Why does God sometimes give strange tests? Give examples of at least four strange tests from the Bible.

God sometimes gives commands that make no apparent sense precisely because He does not want them to make sense to us; He never does anything without a reason and can always be trusted to be devising good, so at times He simply wants us to show that we trust Him, and without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). Consider these strange tests from Scripture: to Abraham, the command to sacrifice his only son, the son through whom God had promised to make him a great nation (Genesis 22:1-2); to the widow of Zarephath, about to cook her last handful of flour and drops of oil, the command to make bread for the prophet first (1 Kings 17:13); to the widow whose creditors were about to take her children, the command to borrow jars from her neighbors (2 Kings 4:3); to Naaman the leper, the command to wash seven times in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5:10); to the blind man, the command to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (John 9:7); and to Peter, hassled about the temple tax, the command to go fishing (Matthew 17:27). If these commands had been disobeyed, nothing would have happened; without the obedience, there would have been no miracles.