Test time!
By Rev. William Dohle
One of my least favorite memories growing up was that of pop quizzes! I hated them...and still hate them. I still don't understand why teachers will throw a test at you that you aren't prepared for.
Tests are stressful enough when you can prepare for them and when you can see them coming...but tests that you aren't prepared for? They are terrible! I can still feel my stomach knotting up, my pulse quicken, beads of sweat forming on my forehead, and the look of dread come across my face. Reminding me just how terrible a test truly is!
Tests are stressful because, in most cases, there is just one "right" answer for each question. Try answering a math question with an essay or try contradicting the professor on a piece of his philosophy and you'll be in for a surprise. Trust me... I've tried the later and it wasn't pretty!
Tests come from above...but have you ever tried to test your professor? Or your teacher? Imagine if you, the student, walked into your college class and said,"I want YOU to solve these problems for us! Let's see you do them yourself!"
That would probably get you kicked out of class...at best. Maybe even out of the school. Testing your professor, no matter how much you disagree with them, isn't exactly smiled upon.
This is, though, exactly what the people of Israel do at Massah and Meribah. The place where the water comes out of the stone is also the place of the greatest test. Only it's not God testing the people here but rather the people testing God.
"Is the Lord among us or not?"
This place becomes infamous in Scripture. The place where Israel tested God. The people are reminded about it again and again...
"Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah." (Deut. 6:16)
"You also made the Lord angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah."
(Deut. 9:22)
"About Levi he said: “Your Thummim and Urim belong to your faithful servant. You tested him at Massah; you contended with him at the waters of Meribah."(Deut. 33:8)
“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness..."(Psalm 95:8)
Something happened on that day. Something, I think, that is greater than even the book of Exodus reveals. The people tested God, true, but the people closed their hearts to him also. The people refused to listen to any other answer, except the answer they deemed "right", even if the Professor himself was speaking!
How often we have done the same! To question God is one thing. Even the prophets do that! But to test God, to demand from him the answer we feel is right, will never get us anywhere! Why? Because God's ways are not our ways! God's thoughts not our thoughts! We must trust, even when the answer we get is unclear or even unheard. We must hold on, even when it seems hopeless, for there is no one else to hold on to!
Elie Wiesel tells of a time when he and three other rabbis in Aushwitz put God on trial. In the end they found him guilty of crimes against humanity. Then they went away to pray. That event was made into a movie, God on Trial. I always resonated with that story. For questioning God is human. Questioning God is what the prophets and the saints did. They asked, "Why!?" Sometimes they admitted they just didn't understand. Sometimes they said it was all God's fault. But, in the end, they always ended their whys with worship and with continued faithfulness to God.
Let us put aside our testing as testing. God might not answer as we think he should. The answer he chooses might be wrong in our eyes. But let us trust that, whatever God answers us, He has promised to always be with us, to never leave us, and to be present with us, through death and beyond.
Forgive the times when I have tested you, O God. I do not understand. Help me to push through my own trials and tests. Strengthen me with your grace both now and always. Amen.
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