In the Bible, the word ‘Test” and the word “Prove” are sometimes used interchangably, depending on the English translation you’re looking at.
We can look at a grammer school test that shows whether or not we’ve learned to talk right. I mean speak correctly. Or maybe in Junior High, (or what’s called Middle School nowadays,) the test may show whether we have improoved our speling. I mean that our spelling has improved. Or by the time we reached High School, we might have had a test that was called a Pre-test that showed us where we still needed to grow in order to actuallyu pass the test when it comes along.
Then we grow up and the real tests begin, huh?
We all really do have something to prove. The only way to show that it’s really provable is to test it. Now the purpose of the test isn’t to show our shortcoming. It’s not even to show whether or not we’ve learned a lesson. It’s to show we HAVE learned. Not whether or not. Just whether. Yes. Not Yes or No.
3 x 3 = 9
It always will. It always has. And when that equation is written on a page and it sits in front of me, it’s not to test whether or not I know it. Duh. I got that one. I can work that out. Even if the 9 isn’t filled in for me, I can finish that equation because it’s inside of me; it was taught to me and I’ve experienced in my own life that it is true, and nobody can talk me out of it. 3 x 3 = 9. Everytime.
To me, that’s not a test. It’s a proof. Semantics, I know, but go with me on this.
There are non-negotiables inside of me which have been taught to me – by one teacher or another – and that I’ve expereinced to be true, and they become part of my very soul. I know them and nobody can talk me out of them. I’m married to them and it’s ’til death do we part! Still, from time to time, circumstances set a page in front of me with a question on it that asks me to confirm, “Is this really true?”
When I got to college I had developed a system inside of myself for taking tests. I usually didn’t get an “A” on my first test of any class. In fact, most times I got a B- or a C+. Shock! Me! A smarty-pants genius, getting a C? Yeah. That first test was, in my young mind, a throw-away that would get dwarfed by my successive victories. What I did on that first test was get to know how my professor tested. I learned, “Oh! That is the type of thing he is looking for,” so when I studied for tests, I knew what types of things to emphasize. “A+” after that made several of them ask me what I changed to boost my grade. My answer was that I studied better, and that satisfied them. The whole truth was that I studied my prof, and knew what they’d be looking for.
Gladly, I didn’t have any professors who actually *wanted* to trip up students in the tests. They wanted to have the students Prove they’d grasped the materials. They wanted to confirm that we understood.
Ah! Now we’re looking at a difference. Subtle, and trust me: not consistent, but a difference.
I think, for me anyway, that Testing shows where I can go until I fail, and Proving shows that I can succeed.
Sometimes we equate Tested with Tempted, and maybe that’s a good evaluation, but only sometimes. A temptation that two people experience may be a temptation for one person to stumble, and a confirmation to another that it’s not that big of a deal. Demand a four-year old to work their multiplication table up through their 3′s, and you’ll get a crying child. You’ve tested them and found them lacking.
God loves you. And when you are Tested in the way I described above, by a loving Teacher, it’s not to show how bad you are or how much of a failure you are or how dumb you are. It’s to show you your limits right now and to be there to offer this: In your weakness, God’s strength is shown to be perfect and complete for you!
Here’s the important part! Whenever you reach a testing time, have you noticed that the Teacher is usually quiet? He’s already taught you some things, and during the test the teacher is typically quiet. And since our Teacher is the Lord, you can count on two things:
1. If this is a Test, it’s not just going to show where you come up short, but shows where He can step in and fill that gap.
2. If this is a Proving time, it’s not just going to show you how far you’ve come, but shows a new high-water mark in your life.
Welcome Testing, as embarrassing and humiliating and hard as it may be, because with the right attitude it can make us rely on God so much more. Welcome Proving, as hurtful and painful and frightening as it may be, because He has brought you so much further than you’ve ever been, and farther than you ever thought you’d be. Look at yourself! Do you realize what a successful testimony you already are?
We were lost! We were a big fat “F”! You may have been a good person, but just like a smart person who doesn’t know the materials, you couldn’t pass an examination.
I guess that’s what I’m saying here. It’s an examination. It gives a genuine analysis of where you really are right now. An honest assessment of your capability right now allows you to know the capacity of what you can do right now. Then you go back to class (Thank you God for the school of hard knocks,) and learn the material because you have another test coming. Or a proving time. It’s an exam.