actual or possible troubles'. Worry, like remorse is
an unproductive use of time and energy. It is
incompatible with an intelligent effort to solve the
problem. If you worry about a difficult university
entrance examination that you must take, you are
wasting time which could be spent in study: you cannot
worry and study at the same time. If you worry about
the success of a public talk on the Bahá'í Faith which
you are to give this evening, you are showing a lack
of common sense: do you wish your mind to be a
confused, unhappy turmoil when you address the
audience? If you have prepared the talk to the best of
your ability, leave its delivery in the hands of God,
and go to a film, or read an interesting book.

When God sends us difficult problems we often
cannot see their usefulness for our own development.
I may be unhappy because the direction of my life
seems to be deflected from what I thought was a fine
and creative goal. I may feel that many of my most
unselfish efforts have been wasted. But I can foresee
only a small section of my life, on my way through
eternity. God, who 'sees the end from the beginning',
has for me a larger and more glorious goal than I
can imagine. My faith in His goodness and justice
must be so deep that I can rejoice in the methods He
uses to educate me.