“I JUST WANT THESE EXAMS TO BE OVER”
It was 6.30 am. I walked into the girls’ room to wake them up for the day. After about three attempts of calling Danielle, I said to her, “Hey, Girl. It is time to get up. You don’t want to be late for school”. Her response was a perfect way to start the day, she turned around and with a sleepy voice said, “I just want these exams to be over”.
I thought about what would make my beloved five-year-old desire that examination is over. I responded by speaking out, “You still have loads of examinations ahead. Welcome to the world of examinations”.
Settle this early – Tests are inevitable. You cannot say there should be no test. It is not even in your power or your control. A student that prays that the examination should not hold is wasting his time. Examinations will always hold. Tests are a part of life’s journey.
God will test you. Abraham did not just become the father of faith or the friend of God. Abraham had to pass his test. The examiner was God Himself.
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Genesis 22:1 NKJV
What is within your control? Your preparation for the tests of life. The question is not about if tests will come. No! It is about when tests will come. It will surely come.
One person who has earned the badge to speak about the test of God is Job! The test of Job was intense. Hear what Job said:
That You should visit him every morning, And test him every moment?
Job 7:18 NKJV
The visitation of God is the test of God. You are tested daily. It is a continuous assessment. Are you passing or are you failing?
The day you would know you are failing would be the day heaven’s spotlight comes on for a choice. Eliab looked perfect for kingship and Prophet Samuel rated him as a “Surely, the Lord’s anointed…”
But have you considered the response of God?
So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
I Samuel 16:6-7 NKJV
“Because I have refused him”- When was Eliab presented to God. Elias did not know he failed a test. Where did Eliab fail?
Eliab had great packaging. His credentials were humbling. He had the stats but God checked his heart and saw that he had failed the prerequisite courses that would qualify him for kingship.
Let me ask you: Are you passing your tests?