The Test

The Lord test’s you for what you can become more than for what you know.

In all my schooling, I must admit that I never liked to hear the words, “there will be a test on this topic later.”  I don’t know of anyone who really likes to take tests.  Tests mean that you must study, apply yourself, learn, and you must change your ways.  I have never liked that.

In our carnal life, passing our tests is the way we know if we are ready to handle the challenges that will come at us later in life.  Knowledge of the coming test causes us to study and to apply ourselves so we can show what we know about the material we study.

Though we may hate being tested, tests are in many ways good for us.  And in a bigger way, life itself is a test that God gives us.  But unlike our carnal lives, God does not test us for what we have learned; He tests us for what we become because of what we learn.

The book of Psalms has a lot to say about what we can become.  Psalm 139:23-24 says this: “Search me O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”

There are many ways and things in life that will test our faith in the Lord. But here in this Psalm are several tests that can help you strengthen your faith and your belief so that you may live a more blessed and fulfilled life with the Lord.

First learn to go before and to live before the Lord always.  Ask Him to continually put you through the “search me” test.  You won’t get a passing or failing grade, but you will get righteous insight from the only One who can accurately search you and tell you the truth about you.  Ask the Lord to search you.

Then ask Him for the “know me” test.  What you learn from what He knows about you will help you change so that you can overcome the things that will surely test who you are and who you should be.  No one knows you better than the Lord.  So ask Him for the “know me test.”

Then comes the “try me” test.  This is where the Lord will help you see where you are strongest and where you are weakest.  He will help you to know yourself a little better than what you will think and say to yourself about yourself.  When He tries you, He will strengthen and refine you where you need it.  Ask Him for the “try me” test.

You will want Him to put you through the “see me” test.  With the see me test, the Lord will put you through the drills of life to see how much of His life He has worked into your life.  He may use marriage, parenthood, humility, service, or even the presence of selflessness in you as see me tests.  Whatever He uses, you will be able to accurately see what He is seeing.

And finally, He will put you through the “lead me” test.  All the tests before will mean little if you do not allow yourself to be put through the test of whether you can be led by someone other than yourself.  When the Lord puts you through the “lead me” test, He promises to be your leader.  But the lead me test will also reveal if you will be able to lead yourself so that you can follow when you should follow.

The test with the Lord is not whether you will pass or fail.  The test is whether you will allow yourself to be tested and strengthened in His ways more than in the ways of your own.

Lord, test my heart, test my anxieties, test my ways and test my submission to Your leadership so that I may be led in the way everlasting.  This is a test we should gladly want to take.

Live a Delivered Life. Love you.