In moments of hardship, many wonder if difficulties are God’s way of testing devotion or simply life’s unfolding lessons. This post, Sai Baba Answers on God’s Tests, is offering seekers clarity on whether trials stem from divine will or human perception. Through His gentle wisdom, Baba invites readers to reflect deeply, question their assumptions, and discover a higher understanding of life’s challenges. This article provides spiritual insight for anyone who has ever asked, “Why me?” and seeks comfort in the teachings of the Master.
Does God Really Test Us, or Is It Just Our Own Misunderstanding?
The afternoon sun cast golden rays over Shirdi, its warmth gentle as a mother’s touch. The village buzzed softly with the sounds of daily life, the ringing of temple bells, the distant laughter of children, the rhythmic pounding of grains being ground into flour.
Our traveller sat near the Dhuni, watching the smoke rise into the sky, disappearing into the vastness above. His heart was troubled, carrying a question that had lingered in his mind for long.
“Baba,” he finally spoke, turning to Sai Baba, Who had been grinding wheat with grinding mill stone, paused and looked at him with deep kindness. His hands, though rough from years of service, moved with gentle precision.
“People say that God tests His devotees. But if God knows everything, the past, present, and future, then why would He need to test anyone? Doesn’t He already know the result?”
Baba, paused the grinding and looked at him with deep kindness.
“Child,” Baba said, “before I answer your question, let Me ask you one. How do you know that God is ‘He’? Does God have a gender?”
Our traveller blinked, caught off guard.
“But Baba, scriptures refer to God as ‘He’… don’t they?”
Baba smiled knowingly.
“Ah, but does the sky have a gender? Does the river that quenches your thirst or the fire that gives you warmth call itself male or female? The Upanishads say, ‘Brahman is neither male nor female, nor neither. It simply is.’ The Sufis say, ‘God is beyond the names and forms you assign, yet within them all.’ Do not limit the limitless, child. God is not ‘he’ or ‘she’, God is That which pervades all existence.”
The traveller lowered his gaze, feeling the weight of Baba’s words settle in his heart.
“Then Baba, if God is beyond all, why does God, test us?”
Does God Need to Test, or Do We Need to Awaken?
Baba paused for a moment, then he looked at the traveller with a quiet, knowing smile.
“Child,” he said, “tell Me, does the sun rise to test if the lotus will bloom?”
Our traveller’s brows furrowed.
“No, Baba, the sun rises because that is its nature. The lotus blooms when the time is right.”
Baba nodded.
“Exactly. The sun does not test, it simply shines. The lotus does not pass or fail, it simply responds. So too with God, child. God does not test, because the Divine already knows everything, before you were born, before your doubts even formed. What people call a ‘test’ is not from God, but from their own misunderstanding of life.”
The False Assumption of “Tests”
The traveller sat up straighter.
“Then, Baba, why do people believe this? Why do they say that God puts them through trials?”
Baba lifted the wooden basket and placed it before the traveller.
“Look at this basket, child. It is woven tightly, strong enough to hold water. But if I had left gaps in the weaving, the water would have leaked through, yes?”
“Yes, Baba.”
“Now tell Me, if someone sees the water leaking, should they blame the basket, or should they understand that the weaving was incomplete?”
The traveller’s breath caught.
“They should understand that the weaving was incomplete.”
Baba’s eyes shone with compassion.
“So too with life. When people face difficulties, instead of seeing it as an opportunity to strengthen themselves, they assume they are being tested. But tell Me, child, does a teacher give an exam to know how much the student has learned, or for the student to realize how much they still need to learn?”
The traveller’s heart pounded.
“For the student to realize, Baba.”
Baba placed a hand on his shoulder, his touch firm yet gentle.
“God does not need to test anyone, child. It is people who need experiences to realize their own strength, their own weaknesses, and their own depth. A storm does not come to test the tree, it comes because it must. Whether the tree stands firm or falls is not the storm’s doing, but the tree’s own readiness.”
The Illusion of Divine Trials
Our traveller stared at the smoke rising from the Dhuni, its movements uncertain, twisting with the wind.
“But Baba, if God does not test, why do some people suffer so much while others seem to be untouched by hardship?”
Baba picked up a clay pot from beside the fire and held it up.
“This pot,” He said, “was once soft clay. It could have crumbled at the slightest touch. But after being placed in fire, it became strong. Now tell Me, was the fire testing the clay, or was it simply transforming it?”
Our traveller’s throat went dry.
“It was transforming it, Baba.”
“Yes,” Baba said, placing the pot down. “If the clay had a voice, it might cry out, ‘Why am I being burned?’ But once it becomes a strong vessel, it will understand. Life’s experiences do not test you, they transform you. People mistake this transformation as a ‘test’ because they do not yet see the full picture.”
The traveller’s voice grew softer.
“Then, Baba, we suffer not because God is testing us, but because we are being shaped into something greater?”
Baba smiled.
“Bhagavad Gita says, ‘A person is made by their belief. As they believe, so they become.’, If you believe you are being tested, you will feel burdened. But if you believe you are being shaped, you will grow. A river does not stop when it meets a rock, it flows over it, around it, through it, until it reaches the ocean. Do not call the rock a test, call it a passage.”
A Logical and Scientific Perspective: Are We Tested, or Are We Growing?
The traveller looked up, deep in thought.
“Baba, this reminds me of how muscles grow. When we lift heavy weights, the muscles tear a little, but in healing, they become stronger.”
Baba nodded.
“Yes, child. Science says that pressure creates strength. A diamond is formed under immense pressure, a tree strengthens its roots against the wind, and the brain rewires itself after struggle, learning new ways to adapt. The universe does not test, it simply follows its nature. What seems like a test is just the process of evolution, whether of the body, the mind, or the soul.”
Our traveller’s heart swelled with realization.
“Then Baba, instead of asking why God is testing us, we should ask how we are growing?”
Baba’s gaze was steady.
“Yes, child. Do not ask, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ Ask, ‘What within me is waiting to awaken?’”
The Answer
God does not test because testing implies a need to assess, to measure, or to discover an outcome that is unknown. But if God is omniscient, knowing the past, present, and future, then the very idea of testing becomes meaningless.
A teacher tests a student to know whether they have learned. A scientist conducts an experiment to observe a result. But if the result is already known, then what purpose does the test serve?
Would an all-knowing Divine need to test someone in order to determine their faith, strength, or endurance? No, because the Divine already sees the full picture, every cause, every effect, every possibility, and every outcome, across all of time. Testing implies uncertainty, but there is no uncertainty in omniscience.
Then where does this idea of “God testing people” come from?
It arises from human misunderstanding. When people face difficulties, they seek meaning behind their suffering. If they believe that their hardship is part of a divine test, it offers them a sense of purpose, a way to endure their trials. However, this is not a test from God, it is an experience of growth within life.
Vedanta teaches that the Divine is not a judge but an ever-present awareness. The Upanishads say, “That which is the source of all, sees all, but is never seen. Knows all, but is never known.” The Divine is not watching to judge or test you, but is simply witnessing all that unfolds.
Sufism teaches that life is not a test but an unveiling. The soul is not being tested, it is being reminded of what it already is. The struggles you face are not divine examinations, but opportunities to recognize your own strength, clarity, and truth.
God does not test. Life simply unfolds, revealing to you what was always within you.
A Final Thought
If God does not need to test, then who is truly measuring your strength, God, or your own doubts?
If the ocean already knows every wave’s journey, does it send storms to test the water, or do the waves rise and fall simply because that is their nature?
Is it life that challenges you, or is it your resistance to change that makes experiences feel like trials?
What if nothing is being tested, but everything is simply being revealed?
And if everything is already known to the Divine, then isn’t the real question not “Why am I being tested?” but “Why do I still believe I am being tested?”
Contributed by: Murali P K – Author of Shirdi Sai Baba – The Guiding Light for the New Age (Volume 1)
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Posts in this Series
1️⃣ Sai Baba Answers About Human Suffering
2️⃣ Why Is God Worshipped in Different Forms?
3️⃣ Existence and Reality – Sai Baba Answers
4️⃣ Why Does the Universe Seem Fine-Tuned for Life?
5️⃣ Is There Life Beyond Earth? Sai Baba Answers
6️⃣ Sai Baba on The Unseen Laws of the Universe
7️⃣ Sai Baba on Consciousness Beyond Science
8️⃣ Sai Baba Answers – Consciousness Beyond Death
9️⃣ Sai Baba Answers on Near Death Experiences
🔟 Sai Baba Answers on Spiritual Experiences and Parallel Worlds
1️⃣1️⃣ Sai Baba Answers – Can We Talk To The Dead
1️⃣2️⃣ Sai Baba Answers On Recurring Dreams
1️⃣3️⃣ Sai Baba Answers on Knowing God
1️⃣4️⃣ Sai Baba Answers on Kindness to Animals
1️⃣5️⃣ Sai Baba Answers on Birth and Death Cycle
1️⃣6️⃣ Sai Baba Answers on Destiny
1️⃣7️⃣ Sai Baba Answers on Universal Purpose
1️⃣8️⃣ Sai Baba Answers on Karma
1️⃣9️⃣ Sai Baba Answers on Fate
