Imagine sitting in the classroom of one of your most challenging courses.  In a few minutes the Professor will give you the exam.  You are anxiously wondering if you studied the right lecture notes and text passages.  Suddenly the room is too hot…or too cold.  Your mind is full of facts and figures, diagrams and illustrations, along with your experiences.  But is what your mind holds momentarily going to be asked on the final exam?  Now it’s time to take the test to see what you know revealing what you need to know! 

What if God is the Giver of the Exam?  What if you seriously asked HIM to exam every part of you; heart, mind, body and soul? 

Will everything you have been thinking, studying, being and doing in this life be examined?

Will what the enemy has done to you count as credit in the exam given by God?

David has courageously and willingly asked God to examine Him.  No wonder David is “a man after God’s heart”.  This humility before God is what our Father asks from us.  He, after all is said and done, is God and we are not. 

Micah the prophet speaks for God with a clue for the exam, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  (Micah 6:8, NIV)

Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs

Psalm 26, The Message

A David Psalm

Clear my name, God;
    I’ve kept an honest shop.
I’ve thrown in my lot with you, God, and
    I’m not budging.

²     Examine me, God, from head to foot,
    order your battery of tests.
Make sure I’m fit
    inside and out

³     So I never lose
    sight of your love,
But keep in step with you,
    never missing a beat.

^4-5     I don’t hang out with tricksters,
    I don’t pal around with thugs;
I hate that pack of gangsters,
    I don’t deal with double-dealers.

^6-7     I scrub my hands with purest soap,
    then join hands with the others in the great circle,
    dancing around your altar, God,
Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,
    telling God-stories.

^8-10     God, I love living with you;
    your house glows with your glory.
When it’s time for spring cleaning,
    don’t sweep me out with the quacks and crooks,
Men with bags of dirty tricks,
    women with purses stuffed with bribe-money.

^11-12     You know I’ve been aboveboard with you;
    now be aboveboard with me.
I’m on the level with you, God;
    I bless you every chance I get.

TRUTH:  Examine me, God, from head to foot, order your battery of tests.  Make sure I’m fit inside and out so I never lose sight of your love, but keep in step with you, never missing a beat.

The Examination by God will be loving, kind, direct, gentle, and helpful to grow us into all He created us to be.  Welcome the exam, for it leads to God’s best life for each of us!

Proverb 14:1-9, The Message

Lady Wisdom builds a lovely home;
    Sir Fool comes along and tears it down brick by brick.

² An honest life shows respect for God;
    a degenerate life is a slap in his face.

³ Frivolous talk provokes a derisive smile;
    wise speech evokes nothing but respect.

⁴ No cattle, no crops;
    a good harvest requires a strong ox for the plow.

⁵ A true witness never lies;
    a false witness makes a business of it.

⁶ Cynics look high and low for wisdom—and never find it;
    the open-minded find it right on their doorstep!

⁷ Escape quickly from the company of fools;
    they’re a waste of your time, a waste of your words.

⁸ The wisdom of the wise keeps life on track;
    the foolishness of fools lands them in the ditch.

⁹ The stupid ridicule right and wrong,
    but a moral life is a favored life.

WISDOM: “…a moral life is a favored life.”  God will never disappoint those who follow Him and walk in His ways with a sincere, humbled heart.  God is not looking for perfection but thoroughly committed people who love Him back enough to seek His wisdom for life.  This is life lived with God’s best!  It is the life God favors for all who believe and are willingly growing in His character.  This is God’s blessing, growing in His ways!

Abba Father,

Examine me.  Cleanse every dark corner.  Deal with those who slander me, for that is not my battle.  Help me to love and forgive like you love and forgive me.  Show me your will, purpose and plan, then help me to take one step at a time toward what you have prepared for me before I was born.  You are amazing, Father.  You know us inside and out.  Why hide anything from you that you already know?  That’s foolish on our part.  Restore, refresh and renew all that is needed in me to do what you want to do through me.  I love you, Lord with all my heart, mind and soul.  Transform me to be before I do anything.  Thank you, Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen