Lessons and Tests, Tests and Lessons

Can you remember those stressful times of preparing for a test at school? After weeks of attending class, listening the teacher drone on about some topic, reading the textbook and working through questions or equations, next came the test.

 

I can still vividly recall exam week in college, cramming for one final after another, hoping to absorb and then regurgitate the right answers to earn a good grade. By the time exam week had ended, even without knowing my grades, it felt as if the world’s weight had been lifted off my shoulders. My brain felt like mush, as if I’d squeezed out the last ounces of knowledge.

Recently, however, I was reminded that unlike in academics, everyday life typically operates in reverse fashion. Tim Kight, a consultant and motivational speaker who can encapsulate important principles about life and work in short, pithy phrases, recently observed, “Life works backwards. First it gives the test. Then it gives the lesson.”

 

That’s true. As parents, we teach our children the importance of obedience. We tell them to clean up their rooms, and if they do so, we’ll take them for ice cream. It’s a test. If they do as asked, they get ice cream. If not, visions of sweet frozen treats go unfulfilled. We’re trying to teach them that at every level of life, whether in school, at work, or even when stopped by a police officer, it’s wise to do as we’re told.

 

These days, some young people seem to think when you start a career, you start at the top – and move up from there. However, in many work situations, new employees are asked to carry out mundane jobs. They might think such tasks are beneath them. “I didn’t go to school to do this!” But this might be a test. If they do the work well and without complaining, the boss might decide they deserve greater responsibility.

 

In marriage, couples eagerly exchange “I do’s,” but inevitably there comes the day when they think, “I did?” The happily-ever-after phase of being married abruptly ends with a serious argument, a seemingly irresolvable disagreement, or even an act of betrayal. Alas, another test. Do they give up, shouting the oft-fatal words, “I want a divorce!” or do they determine to work through the conflict, whatever it may be, to find reconciliation? The lesson? The only bowl of cherries life hands you is in the supermarket’s produce section.

 

We see the ”first comes the test, then comes the lesson” throughout in the Bible. In fact, it pops up often the opening book of Genesis. God places Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, then says, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). He might as well have said, “This is a test!” 

 

He gave the first humans full run of the idyllic garden with only one caveat: “You see that tree over there, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? That’s off limits. Every other one is yours.” As commentator Paul Harvey used to say, “And now…the rest of the story.”

 

Adam and Eve decided the all-but-one command wasn’t to their liking. “Who is God to tell us what we can and can’t do?” they thought. So they ate of the tree, succumbing to Satan’s temptation, and we’ve been paying the penalty ever since. God’s lesson was simple: When He makes a command, He’s serious.

 

In Genesis 16 we read that Abraham (Abram) and his beloved wife, Sarah (Sarai), had been unable to have children. However, in the next chapter the Lord informs them that even though they’re advanced in years, they will indeed become parents together, having a son they were to name Isaac. Hooray! 

 

But in Genesis 22:1-18 we find God giving Abraham a very disconcerting command. “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love…. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” What?! Our first reaction is, “How barbaric!” But soon we discover this was another test. The Lord wanted Abraham to demonstrate his trust in Him. He did, and God provided a substitute sacrifice, a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. The lesson: When you put your faith in the Lord, He always keeps His promises.

 

In Genesis 37-42, we read about Joseph being tested repeatedly. Despite betrayal by his jealous brothers, being sold into slavery in Egypt, and then wrongfully imprisoned, he was ultimately elevated to prominence, second in command only to Pharaoh himself. The lesson? If you remain true to the Lord, He will work through you in ways you could never imagine.

 

There are many other biblical examples, but I think of impetuous Peter boldly declaring to Jesus Christ, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you” (Matthew 26:35). Curiously, Peter created his own test – one he failed miserably in denying Jesus three times later that same night. 

 

From that tragic test Peter learned how incapable he was in his own strength to carry out the grand work Jesus would assign to him and the other disciples following His crucifixion and resurrection. We see a humble and repentant Peter being reinstated in John 21:15-19 when Jesus says, “Feed my lambs…. Take care of my sheep…. Feed my sheep…. Follow Me!”

These have a moral for us all. Are you going through a test right now, perhaps wondering, “What’s going on? Where is God in this? Why me?” Just remember, He’s most likely trying to teach you something. First comes the test – then comes the lesson. 

Life Begins at the End of the Comfort Zone

Some people are natural-born risk takers. They’re the ones who eagerly cast caution to the wind and pursue dreams, hopes, even crazy notions. For them, life isn’t fun unless you’re living on the edge.

I’m not one of them. My preference is to stick with the tried and familiar, at least until everyone else has demonstrated the coast is clear and it’s safe to proceed. But I do have great respect, even admiration, for those who aren’t averse to venturing out into the unknown. At least what’s unknown to them.

There are pros and cons for both approaches to life, I suppose. “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” the adage goes. But its counterpart is if you insist on staying safe, you might eventually be sorry you didn’t try venturing outside your comfort zone.

Even as a card-carrying member of the safe-not-sorry crowd, I’ve discovered this to be true. Back in the mid-1980s, I was happily tapping away on my electric typewriter when a trusted friend who was an Apple computer dealer called one day. “Do you have a computer?” he asked, suggesting I needed one for my writing and editing. I responded simply, “No.” What I was thinking was, “Why would I want a computer? My typewriter works perfectly fine.” 

But he insisted and about a week later a Macintosh 512k computer arrived at my office. Initially I was hesitant, as if it were going to bite me or something. But I plugged it in, followed the instructions, and started it up to give it a try. As the French say, “Voila!” Within minutes I discovered I had entered uncharted territory and, wonder of wonders, it was greater than I could have imagined. A couple of days later, my old electric typewriter and I parted company, never to be reunited.

This seems ridiculous today. Who can do without a computer if you’re in the business world? And that first computer I used qualifies as a low-tech dinosaur today. But at the time it seemed a huge step of faith for me.

Technology is an easy example of leaving one’s comfort zone, as when I also discovered the new world of digital photography. Never again would I lack a good answer when someone asked, “Did you get any good pictures?” I can think of a different example, however, of when I relinquished safe-not-sorry for an adventure beyond country and culture.

In 1999, I was working with CBMC International and my boss said he wanted me to take a trip to Brazil to see how I might help the ministry there. Again, not an opportunity I was inclined to leap at. I had traveled to other countries – in Europe, Mexico, Venezuela, even Canada. But I’d never gone where I didn’t have someone I knew to serve as my guide. I couldn’t speak Portuguese, and the plane flight itself would be about 10 hours!

My boss insisted, however. So I obtained the necessary visa, scheduled my flight and arranged to meet with some people there who were strangers. As it turned out, my time in Brazil was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had. Over the days I spent in Sao Paulo, Vitoria and Curitiba I met many delightful people, some of whom I stay in contact with to this day. And when I left, I felt God had used me in a special way. I even made a second trip there a couple years later.

These and other experiences hardly turned me into an impulsive, spontaneous risk-taker. Slow, steady and cautious remain my bywords when considering anything outside my comfort zone. But I’ve discovered that in many ways, life begins outside our comfort zone.

That was definitely the case for Abram, who was enjoying a cushy existence in Haran. God must have thought that he, then 75 years old, and his wife, Sarai, were getting too comfortable. Unexpectedly, “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you'” (Genesis 12:1). The text doesn’t say this, but I imagine Abram responded with – or at least thought – the equivalent of, “Say what? Seriously?”

But God promised him, even though he and Sarai had no children at that point, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3). History has shown that promise was fulfilled and continues to this day.

Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah) did set off and began an adventurous trek to Canaan, by way of Egypt and a couple of cities named Sodom and Gomorrah. They had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob (later renamed Israel), and through his sons – Abraham’s great-grandsons – the nation of Israel was born. The fact that there is an Israel today, re-established in 1948, is no accident.

This doesn’t mean that as followers of Jesus Christ we’re commanded to always be reckless risk-takers. But when God is leading, and impresses us through His Spirit that it’s time to move, we dare not answer, “No way, Yahweh!” Over and over in the Scriptures, God’s people are commanded, “Be strong and courageous.” Generally this means, “C’mon, it’s time to leave your comfort zone. I have something special in mind, something you wouldn’t even believe if I told you. I’ve got your back!”

We can see this happening repeatedly through the Scriptures. And if we’re willing to trust the Lord and stick our noses out of our comfort zone, we’ll see it happening often in our lives as well.