Exams

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This morning at 8:30am, I will be in an interview. I will sit before a panel of five senior managers and allow them to question me. They will question my capability and talent until; ultimately, they decide my professional future.

To get to this level in the interview process, I was forced to take a couple of assessments that could demonstrate my specific skill set. One of the required programs for my desired position is the Microsoft Access database. Now, I have absolutely no idea how to produce anything remotely reliable in the Access program, a fact to which I had sheepishly admitted. However, even after hearing my confession of ignorance, the assessment was still made mandatory. I just did not understand it. Why test me when failure was inevitable?

Psalm 35:11
“Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about.” – NIV

Tests…what are they trying to prove? Is the only intention behind this pretense to expose the unqualified, or, is there a deeper functionality? Is it the results that prove beneficial or the progressions?

When Jesus spoke to the people in parables, was there not a lesson in the end? When the people in the Bible fail, is He not there to correct them? God knows our abilities; he does not need an exam to prove Him correct. He knows before we move if we will stand or fall, and yet, he moves us regardless. We do not know it all, nor will we ever. I can’t help but trust that, in these tests and trials of life, it is not the outcome that matters.

So much of life is a lesson followed by a test. What if the Christian life is tests, then lessons?