Once, a person told his Rebbe that he wished he had no tests. His Rebbe told him, "Take three pots and fill them with water. Cook a potato in one, an egg in the second, and coffee, sugar, and milk in the third."
An hour later, the rebbe showed him that the egg became hard, the potato became soft, and the third pot had sweet coffee. The rebbe explained, "The boiling water represents life's tests. Tests toughen soft people, softens tough people, and it can make someone sweet like sweetened coffee."
This is because people grow from the hardships they overcome. The Maharal writes that the purpose of tests isn't to let Hashem know where we are up to in our avodas Hashem because Hashem knows this information even before we are tested. The purpose of tests is to help us bring forth our potential.
The Gemara (Yoma 69:, based on Nechemya 9) tells us how the chachamim abolished the yetzer hara for avodah zorah. They fasted for three days and three nights, and the yetzer hara came out of the Kodesh HaKedashim, appearing like a lion of fire. Zecharyah HaNavi told them, "This is the yetzer hara for avodah zorah!" and they captured it.
But we wonder, why did the yetzer hara come out of the Kodesh HaKedashim? Why was the yetzer hara in the holiest site of the world? The answer is that the yetzer hara elevates people to the highest levels. The challenges that the yetzer hara gives us enable us to grow very high.
Avraham's first test was לך לך to leave his father's home to go to Eretz Canaan. The tenth test was לך ולך ...בנך את נא קח, that Avraham should go to the Akeidah. By both tests, לך לך is written. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabba 39:9) states, "It says לך לך twice, and we don’t know which is more beloved, the second or the first?"
The Midrash concludes that the second לך לך, of the Akeidah was a greater test and, therefore, more beloved to Hashem. We wonder, isn't it evident that the tenth test was more difficult? What could be harder than to bring one's own child as a korban?
Perhaps the answer is that, in a way, the tenth test was easier because Avraham approached this test after already successfully passing nine difficult tests. Each test made Avraham stronger and better, and therefore, the Midrash debated the idea that perhaps the first test of Lech Lecha was a harder test.
The Ramban writes that there were other tzaddikim in Avraham Avinu's era who kept the Torah, but they didn’t reach his level because they didn't pass tests as Avraham had.
We are being tested these days, but we can grow from them. We can improve our levels of emunah and bitachon, teshuvah, and tefillah, which we wouldn't have achieved if it weren't for these tests.
