2 Timothy 2:15 English Standard Version (ESV) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,^{[after being tested]} a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Footnotes help us understand better the meaning behind some passages where there could be ambiguity. This testing however is not the same as being tested in school. It is being tested in how you manage truth by living out this Christian life.

Rightly handling has been expressed in other bible versions as rightly dividing, skillfully teaching, interpret, use the Word, and even cutting straight. Rightly dividing and cutting straight are two of the more colorful terms used in translation. It has been noted in the past by some as pointing to the daily sacrifices and how those sacrifices were prepared by the priest who were instructed to cut straight from the head down to the legs. Some would like to think this is exposing our daily sacrifices to see in truth what is inside. Some see direction, from the head, understanding, to the heart, exposing our intentions, all the way down to how we walk.

Here is what Matthew Henry said in his commentary on the subject: “The way of error is down-hill; one absurdity being granted or contended for, a thousand follow: Their word will eat as doth a canker, or gangrene; when errors or heresies come into the church, the infecting of one often proves the infecting of many, or the infecting of the same person with one error often proves the infecting of him with many errors.”

His descriptor for direction is down-hill, a leading away from the high places of worship. It is a slippery slope that makes it difficult if not impossible to attain to a true knowledge of our God, His promises and His plans for each of us.

Our testing demonstrates progress in living out His Word or are we just spinning our wheels.

1 Timothy 4:15 English Standard Version (ESV) Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,^{[be in them]} so that all may see your progress.

Psalm 37:6-8 English Standard Version

⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. ⁷ Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! ⁸ Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

This relates to yesterday’s call to let go and let God in that God is the one who acts on our behalf. Fret not is a call to be patient with ourselves. How we want to respond to those people who need His love is at odds with the will of God. It is us answering in the flesh.

Being human we slip up and it is in those moments we realize why we need to be patient with ourselves when we do not do those things we want to do. It’s Romans 7 being played out in our lives. Taking those verses into account we remember the answer to our dilemma, “thank God of Jesus Christ!”

It is Christ in us, His living Word, which is the answer to our dilemma. It becomes evident that the more we know God’s Word the more we can trust God to provide a way to shine in dark times.

Our justice at noonday is not a legal matter, it is doing the right thing in that moment because we have learned to wait on the Lord and not to act out because of performance anxiety. It is part of being “anxious for nothing.” Learning to do right, to be just, is a learning experience based on making mistakes.

We all make mistakes. It is the reason He offers forgiveness freely. He knows we will make mistakes. Over time we will discover our mistakes have less to do with sin than it does in not rightly divining the Word.

Failing to divine His Word rightly is not a sin. It should be our motivation to go back and get it right.