Peeking at the Lord's Pop Tests
Perhaps you recall from your days in school the sudden groan from your classmates (certainly not from you) whenever the teacher announced a pop test. Uh, oh! The fact of not being prepared was about to be exposed!
Wanting to avoid that, some students will cheat, even going so far as to get a copy of a test in advance. But with pop tests this is harder to do.
Even the Master teacher gave pop tests, and still does so today. But, because the Lord wants us to be prepared, he is quite willing to help us see what his pop tests are like. So, let's sneak a peek.
There is one miracle and one parable, each told in all four gospels, that will aid us. When spliced together, the feeding of the five thousand and the parable of the four soils, offer very valuable lessons for passing a pop test from God.
Watching a Test in Progress
With the feeding of the five thousand, the situation was this. After teaching all day, the crowd had still not gone home, and were hungry. The disciples' response to this situation was the obvious one—send them home!
However, that wasn't Jesus' response. So here comes the first pop test.
According to Mark's Gospel, Jesus said, you feed them (Mark 6:37). What! The twelve feeding thousands and thousands? How?
It was at this point that we see the disciples venturing a second response. In the next verse they ask, shall we go buy bread?
Letting that thought play out a bit, Jesus asked Philip, where should we buy bread? And Jesus asked this to test, John 6:6 affirms.
Apparently, Philip was a math whiz who could calculate quickly.
Consulting his own brain, he speedily did the math. The equation to be resolved was this: On the one hand, about 20,000 people, if we include women and children; and on the other hand, 200 denarii, or about 7 months wages to divide into that.
So, a quick look upward—blink blink—and then his forthcoming answer—it isn't enough! We need another approach.
Jesus then tries to give these disciples a hint by expanding their perspective beyond themselves. So he asks them to find out how many loaves the crowd has (Mark 6:38).
Pursuing that agenda, the ever-approachable Andrew—he who brought his brother Peter to Jesus—reports back that there's a lad who has five loaves and two fishes.
Now this represented significant progress! Why? Because Scripture says there were 5,000 men present that day, not counting the women and children. Yet, Andrew reached out to one of those not counted!
One Disciple Doing Well
Do you see the principle in that? God can get his work done by people the world would have overlooked. Andrew was thinking like God.
Still more credit goes to Andrew because, though the lad had little, Andrew allowed for the possibility that Jesus might use that.
So, two big steps of faith! So far, so good. Andrew was doing well! We might even say three steps of faith were taken by Andrew, because there was also the big step of bringing what he had to Jesus.
To find resources is good. To be precise about what you found is also good. But to shrug it off, put it back on the shelf, and not even mention it, as many people would have done, would have meant no miracle that day.
Andrew, by bringing what he had to Jesus, meant the Lord could now take over. And he did!
Jesus Doing Exceptionally Well
You know the rest of the story. With the help of Jesus now engaged, we soon see an operation under way that turned out to be brilliant. Let's detail some of this.
the superb management genius of getting the crowd to sit down (it's hard to riot if you're sitting)
organizing the crowd in groups of 50 and a 100 (so they could be better served)
enabling the bread to multiply out of the disciples' hands (so they were a part of this miracle)
making sure there would be no run on a mountain of bread at Jesus' feet, made worse with “an each-man-for-himself” surge
storing all that
was left over—a testimony to God's supernatural supply!
Did the Disciples Pass?
No doubt about it, Jesus did great! But had the disciples now passed the test?
One might think they had. In fact, if asked at that moment what they just learned, these men would have announced: Our "little" in the Master's hand can supernaturally meet our needs!
Sounds good! Obviously, a lot of progress had been made.
As the curtain comes down on this scene, our summary of it is brief: a huge problem, a great ending, happy faces everywhere, and fuller stomachs too!
It was now time for everyone to go home. With the food dispensed and the crowd dispersing, Jesus told the disciples, who weren't going home yet, to get in their boat and row to the other side.
Complying with the Master's command, they commenced rowing their boat, finding success for a while. But then the sea was suddenly convulsed by a storm; and though these men were seasoned navigators, their nerves eventually reached the breaking point. The terror of drowning that night flashed in their minds with the same impact of every wave beating hard against their boat.
For hours they fought this storm! With absolutely no progress! The only results were the sapping of strength, the loss of stamina, and the deflation of hope. They were stuck, overwhelmed, panicked!
Where's the Teacher?
Of interest in this account is the fact that Jesus was watching the whole thing from the mountain. Can you imagine that? For hours he watched—and did nothing! He kept his distance from their peril!
Have you ever felt God doing the same thing with you? You are struggling, struggling, struggling. Where's God?
Finally, according to Mark's account, Jesus ventured toward the scene of their peril, and, this is an amazing statement in Scripture (Mark 6:48), "he would have passed them by."
Picture that! Over here: these struggling sailors, desperate for help … and over there, the strolling Savior, calmly water-walking right past them!
What's going on here? Why would Jesus do something like that?
Here's why. He was still testing them! And as with the previous test, he was still hoping to help so they could get at least get some credit. But so far, they were stacking up zeroes.
Ok, let's pause, a quick evaluation here as we ask some questions: First, had they, at any time during this storm cried out to Jesus? No. That's never reported.
Second, had they during this excursion exercised any faith? No. There's no record of anything like that, either.
They could have at least rallied their hearts by recalling Jesus' word that they were to go to the other side. That was their assignment—not the middle of the sea! So, third question: Did they even do that? We could wish, but that thought never crossed their minds.
Back to live action now. When the disciples then see this figure walking on water, what did they think? It's a ghost!
Did that make any sense? What ghost walks on water? But this response just goes to show that Jesus was never on their mind.
Instead of perceiving, as they could have, that help had come, their wacked-out minds thought a ghastly ghost had come! To spook them! Big time!
Oh, great! As if those monstrous waves weren't terrifying enough ....
Finally, finally, trying to help them even more during the test, Jesus —hint, hint—speaks to them.
And it is here that the tests ends, the storm stops, the disciples are rescued, and the trip resumes.
Pass or Fail?
Of course, there's no way the disciples passed this test. In fact, Mark notes their failure, saying they had not learned the lesson of the loaves (Mark 6:51).
The lesson of the loaves? That was the earlier test, you say. No, not really, that test was still in progress.
The disciples probably thought that they had learned their lesson already. Why, had there been another hungry crowd with no supply to feed them, the disciples, with easy recall, could have said. Oh, we learned that lesson: If we give the Lord the little we have, the Lord will supernaturally meet the need.
There! Lesson learned!
Then, looking about with a bit of pride, and perhaps, too, anticipating some commendation for their newly gained wisdom, they would have stood their ground, squared their shoulders, held their heads high, and flashed a big smile.
But, oh, no! To their surprise, they now learn they flunked their pop test!
How so? Because when a different problem arose, as did that sea that night, they never connected what they had just learned to this problem. Though the problem was different, the answer was the same! Believe Jesus! Get his help.
Someone, in their defense, might say, but they had never seen Jesus walking on water before. True, but they had never seen him multiplying bread before either. There is a parallel!
Now, we have to ask ourselves, as we further reflect on that day, why didn't the disciples learn the lesson of the loaves?
As it turns out, the same verse in Mark that reported their failure also explained why it happened. Are you ready for this? You probably aren't, but here goes. The reason they failed was because ... their hearts were hardened.
Hardened? Really? Would you have characterized these men as hardhearted men? When we think of someone who is hardhearted, we think of someone who is rough and gruff, someone who is stubborn and stupid, someone who doesn't want to listen to anything God has to say!
Surely, that doesn't describe these men. So how were these men hardhearted?
Jesus answered that question in the parable of the four soils when he described one of these being like stony ground (Matthew 13:20, 21).
Jesus said of that kind of heart, it receives the word with joy. So that part is good. And no doubt there was indeed much joy after Jesus performed the miracle earlier in the day.
But then Jesus further described the stony soil response by saying, endurance is only for a little while. It lasts until tribulation comes. Then there's a fall, a failure, a collapse. Why?
Because, Jesus said, the stony heart doesn't have roots! And therefore the lesson supposedly learned doesn't sink in; it never gets established.
You see, we can have the mental "ahas" that comes from discovering a new truth, thinking we have it, when that truth doesn't yet have us. Testing reveals that.
I suspect the stony soil is spread all over the church. People take their notes, stack their concepts, learning more and more about the Bible, and count that as spiritual growth. But in candid moments these same people will tell you that they wonder why all this Bible study hasn't done any more for them than it has.
Does that thought resonate with you? Have you ever wondered the same thing? But it doesn't have to remain this way. There are some adjustments you can make that will alter this outcome.
Going forward, be alert that what God teaches, he tests; and his tests are designed to show you how the teaching applies. You will do well, then, to suspect you don't know the answer to that, though you thought you did, and won't know unless you stay in learning mode.
Recommended Steps for Success
Someone in learning mode will do the following:
First, ask God in advance to start revealing how this new truth relates to an area of your life in ways you never suspected. He said he would provide a light unto your feet. He certainly doesn't want you walking into darkness, unprepared, failing one pop test after another.
Second, take confidence in the fact that God knows how to design tests. By contrast, educators will take courses to learn how to do this, with the strange exception of college professors. Elementary school teachers know how to design tests better than they do. Go figure!
Unlike the tests of educators, though, that have a ten percent inherent errancy factor at best, God knows how to design the perfect test. Oh, I know, some people protest that his tests are too hard. But, hard though may be, his tests are never administered to humiliate you (such as those sometimes given by professors who love to see three quarters of the class fail).
Third, keep in mind that God has only the desire for your good, your promotion, your breakthrough when he administers these tests.
True, these tests aren't announced in advance, like those warnings on TV about a forthcoming 60 second test of the emergency broadcast system. Even so, this review of Scripture will help prepare you to start to think like God thinks.
Fourth, enhance your learning by developing new habits. For example:
● Pay attention to his clues.
● Sense his desire to help you, to promote you.
● Anticipate that a lesson you previously learned connects with a problem you are currently facing.
● View each test as an opportunity to succeed, not as a setback to confirm failure.
● Stop trusting your reason; start trusting God's revelation.
● Look beyond your resources, factor in the abounding grace of God.
● Know that you are not alone, ever, but God is watching you carefully, constantly.
● Rest assured that no tests from God will ever be too hard. The solution is at hand!
There's really no reason to be moaning and groaning whenever a new pop test is given. What would you have God do, let you think you've grasped a truth when you haven't?
He loves you too much to do that.
