The concept of God testing human beings is as old as Judaism itself.
According to the Midrash, God tested the Patriarch Abraham ten times,
each test more difficult than the one before. The ultimate test was
God's command to Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. The Torah
explicitly introduces this account with the words, "God tested Abraham"
(Gen. 22:1).

What is the purpose of a Divinely ordained test? A student is tested in
school so that the teacher can find out how much the student knows. The
omniscient God, by contrast, is already aware of a person's capacity
before the test. The purpose of a Divine test, therefore, cannot be to
reveal any new information to God.

The Midrash points out that the Hebrew word "tested," nisah, is derived
from the word nase, meaning flag. As a flag flies high above and
identifies an army or ship, so a test is meant to elevate and reveal the
innate potential of the person being tested.

A test is always a choice at the upper limit of a person's capacity.
Passing the test actually changes the person. Potential becomes
actualized. A rose bud contains all the petals of the opened rose, but a
rose in full bloom is far more beautiful than a bud. Abraham standing
with a knife in his hand on Mount Moriah was a greater Abraham than he
had been at the foot of the mountain.

RECOGNIZING TESTS
Tests come in many disguises: someone else's ineptitude, a traffic jam,
an unexpected (and unwanted) guest, a computer malfunction, a telephone
call just as you're falling asleep, a financial loss, a child throwing a
tantrum, a gratuitous insult, suggestions from your mother (or better
yet, your mother-in-law) on how to raise your children, etc.

God doesn't give us a test we cannot pass. When we fail our tests, it's
usually because we didn't recognize the situation as a test in the first
place.
If only we could see a neon sign flashing in front of our mind's eye,
"THIS IS A TEST!" all of us could muster enough patience, forgiveness,
kindness, self-discipline, calmness, or whatever other character trait
is called for, to pass the test. How tragically often it is only
afterwards that we realize the test beneath the disguise, as we hit our
foreheads in frustration and regret at a squandered opportunity to
outgrow our limitations.
The key to recognizing a test is to remember that everything,
everything, EVERYTHING, comes from God. God is the ultimate source of
every occurrence, every financial loss, every traffic jam, every
tantrum. Although humans have free will to choose between good and evil,
what happens to any individual is determined by God. A thief can choose
to mug a passerby on the corner of Broadway and 23rd at 2 AM, just as
you're on your way there, but if it isn't God's will for you to be
mugged, you'll be delayed a block away, a policeman will show up just at
that moment, or the thief will run into an old pal who owes him money.
That your two-year-old throws his tantrum in the middle of an upscale
department store surrounded by well-dressed singles shaking their heads
and clicking their tongues is a deliberately scheduled Divine test for
you.