AN OPEN BOOK TEST
Valerie Rae Hanneman
July 30, 2004
2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (KJV)
When I was in college, I took a class in Tax Accounting & Auditing. I was living on my own at that time, working full time and carrying a full time schedule at school. When the professor told us that all of the tests, including the final, would be open book tests I was ecstatic! There was no need to study if the tests were open-book. Now maybe I could get some sleep! Only something went terribly wrong. I failed the first test in a spectacular manner because the first time I opened the book was for the test. The book may have been open but I still didn’t know where to find the answers. For the next test I skimmed the book prior to taking the test, so I passed, but just barely. I had a general idea of where the answers were at - but I didn’t have any real knowledge of the book. For the rest of the tests, I aced them. And I received an “A” in the class. I aced the rest of the tests because I read the book prior to the test. I didn’t skim it to get a general idea of where the information was, I studied it because I needed to know the information, not just where it was, if I was going to excel in the class.
Our life is like a college class. It is a constant opportunity to learn and to grow. But life has its tests too. These tests maybe as mild as that jerk who cut us off on the freeway, but it may be as serious as losing a loved one. How do we pass these tests?
Just as we are given books to help us excel in our classes, we have been given a book to help us excel in life. It is the Bible. I love the acronym that somebody came up with for Bible because it is so true. Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The Bible was intended by God to be our instruction book for life here on earth and to prepare us for our real life with Him.
I know that there are those who say that the Bible is outdated and old-fashioned, that it is not relevant for today. But that is simply not true. We, as human beings, haven’t really changed that much since Adam and Eve first invited sin into us. Oh, we are faster, and stronger. We live longer and we have more knowledge. We have our cars, our planes and our computers, but have we really changed the core of who we, as a species, are? We are still capable of great love, and deep hate. We are capable of acts of unbelievable heroism and acts of darkest perversions. Murder, lies, sexual immorality, dishonor, covetousness - the sins of the first humans are still the sins of humans today. We have just gotten better at them, and we have made them acceptable. Because nothing has really changed in us, the Bible is as relevant to our lives as it was when God first wrote it.
But we have to open the Book.
A mother with a suddenly rebellious son goes to her bookshelf and pulls down that dusty Bible. Her mom told her that the Bible had answers to life’s problems and she has heard that if you open the Bible and point to a verse, it might be just what you need. So she opens the Bible in the middle, points, and reads, “How can a young man deep his way pure? By living according to Your Word.” (Psalm 119:9) “Huh?” she thinks, “Maybe further down.” She skips down a couple of verses to read, “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” (Ps 119:11) “That’s no help! Maybe in the New Testament” She flips further back, points and reads, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” With a sigh, she shuts the Bible & puts it back on the shelf, “I guess the Bible just isn’t relevant anymore.” Then she turns on the TV and lets Oprah tell her how to raise her family. She chooses the world’s solutions because she opened the Book for the first time during the test and couldn’t find the answer.
A man is worried because his company is downsizing. How is he going to take care of his family if he is on the down side of the size? “Wait!” he says, “Didn’t Pastor Willie just preach about not worrying about anything because Solomon dressed the lilies?” Once he finally finds his Bible (it was on the floorboard of the back seat of his car where he tossed it after services on Sonday.) he looks up Solomon in his concordance and finds more than 200 references. After a half an hour, he gives up because none of them seem to be what he is looking for. He shrugs and decides that because Willie is a “professional” Christian he must know what he is talking about. He turns on his computer and goes to www.horoscopesfordummys.org hoping that the stars can tell his job future. He seeks answers from the stars because he doesn’t know what the Creator of the stars has to say. He chooses the world’s solutions because although he knew enough to know that the Book contained the answers, he didn’t know enough to be able to find them.
She stands at the mortuary making the final arrangements for her husband of forty years. Even as she grieves the loss of her life partner, words of comfort and hope fill her heart. “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain”(Phillipians 1:21) “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is they victory?”(I Corinthians 15:55) “To be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD.”(2 Corinthians 5:8) “He shall wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”(Revelation 21:4) She attends to the rituals of death, still heartbroken, still grieving, and yet with the comfort of knowing that her separation from her beloved husband is only temporary. She chose the Word’s solution because she knew what the Word had to say so well that she could recall the answers even apart from the book.
Of these three - who aced their open book test? The woman with the rebellious son failed completely - she opened the book for the first time during the test - and could not find the answers. The downsized man had skimmed the book just enough to know that the Bible contained the answer he was seeking, and he even had a very good idea where to find it - but not enough knowledge to pass the test. The grieving woman had been in the book long before her test came. She had studied and made the knowledge part of her life. And when her test came this woman aced the test.
When your next open book test comes (and you know it’s coming) how prepared are you going to be to find the answers?
LORD God, we ask that You reveal Yourself to us as we study Your Word. When the tests of life come, we want to have the right answers.
Contact Valerie at valerie@centralcallegal.org
Visit our e-Ministry “blog” at www.fresnofirst.org
Posted by Valerie at July 30, 2004 11:20 AM