Test Me Lord
Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.
Psalm 26:2
The psalmist asks God to test and try him, knowing that it is possible that he might be deceiving himself. It is a prayer that God would help David become known to himself. By faith he is trusting in the loving kindness of God to do this because it is possible he may be deceiving himself. He knows of the kindness of God. When he has sinned, God has forgiven him and created within him a new heart. Because he has walked in God’s ways–trusting in His grace and mercy–he is expressing a confidence that he is not living his life according to the ways of this world.
In the story of Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4:35-41, it was Jesus’ idea that His disciples get in a boat and go over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He wanted to put His disciples through a test that would convince them of who He was. They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:41
On occasion, God will test us. Often we are deadened [terrified] by these experiences only to be shown that we can pass from death to life. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
This is what it means to live by faith, not by sight Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:7. To live by faith is to live in the Spirit. Spirit produces faith, a free gift of grace by God. “No one can come to the Son unless it is granted to him by the Father” John 6:65
John Piper writes, “Walk by the Spirit” means do what you do each day by the Spirit; live your life in all its details from waking up in the morning until going to sleep at night by the enabling power of the Spirit.” It is the spirit that leads us to Christ
Martin Luther’s explanation to the 3rd article of faith is that it is the Holy Spirit that leads us to Christ.
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
Thomas A. Tarrants, President Emeritus of the C.S. Lewis Institute writes in an article entitled Being Led and Transformed by the Holy Spirit that to walk in the Spirit means to continuously yield and surrender ourselves to the desires of the Spirit. It is an act of will if we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose. As C. S. Lewis writes, “He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a . . . dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright, stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness.”
Sometimes we put a C. S. Lewis, or people like Daniel, Noah, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph on some kind of a pedestal—super human beings. When we do, the focus is taken off of God and put on man.
God wants us to see that it His power and might that are purposeful. As Jesus got into the boat knowing a storm was brewing, His purpose was to show His disciples that His invisible might and power are greater than the storms that descend on our lives. That we might say, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:41
