As a professor, one of my least favorite questions is “will this be on the test?” I certainly understand my students’ desires to have insight as to what an exam will cover, but the reason I dislike the question is because of the frequent impetus behind it. Too often students want to know if something is going to be on the test because the answer to that question determines whether they will spend time studying that concept. My goal is often to remind them that even if the subject doesn’t show up on the exam, it likely will show up sometime in life. Therefore, whether there is a test question or not shouldn’t be the determinant of whether they invest time in understanding the lesson; what should matter is whether knowing the subject better will make them more prepared for their future profession.
Unfortunately, many of us often approach studying God’s Word in much the same way. We want to know “what will be on the test?” to determine whether we will invest time and effort into learning it better. We might wonder how much God expects us to know of His Word, and hope that He is evaluating us based on a curve (“as long as I know more than someone else, I will be alright,” we may be tempted to reason.) Conversely, we may hope that our pastor or Bible study leader gives us a study guide of sort. If we know what they expect us to know, we can focus on just those things.
However, as I have written before, Joshua 1:8 helps us realize that the purpose of knowing God’s Word is not so that we can pass a real or contrived exam; the purpose of knowing God’s Word is to help us obey more. We study, meditate on, and cherish the Scriptures that God has given us because as we do so, we know and love Him better. Our increased knowledge of Him helps us to do increasingly do the things He desires us to do; our further understanding of Him increasingly conforms us into the image of His Son. Pursuing Him and the Scriptures He has given us should not be viewed merely as a duty (although as His children it is our duty to know more of Him); it should be viewed as an opportunity to prepare our hearts, our minds, and our very selves to be used by Him for His Kingdom’s purposes.
When we are tempted to wonder whether we have “enough” Bible knowledge and therefore we can stop investing so much time in studying Scripture, we should know that the answer this side of Heaven is always “no.” A lifetime invested in studying God’s Word will mean a lifetime of increasingly knowing and serving Him well. It will mean a lifetime of increased obedience and alignment with His Word. And that should be the desire of every child of God.
