The Test

01.26.12

Exodus 16.4 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. NASB

What if we filtered all of our life’s events through this one statement: “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.”? What if everything that happens to us every day was a test from the Lord as to whether or not we will walk in His instruction? It sure makes life look different if it is.

The test seemed simple enough: the Lord would provide this ‘bread’ and they would go out and gather what they needed every day except for the day before the seventh day. They would then go out and gather twice as much. If they tried to gather more than they needed on any other day it would be rotten by morning except for what was gathered on the sixth day and help over to the seventh. By the way, there would be none to be gathered on the seventh day.

It all seemed simple enough – except – they didn’t all obey. Some gathered and tried to hold it over until the next day only to find it putrid and full of worms. Some gathered what they needed for each day but didn’t gather enough to hold them over from the sixth through the seventh day. Some were just failing the test.

The Lord expects a certain response out of us. He expects complete obedience and a fully trusting heart. That’s why He tested them and, I believe, why He tests us. And the testing is so that we gain – not Him. God doesn’t gain anything by our obeying or disobeying; the reward or consequence is all on us. That’s why our pitiful attempts to manipulate Him are so pathetic and weak. All they show is that we still haven’t got it. And if God could be insulted by us, our attempts to manipulate Him would be very insulting. But that’s why the tests: He is looking into our souls to see if we get it. And when we don’t, another test comes to see if we do.

God, it seems, is in the business of making us into something we cannot yet believe He would do; and it appears it will take an eternity to do it. When the Scripture says: “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’” (Jeremiah 29.11-14 NASB) it means it.

It also means that whatever His plans for us are, they are infinitely beyond what we can hope or imagine, but by His hand, and for however long it takes, He will, and thereby we will, succeed. Our existence however painful and pitiful it may be at the moment, is only just the beginning of what our God has in store for us. But we must be prepared for what awaits us. And so we must be tested to see if any of what God is doing in us is making a difference in us. What lies ahead is worth the wait and worth the testing. And our Father never gives up.