Why does God test us if He already knows everything?

God does not test us in order to find something out. The test is the path through which a person grows and becomes what he has the potential to be.

When a teacher sets an exam, he usually wants to find out what his students know. So it seems natural to ask why God tests us when He already knows everything. But God’s test has a different purpose. It does not serve His knowledge. It is part of creation itself.

A farmer knows that a seed can become a plant. Even so, he puts it in the soil, waters it and lets it grow. His knowledge does not make the growing unnecessary. Without that process there would be no plant, only a seed in his hand.

It is the same with human beings. God created us with the capacity for good. But that capacity only becomes real when we prove ourselves in real situations, in joy and in hardship. Only then does potential turn into patience, honesty and trust. The verses above speak of how the test brings out who is truthful and steadfast.

Nor can the process be skipped on the grounds that God knows the outcome anyway. God’s knowledge does come first in time. But it is knowledge of this very process and of what a person will do in it. If the process were taken away, there would be nothing left to be known.

For a believer this is a comforting way to see things. Hard times are not an interrogation in which God is trying to discover something. They are opportunities through which we grow more mature and closer to God.