Do You Know How Badly God Wants You to Succeed?

I did not expect to feel nauseous on test day. Come Thursday I had the students pull out pencils. (Lapices, por favor!) They stood up their manila folders as privacy shields (an ingenious anti-cheating idea I stole from another teacher), and I handed out the Spanish test. The room became completely silent, except for the sound of pencil lead thumping and scratching against tabletop.

And I wanted to throw up.

The students are nervous about tests, but I think they would be surprised to know I am, too. Do they know I long for them to get A’s?

I asked myself, Did I prepare them adequately to do well on this exam?

I looked at a few who struggle to learn words, and from my desk I willed them toward success.

Come on. You can do it. 

I opened up my Bible this morning, to see God feels exactly the same way toward his people. Looking at God’s children who have refused repentance, rest, quietness, and trust, we hear Isaiah say:

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion…” (Isaiah 30:18 NIV)

God is the nervous teacher waiting. Red pen in hand.

Red pens can scratch big A’s.

Red pens can make smiley faces and write, “¡Bueno!” (One of my students did great on his test last week, and I drew 20 smiley faces on the perimeter of his paper. I was happier than he was over his vocabulary victory.)

Maybe you think God is waiting to fail you? No. No, that’s not it at all. He’s holding his breath, willing you to pass with flying colors.