The Israelites were forced by God to wander in the wilderness for forty years.  This, of course, was punishment for their faithlessness and grumbling when they refused to enter the land of promise (Numbers 14:1-34).  God could have punished them by any means He chose, but He decided to make them wander in the wilderness, and He had a purpose for doing so.  Deuteronomy 8 tells us what it was.

Deuteronomy 8:2 (ESV)
²  And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  

God was not only humbling His people, but also testing them to see if they would obey Him.  We should remember this.  God has a history of testing His people, making them prove their willingness to obey.  He even tested Abraham.

Genesis 22:1-2 (ESV)
¹  After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ²  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 on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

God wants us to obey Him; thus, He will sometimes test us, or at least allow us to be tested, by the tribulations of life.  His purpose is to see whether we will keep His commandments or not.  This is important to remember because it answers the question of why God allows us to suffer in life.  Some think that the difficulties we experience prove that a loving God does not exist.  Such a position could not be more wrong, and, in fact, it is the very opposite.  Sometimes God is striving to provoke us into turning our lives around.  It is a form of our heavenly Father’s discipline.  

Hebrews 12:6-7 (ESV)
⁶  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” ⁷  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

What is the purpose of it all?  God is trying to assure that we obey Him because He knows it is the only way we can be saved.  Someone might say, “Well, if God really wants to save us, He will do so no matter how we live.  That is not true.  Because of God’s intrinsic nature, He cannot tolerate disobedience.  Paul put it like this:

2 Timothy 2:12-13 (ESV)
¹²  If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; ¹³  if we are faithless, He remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

Since God cannot deny Himself, and because He wants to save us, He has purposed to help us maintain a good standing with him, even if it means allowing us to suffer once in a while.  He puts us to the test, not hoping we fail, but wanting us to excel.  He wants us to prove that we will keep His commandments so that He can save us and give us a home in heaven in the end.  Remember this about God.  It will help you to appreciate Him even more.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.