This is Only a Test

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. – James 1:3

You have heard it; and you’ve probably ignored it: “This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. If this had been an actual emergency… This is only a test.”

The Emergency Broadcast System was initiated in 1963 during the Kennedy Administration, to allow the president to address the entire nation in the event of an emergency. It was later expanded to work with the FCC, FEMA and National Weather Service, to be used for state and local emergencies as well as national ones. In it, an intentionally obnoxious high-pitched tone precedes the familiar phrase, and the whole thing lasts 35 or 40 seconds, though it often seems longer. If an actual emergency did exist, instructions would be given by the Civil Defense or agency in charge.  All radio and television stations are required to perform the test weekly and to announce when the test is concluded, reminding the listener, “This is only a test.”

For some, the coronavirus pandemic has developed into a major personal test—through the death or continuing illness of a loved one, through the loss of a job due to business closures, for dysfunctional families being forced to endure time with one another. For others, it has been an inconvenience. Yet others have seen it as a peculiar blessing. No one in America has escaped its impact. Has your faith held up? Have you learned to trust God more and more each day? Are you growing toward maturity in Christ?  Are you holding fast to the One who loves you?

Intercede today for the Christians in the Administration to have the assurance that their testing will last only for a little while, and that they would remain faithful.