Pop Quiz
By
Elin Henderson
“That they may set their hope in
God, and NOT forget the works of God, but keep His commandments…”
Much to the chagrin of many a
student, a teacher knows that to be able to gauge how much a student really
understands (down deep), there is one dreaded tool: the pop quiz!
It is that element of surprise that
shows whether the students have grasped and held on to things, or if it was just
flittering at the surface. It’s a good gauge for the teacher to see what specific
area he/she needs to re-engage the student in. Usually it means, reteach the
content than REPEAT the pop quiz until the student really grasps it.
Do you ever feel that God sends
sudden pop quizzes into your life? Everything in life is progressing normally…we
said the pledge of allegiance; we opened our books; everyone is smiling and
happy and then - - BAM! A pop quiz is suddenly laid down on our desk!
We start working through the
questions and quickly realize, “Ahh! I don’t know this!” What do you do then? Quit,
give up, get angry? We think, “If only I had had time to prepare, I could have
tampered down those ugly emotions and come up with the right answer.”
Nobody experienced more pop quizzes
than the people of Israel in the wilderness. One after the other came their
way! Sadly, in Psalm 78, the
summary/result of these quizzes wasn’t too positive. They hardened their hearts
and didn’t remember His mighty works!
God often sends these pop quizzes to
show us the areas where we need to learn and grow. The suddenness of them
throws open the doors of our hearts and shows us the areas where His light
needs to shine! Instead of shying away from them, quitting or getting angry, we
need to honestly work through them - - even if it means failing this time
around.
Yep, our job in pop quizzes is to learn from them. What is that old saying? “If you
don’t learn from history, you are destined to repeat it!” The same could be
said for our pop quizzes in life. Lest we end up with the same fate as the sad
children of Israel, let’s learn from our failures, keep our hearts right before
God, and not forget the mighty works He has done for us.
GOING
DEEPER:
1.
Have you
experienced any pop quizzes that just won’t stop repeating themselves? What
could be the thing that God is trying to reveal to you in and through them?
2.
Remember. What
mighty works has God done that will help you pass this quiz?
FURTHER
READING:
Oakwood’s missionaries Elin
Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as church planters
with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa.
Elin is mother to fifteen-year-old Callie and thirteen-year-old Elias.
